Sugar Rush (14 page)

“Do you need any
money?” Jane Barnett asked her son. She sat in the kitchen of her Portland,
Oregon, home, talking to Jeff on the telephone.

“No, I have some
savings.” Jeff sat in his living room in Southern California. It was Monday
morning, and he was preparing to return the rental car when his mother called.
She hadn’t talked to him for several weeks, and had no idea what had been going
on in his life. Needing to talk to someone, he told her everything.

“So what are your
plans? You know, you can always come home and stay here and look for a job.”

“Thanks, Mom. I’m not
sure what I’m going to do yet.”

“I imagine you could
file something against your ex-boss, for wrongful termination. I don’t think
what he pressured you to do is legal under California employment laws.”

“Probably not, but do I
really want to sue my ex-employer? I can’t imagine that will look great to
potential employers.”

“Now you sound like
your father. You’re probably right. But it makes me so mad!”

Jeff smiled. There was
something comforting about having parents that were always there for him with
unconditional love and support. It was something Lexi hadn’t had in years.

“You would like her, Mom.”

“What about you? Sounds
like you’re pretty crazy about her.”

“Lexi’s special. It’s
not just that she’s beautiful—but she is. Beautiful, I mean. She is also smart
and creative. I felt comfortable with her in a way I never felt with anyone
else. She was completely different than I had imagined.”

“What do you mean?”

“The way Beaumont described
his granddaughter—before I met her—was that she was rather simple, another
spoiled society girl whose big accomplishment in life would be marrying the
right man.”

“Not really someone I
see you with.”

“Exactly. But she is
nothing like that. There’s a portrait of her in the lobby of her grandfather’s
office. At first, I naturally assumed it was there for the typical reasons you
hang a picture of a family member: love, pride. But now, I suspect the portrait
was simply another possession he was displaying. A work of art. The artist who
painted the portrait is fairly renowned, so I suspect Beaumont was more
impressed by the artist than the subject.”

“This former boss of
yours doesn’t sound very nice.”

“No, he isn’t.”

“Jeff, that part about
her inheritance. You said those friends of hers insisted her parents left her
something, but she says her grandfather contradicts that. How does she know her
grandfather was telling the truth, considering all his lies and manipulations?”

“Beaumont contested the
guardianship in court, so I would imagine anything left to her in a will would come
under the scrutiny of the court. If there was really any money from her parents,
I don’t see how he could hide that.”  

“He could hide it in
clear sight.”

“I don’t understand
what you mean.”

“Jeff, remember how
your father and I put money away each month into a tax-differed savings account
for you?”

“Sure. I used that
money to go to college.”

“With those kinds of
accounts, once we put money into it, it belonged to you. Your father and I
weren’t free to take the money out without a good reason.”

“I still don’t get what
you’re saying.”

“When you turned
eighteen, you could have spent the money however you wanted, and we wouldn’t
have been able to do a thing about it.”

“Yeah, but I used it
for college.”

“True. But had you
wanted to spend it on something else, we couldn’t have stopped you.”

“I still don’t get your
point.”

“What would have
happened if your father and I never told you about the account? It would still
be there; it would be your money to spend. But how would you spend it if you
didn’t know it existed?”

“Are you saying there
might be money out there that belongs to Lexi, but she simply doesn’t know
about it?”

“Who’s been in her life
to tell her? Her grandfather certainly wouldn’t, if he wants a way to control
her. Considering the affairs of our social service these days, I don’t imagine
there is some court clerk or judge waiting for the granddaughter of a wealthy
and influential business man to come of age so they can tell her about her
inheritance. Those people have probably moved on.”

“I didn’t really
consider that. I just figured, if Lexi was so certain…”

“Just something to
think about.”

When Jeff finally said
goodbye to his mother, he found it difficult to think about anything else.
Did
Lexi have an inheritance she didn’t know about?
Before he moved on with his
own life, he needed to make some restitution to Lexi. If her grandfather had
lied to her about her parent’s will, he was determined to find out.

* * *

Lexi experienced a
hectic week. The store from which she normally purchased the Mason jars was out
of stock. Apparently there wasn’t a big demand for canning jars in Lake Havasu
City, Arizona—until Lexi’s arrival.  She solved her jar dilemma and moved to the
next fire.

On Tuesday, she met
with the woman from the local gift shop and settled on a discount case price
for resale. Tuesday afternoon she was contacted by another gift shop—this one
located in Sedona, Arizona—who wanted to stock the mix. Apparently, the
daughter of the Sedona shop owner had visited Havasu and brought a jar back to
Sedona.

Facebook likes were
growing hourly on the hot fudge page, and visitors were leaving positive
comments. One person asked if Lexi planned to make a sugar-free version of the
fudge. Lexi wasn’t sure how that would taste, so she stopped by the store and
picked up some sugar substitute and made a small batch.

After a bit of
experimenting, she discovered cooking the sugar free version in the microwave
reacted like overcooked fudge, in that the powdered ingredients formed a hard
clump in a pool of oily liquid. It wasn’t possible to cook the mix in the
microwave for the amount of time required to make the hot fudge sauce without it
becoming rock hard. She tried cooking it on the stove, in the traditional
manner. It cooked quicker than the sugar version, and while it tasted okay, for
sugar free, it never obtained the original recipe’s caramel consistency.

Lexi remembered what
Jeff had told her about responsible growth, and warning her against trying to
grow the business too fast. She missed talking to him about the hot fudge
venture and sharing ideas. Asking herself what Jeff would say about producing
sugar-free hot fudge mix at this time, she intuitively knew the answer. For the
moment, she was busy enough producing and marketing the original recipe. There
would be time later to expand and bring a sugar-free version to her customers.

By Saturday morning,
she was in a panic. Her email box was full with requests for the mix, each one
asking her to reserve a jar for Sunday. It had been a challenge packing 48 jars
of the mix, along with the folding table, two camp chairs and EZ-UP into
Angie’s Volkswagen the previous Sunday. As it was, Angie had a photo shoot
Sunday afternoon, so she would have to drop Lexi off at the swap meet in the
morning, and pick her up later in the afternoon. If the photo shoot went on too
long, Lexi might end up sitting alone in the London Bridge Shopping Center
parking lot, waiting for her ride, after the rest of the vendors left for the
day. It also meant it would be impossible to go to the restroom without leaving
the booth unattended. She was beginning to feel overwhelmed.

Lexi was alone at the
house, pacing back and forth in the living room, and trying to decide how to
deal with the email requests.
Can I fit that many jars in the car? If I
reserve the jars I have, what happens if no one picks them up, and I lose
sales?
Lexi wished Angie was home so she would have someone to talk to, but
her friend had gone to the store.

Had Angie been home, Lexi
might not have asked her opinion anyway. While Angie had been extremely
supportive, she made it clear the hot fudge venture was Lexi’s baby and passion—it
was not Angie’s. Lexi told herself she needed to stop imposing on Angie, and
learn to manage her new business on her own.

 In the midst of her
pacing, a knock came at the door. Before opening it, Lexi looked out the peep
hole. To her surprise, it was Jeff. Standing on the front porch wearing denims
and a black jacket, he held a large manila envelope in his hands. His fingers
fidgeted nervously with the edge of the envelope.

Her heart swelled and
pulse accelerated. Instead of the anger she once felt, she was elated to see
him again. Although she wanted nothing more than to open the door and leap into
his arms, she took a deep breath and calmly opened the door.

“Jeff,” Lexi greeted in
an even and steady tone.

Since turning off Highway
40 onto Highway 95 en route to Lake Havasu City, Jeff’s own heart began beating
faster. Standing in Lexi’s doorway, he wondered briefly if she could hear its rapid
pounding. Jeff’s gaze swept over Lexi. She looked even more beautiful than he
remembered. Grateful she wasn’t slamming the door in his face, he smiled softly.

“Hi, Lexi. I need to
talk to you. It’s very important.”

“I thought you left
Havasu.”

“I did. I just drove in
now.”

Lexi glanced over his
shoulder and noticed the car parked in the driveway. It was the vehicle he’d driven
when he’d first started spying on her at the Hillcrest Apartments.

“Sure. Come in.” Lexi opened
the door wider and stood to the side. Jeff followed Lexi into the house. They were
both nervous.

“Can we sit down?” Jeff
asked.

“Sure.” Lexi led him
into the living room. She sat on the couch. Nervous and anxious, wondering what
he had to say to her and why he’d driven so far to say it, she felt as if a
hundred butterflies were fluttering about in her stomach.

He placed the envelope
on the coffee table and sat on the love seat. “Lexi, I know you can’t forgive
me,” he began.

“Who said I can’t
forgive you?” Lexi blurted out.

Stunned, Jeff said
nothing but just stared for a moment. “I just assumed…” he finally stammered.

“Did you mean what you
wrote in your note?”

“Yes, every word.”

“I’ve missed you Jeff,”
Lexi confessed. Folding her hands together, she tapped her feet nervously against
the floor and desperately attempted to contain her emotions.

“I’ve missed you, too.”
Jeff smiled. He hadn’t expected this, but he certainly wasn’t going to
complain.

Unable to contain
herself, she leapt from the couch and rushed at Jeff. She barely gave him time
to open his arms, yet he managed to in spite of her eagerness. Falling together
on the small loveseat, Jeff welcomed her kisses, holding her tight.

When the kissing
stopped, they lay together on the loveseat, Jeff holding her in his arms.

“This isn’t why I
came,” Jeff murmured, without considering how the words might sound. Lexi tried
to pull away, but he refused to let her go.

“You aren’t getting
away from me,” Jeff growled. “I didn’t think you’d forgive me. Had I any idea
you’d give me this greeting, I would have driven faster to get here.”  He
hugged her tighter, and she stopped struggling.

“Then, why did you
come?” Lexi asked, snuggling into his embrace.

“I thought you needed
to know. You are a rich woman, Lexi Beaumont.”

Letting the words sink
in, Lexi frowned and then pulled away slightly, looking down at Jeff.

“What are you talking
about?”

“I don’t understand.” Lexi
sat up, as did Jeff. They sat side by side on the loveseat.

“Your grandfather lied
about there being no inheritance. Carolyn was right; there was life insurance,
plus the proceeds from your family home. There was also the sale of your
parents’ business and other assets.”

“I don’t understand.
Grandfather said that went to pay off my father’s loan.”

“Lexi, I don’t know
about any loan from your grandfather; there’s no record of it. And frankly, I
seriously doubt there ever was one. You were right; your parents were having
financial problems and your dad did have to borrow some money, but it wasn’t
from your grandfather.”

“I still don’t
understand.”

“Your father had key
man insurance, which basically paid off any outstanding debts of his business
when he died, and made it possible to sell the business at a profit. Plus, they
had life insurance on both of them, with you as the benefactor.”

“Grandfather said there
was no money.”

“I did considerable sleuthing
this past week. I talked to one person who worked for the courts back then and
is retired now. He remembered the case and told me one of your grandfather’s
arguments for custody was that he would financially support you and promised to
give you an education if he was guardian. He also promised the courts he
wouldn’t touch your inheritance to do so, something the Mannings probably wouldn’t
have been able to do.”

“So, where’s the money
now?”

“It’s in a bank
account, waiting for you.”

“Why didn’t anyone tell
me?’

“I imagine they all
assumed it was your grandfather’s place to explain it all to you. They had no
reason to believe he would lie. Plus, the way it’s set up, you couldn’t touch
it until your twenty-first birthday, anyway.”

“That was just a few
months ago.”

“Exactly.”

“Well, how much are we
talking?” Lexi never considered there was actually an inheritance. For years,
her grandfather had told her the opposite. She would have never investigated on
her own.

“Are you sitting down?”

Lexi rolled her eyes at
his silly question, considering they were both sitting on the loveseat
together.

“Almost five million.”

“No.” Lexi shook her
head in disbelief.

“Yes.” Jeff nodded.

“How is that even
possible?”

“Your parents had a big
life insurance policy, both of them. The house sold for even more than what Joe
estimated. After your father borrowed that money, his business took a turn for
the better and it sold for some major cash after he died. There were also some
stocks, minor assets, and over the years, interest earned.” Jeff reached to the
coffee table and picked up the envelope and handed it to her. “It’s all in
here. All the details.”

“I don’t know what to
say,” Lexi held the large envelope yet made no attempt to look inside.

“I guess I was wrong
about my grandfather.”

“Excuse me?”

“I know my grandfather
isn’t good with personal relationships, and I wondered why he even bothered
taking me in, considering how he’s treated me over the years. But I guess, in
his own way, he must have cared, since he made sure my inheritance stayed
intact, and he paid for my education and supported me all these years.”

Jeff closed his eyes
for a moment, reminding himself to maintain his cool. Opening them again, he
reached out and took Lexi’s free hand in his.

“I wish I could agree
with you, Lexi. But remember, he lied to you about it all these years.”

“I know, but there must
be a reason he did all this.” She sounded like a little girl.

“Lexi, I need to tell
you the rest.” He continued to hold her hand, his expression solemn.

“What?”

“I can’t say for
certain why your grandfather initially took you in, or why he exploited the
angle of preserving your inheritance as a reason for granting him custody.”

“Exploited? I don’t
know what you mean?”

“Lexi, while he may have
done what he promised—gave you support and education without touching your
inheritance—you can’t ignore the fact he’s done his best to keep you from
knowing about that inheritance.”

“I know. But that
doesn’t make sense. Maybe, in his own strange way, he was protecting me?”

“From what? You?”

“Well, he doesn’t think
I’m very smart.” She sounded embarrassed at the admission.

“And he’s an idiot,”
Jeff snapped. “Lexi, you need to understand that your grandfather’s behavior is
not a reflection on you. A normal person would be proud to have you as a
granddaughter.”

“There is more, isn’t
there?”

“Yes. Like I said, I
have no idea what his original motivations were when he fought for custody. I
spent a lot of time with him the last two years, and probably know him better
than most. He is very possessive. I wish I could say grandfatherly love
inspired him to fight for you, but I suspect it had more to do with stubborn
pride. There was no way Ethan Beaumont was going to let strangers raise his
granddaughter.”

Lexi said nothing, but
knew what he was saying was true.

“Lexi, I also made a
call to one of my close friends who still works at your grandfather’s company.
When I told him what happened, why I was let go, he was pretty pissed. It
didn’t take much to convince him to do a little snooping for me. I took the
information he gave me, pieced it together with a few things I already knew,
and called in a few favors from someone who works at one of the banks your
grandfather uses. His company is in serious financial difficulty.”

“That is impossible.”

“I’m afraid not. A few
things happened on that last Europe trip that had me wondering, but he’s good
at making the world see what he wants them to see.”

“How serious?”

“At the moment, you
have about five million more dollars than he does.”

“Grandfather, broke?”

“Unless he can pull
some rabbit out of the hat. And frankly, I think you were that rabbit.”

“You think he was
trying to get his hands on my money to save his company?”

“I’m not really sure if
that would be enough to bail him out, but knowing your grandfather, he would go
down spending your last dime if he thought there was a chance to save his
precious company.”

“Jeff, this doesn’t
make any sense. If he wanted my money, why wouldn’t he just come to me and ask?
Hell, he could have made up some cover story about why he concealed the
inheritance, such as he wanted to surprise me.”

“Do you even know your
grandfather? Do you honestly think he wants to owe you a favor? I couldn’t get
anyone at the bank to talk to me about your account, but I found out the
general manager had been let go several weeks ago, so I tracked him down, and
he was more than willing to talk for a price.”

“You paid someone?”

Jeff shrugged, then
continued with his explanation. “A while back, your grandfather went to the
bank, supposedly on your behalf. He told them you were getting married soon,
and you wanted to put your husband on the account, and that he was going to be
handling your money. He told them you wanted to know what needed to be done to
set this up. When asked why you didn’t come in, he just laughed and said his
granddaughter couldn’t be bothered with such mundane tasks.”

“So, all this marrying
Jerome business was so those two could get hold of my inheritance?” No longer
making excuses for her grandfather, Lexi felt anger mount.

“I think so.”

“So, once I married
Peters, it would be easier for them to extort my inheritance.”

“I think that’s what
they believed.”

“But, why did my
grandfather ever believe he could get me to marry his business partner?”

“There is only one
reason I can think of.”

“What’s that?”

“He has no idea who you
are.”