“How much do you need?”
“At least two million in assets. We have the apartment, but it’s already mortgaged against loans for the initial business. I have some of Mom’s art pieces and jewelry, but it’s not worth two million, plus I can’t imagine selling things she adored. It’s all I have left of her.”
I frown as I draw circles on the wood table. Brody and Cas want to open a luxury gym that specializes in working with athletes. Cas can pull in his MMA friends, and Brody was a damn good tennis player in his early years before he gave it up to teach. At the moment, they’re co-oping a warehouse, but with their client growth, they need a new space with all the bells and whistles.
I pulled in twenty million last year. I’ve got my fingers in Manhattan real estate. “Let me give you the money.”
“No. You bought us the co-op spot plus some of the equipment. I can’t let you. You may not be as set as you think. What if you can’t . . .” His voice stops.
“Can’t play again?” My stomach pitches. Just the idea of not being able to play makes me feel soulless. Empty and dark. I wasn’t good enough to get into an Ivy League law school like my father wanted, but I’m a damn good football player. It’s all I have. I have more than plenty to retire on, but I get it. Brody and Cas are proud. They want to do this themselves.
“What about Dad?” I ask, knowing the answer.
Brody’s voice lowers. “No. We’ll keep saving. Maybe we’ll be ready in five years.”
The waitress sashays by and gives me a sly smile, nothing like the sweet one Emmy wore when I told her bye at her door.
I look away, my head tumbling with ideas. “Wait . . . maybe we could get the money another way, money that should be rightfully yours anyway.”
He scoffs. “Don’t say it.”
“I’m almost thirty. I could get married, get my inheritance, and hand it over to you.”
Our father’s mother arranged an inheritance for the grandchildren before she died. There’s three of us, all males. When we turn thirty, we receive ten million. The only caveat is we have to marry a woman, and the language is very clear.
At age thirty, a grandson （with a wife） will receive the inheritance. Once the youngest brother reaches forty, any brother who isn’t married to a woman will have his inheritance split.
“You don’t even have a girlfriend,” he tells me.
“I know plenty of women.”
“Models and wannabe actresses? No way. I’ll get married for a day.”
“Hmm, but you won’t be thirty for three more years, and you’re already married to Cas.”
He exhales an emotional breath. “Which I wouldn’t change. I love him. He’s my rock.”
“Grandmother didn’t even consider that our father might have a daughter someday,” I say. “And she was homophobic. I’m sorry.”
“She was mean as hell. I still shiver when I think about her razor eyes.”
“Yeah. Same.” Conservative and prickly, she had iron-white hair and a vicious gaze that scrutinized everything you did. I recall formal family dinners where I wasn’t allowed to speak. Brody and I were required to wear jackets to dinner, even as young kids. Heaven forbid we’d use the salad fork to eat the entrée. She had a way of clicking her tongue or scoffing that made you want to crawl away and hide.
She died my first year in college and already knew that Brody was gay.
“We were never her favorite grandsons. That was reserved for Holden, the precious firstborn,” he mutters.
I grunt. Holden is our half brother, five years older than me and our father’s son with his first wife. After Dad’s marriage fell apart, he married our mother, the younger and prettier wife.
That woman is a gold digger, Grandmother would say about our mother, just loud enough that we could hear.
He continues. “We could contest the will, but Holden will drag it out in court, and then there’ll be attorney fees. I can’t risk that. Teaching pays shit, even at a private Manhattan school.”
I change the subject. “Back to this marriage . . . I can find someone.”
“Phone an ex-girlfriend, huh?”
I ignore him, mostly talking to myself as my head swirls. “Just a business arrangement. Get married, get the money, get a divorce.”
There’s a long pause. “G? You’re scaring me.”
“Maybe I need to do something scary.” My life is at a crossroads. I don’t know what’s going to happen next. The universe kicked me in the teeth when my mom died; then it pounded me in the kidneys when I got the concussion. I can’t get Mom back, I can’t fix my head injury, but I can help Brody.