Adams Grove 03-Wedding Cake and Big Mistakes Read Online Free PDF Page B

face.
    I hope nothing is wrong with Mac. “I heard the door close. Is everything OK? I mean, he’s not sick, is he?”
    “No. No. Nothing like that.” He laughed. “I jumped to the same conclusion, though.” Connor sat down in the chair across from her desk. “He was talking about how things may have been different with Derek if he hadn’t grown up in New York with his ex. Water under the bridge. He wants to change his will. Again.”
    “Thank goodness he’s OK. He can change his will a hundred times if he wants to pay for your time. Why would you care?”
    “I shouldn’t worry. He’s a smart man, certainly capable of making his own decisions.” His set face and clamped mouth told more than he was saying.
    “Then why do you have that flustered look?”
    Connor looked behind him, then spoke in hushed voice. “Remember I mentioned Anita this morning?”
    “The lady at the bakery, yeah.”
    “Well, Mac wants me to rewrite his will so everything goes to her. He’s going to let her administer stuff to Derek instead of it going directly to him.”
    “So? People do that all the time. I guess you were right about them being an item.”
    “Yeah. Only, this change doesn’t sit well with me. They couldn’t have been together all that long, or else everyone would’ve already known. It would be different if they were married. I asked him if he had someone in his family he could ask instead.”
    “Not your place to make those decisions for him. You know that. If that relationship falls apart, he’ll come back and change it again.”
    “Maybe I’ll just let it sit for a week or two, give him a chance to think about it. I told him we could take care of a trust for him. Maybe he’ll come to his senses.” He pulled his ankle up to cross his knee. “Be different if they were engaged or something.”
    “You don’t have to be married to someone to count on them, Connor.”
    “Well, it doesn’t hurt.”
    She closed her file and leaned forward. “Since when did you get so opinionated?”
    He pressed his fingers together. “I trust my gut, and I have a bad feeling about Mac’s decision.”
    Trying to lighten the mood, she teased, “What, are you going to tell me you’re psychic now? You’re not going to whip out a crystal ball, are you? There’s not a crop circle on the top of this building I don’t know about, is there?”
    Her reaction seemed to amuse him. “Oh, hell no.”
    She sat back in her chair and folded her arms. “Then you need to let it go. Our job is to advise and execute.”
    Connor got up. “If I stall, I bet he’ll come to his senses.”
    “Helping them make good decisions is one thing, but stalling a request based on your own moral code….that’s a whole other issue. And a problem when what you’re pushing them toward actually benefits the practice.”
    “You know I’m not steering him to let us handle the trust to get his money.”
    “Just saying it’s a fine line.”
    “I don’t see the big deal. If he thinks he can trust this lady with his whole estate, then he’ll still feel that way in a couple weeks. No harm, no foul. Or he ought to marry her and make it really official, and I’d shut up about it.”
    “Not everyone wants to get married.”
    “What do you have against marriage?”
    “I just don’t agree that marriage is the only way for two people to form a good partnership.”
    “It is telling, though. Seriously, if you trust someone enough to carry out your last dying wishes, there’s more to it than friendship, so why not seal the deal?”
    “If Garrett and Jill weren’t getting married, would you have felt the same way about the changes we just made to Garrett’s estate?”
    Connor nodded. “Yeah. Absolutely.”
    “Well, that’s stupid.”
    Connor jerked his head up, locking his line of sight on Carolanne. “Stupid?”
    “Yeah. It’s shortsighted and silly. Marriage is a piece of paper, and it does not mean that someone won’t hurt or backstab you