Nine Lives Read online

  They went for a short walk, as Helen had suggested, and drove to the grocery store. Maggie didn’t want to see anyone, but she didn’t want to starve Aden. She herself had barely eaten since the plane crash and had lost weight. They filled the basket with simple, easy-to-prepare food, and went back to the house.

  “Thank you, Helen. I just couldn’t get it together.”

  “I know. That’s why I came over.” She was a pretty, petite blonde. She had three sons, Aden’s teammate was the oldest, the youngest was six, and her husband was the head of an advertising agency in Chicago. They went to all their son’s hockey games, just as she and Brad did. “Do you need me to make any calls for you?” she offered. Maggie shook her head.

  “I haven’t checked my messages in weeks. There’s no one I want to talk to.”

  “It might be a good idea to check,” she suggested gently.

  When Maggie looked at her phone, she saw that she had thirty-nine messages. The thought of listening to them was exhausting. “I’ll do it later,” she said. Helen left shortly after, and Maggie sat down in the kitchen to listen to the messages. She had nine from Brad’s office manager, Phil Abrams, at least a dozen from the parents of Aden’s friends, four from their insurance company, and six from the airline. The others were from friends of Brad’s and some people she didn’t even remember, or want to talk to. She didn’t want to talk to anyone, but she called Brad’s office manager first, and apologized for not calling him back sooner. He had worked for the firm for twenty years, and she knew how much Brad respected him.

  “Can I come to see you, Maggie?”

  “I’m not seeing anyone just now,” she said in a soft voice. He could hear how shattered she was.

  “I don’t want to intrude on you, but it’s about the business.” She realized then that she owed it to Brad to meet with Phil, no matter how hard it was for her. She couldn’t just bury herself alive as her mother had done. And even her mother had gone out and worked. She hadn’t hidden at home, she’d had her children to take care of. And Maggie had Aden, and Brad’s business. She agreed to meet with Phil the next day, and said she’d come to the office. Then she asked him to call the insurance company for her.

  “They don’t want to talk to me. They need to speak to you. They’ve called here about fifteen times too. They’re very eager to connect with you.” She sighed and promised to call them. “The airline has been calling here too. I think you have to speak to them, Maggie. No matter how painful it is.”

  “I guess I do,” she said, feeling exhausted at the prospect. She had forced Aden to go back to school, now she had to make the same effort herself, and face her responsibilities. “What do they want?”

  “They didn’t tell me. Their insurers probably want to speak to you, and their legal department. A lot of lives were lost in the crash. They’re going to be dealing with lawsuits. Are you going to sue them, Maggie? That’s probably what they want to know.”

  “Why would I? It won’t bring Brad back,” she said sadly.

  “Call them, and see what they have to say,” he prodded her, and she said she’d see him the next day at the office and hung up. She dreaded going and not finding Brad there. It would drive the reality home again. But she had to face it.

  She had food in the oven when Aden came home that evening, not a casserole and not frozen pizza. She’d made Aden’s favorite meatloaf and he was startled when he saw it. She’d made mashed potatoes and string beans to go with it.

  “You cooked?” He looked shocked.

  “Jimmy Watson’s mom came over today and got me up and running.” He smiled and put his arms around her, then told her what she had planned to say to him.

  “We’re going to be okay, Mom. We’re going to miss Dad like crazy.” His eyes filled with tears. “But he’d want us to get through it. We have to do it for him.”

  “I know we will.” She held him tightly, and a few minutes later, they sat down to dinner. She had set the table with place mats, nice plates and cutlery, and cloth napkins. Everything was going to be different from now on, and they both knew it. She had Aden to take care of, and he needed her. Brad was gone. She was a widow at forty-seven. She had no idea how they were going to survive this, but she was determined that they would. Helen Watson had gotten her back on her feet and moving forward. Maggie knew she’d never forget what Helen had done. She owed her a debt of gratitude forever.

  After the meatloaf, they had ice cream and chocolate sauce for dessert, Aden’s favorite. It had been Brad’s too, but she couldn’t let herself think about that. She had a son to get through his senior year of high school and into college, a business to make decisions about. And, like it or not, she had to call the insurance company and the airline. The rest could wait.

  Chapter 3

  The morning after Helen Watson had visited her, Maggie got up even before Aden was awake. She woke him herself, and he opened an eye, surprised to see her.

  “What are you doing up?” he asked sleepily. For weeks, ever since Brad’s death, she’d been up all night, haunting the house like a ghost, and fell asleep just before Aden woke up in the morning. He’d been making his own breakfast and leaving the house quietly, and his friends’ moms had been driving him, since the students weren’t allowed to drive and park their cars at school.

  “I figured it was time to get back on breakfast duty.” Ordinarily, she had made him a hearty breakfast every day. He had a long day of classes and hockey practice ahead of him. He was a tall, powerfully built boy, like Brad, and needed fuel to keep him going. He smiled as he got out of bed and headed for the shower, then she went downstairs to make him his favorite breakfast of bacon and eggs, sunny side up, and fresh-squeezed orange juice. She knew he’d gulp it down before he flew out the door. He was downstairs twenty minutes later, his hair still damp from the shower, and he was happy to see her. She looked tired, but as though she had drifted back to earth again, after nearly four weeks since his father’s shocking death.

  Aden was thinner and seemed suddenly older too. It was a hard way to grow up, and Buck Williams, his hockey coach, had been concerned about him, and had taken him under his wing. He knew from Aden that his mom had been close to nonfunctional since the crash, and was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder herself, which wasn’t surprising. Buck wanted to keep Aden on track, still coming to practice and focusing on school as best he could, despite the changes in his life. Buck hadn’t asked but he wondered if they would have to sell their house and move, now that they were without Brad’s earning power. Since Brad was the breadwinner, and he was gone now, anything was likely to happen, which could destabilize Aden’s life even more than it just had been. Buck hoped Aden would be able to get a hockey scholarship, a full ride, so he could still go to college. He’d sent a note off to the athletic directors of all the schools Aden had applied to, asking them to consider his applications even more favorably, and Buck felt it was justified. Aden was an outstanding player, and might even have a shot at the NHL after college, if he wanted that. It wasn’t what his parents had hoped for him, but maybe that would change now. Despite all of Brad’s plans for him, Buck knew that the last thing Aden wanted was to become an accountant. Aden wanted to be a marine biologist, or a commercial fisherman in Alaska, or a test pilot like his grandfather, or preferably something outdoors and exciting. He had even thought about becoming a mountain-climbing guide or a ski instructor, none of which had pleased his parents. His future had been mapped out for him from the moment he was born. He was going to work with his father as an accountant in the family business his paternal grandfather had built forty years before. Brad had helped it grow into a sizable business, and it was thriving. They weren’t rich, but they were solid and lived well, and everything they had and saved was focused on Aden, a burden he didn’t enjoy.

  Maggie dressed after Aden left the house. She wore a simple black pantsuit and tried to
look businesslike. She had seen Brad’s will, and knew that he had left her the business. She had no idea what to do with it, or how to run it. She liked working there two days a week, helping out, filing and putting things away, but she knew she didn’t have the skills to take Brad’s place. She wanted to keep it going until Aden grew up, and could start working there after college, but he was still years away from stepping into his father’s shoes. She was counting on Phil Abrams to run it until Aden was ready. Probably after business school. She hoped he’d go to Stanford for that, like his father, or Harvard, but Aden wasn’t the student Brad had been, at least not yet, and he was a much better athlete than his father.

  The ride to Brad’s office was short, and Maggie felt like she was on autopilot on the way there. She kept reminding herself that Brad wouldn’t be there, so it wouldn’t be a shock, but part of her kept expecting to see him in his office when she walked in. She looked pale and tense, bracing herself for disappointment when she arrived. Her dark hair was pulled back in a neat bun, her face was sheet-white, as it had been for a month, and she had worn no makeup. She had realized that there was no point, since she’d end up crying anyway. She cried almost constantly, although she was dry-eyed as Phil greeted her, and after hesitating for a moment, he walked her into his office. The door to Brad’s had been closed for a month, ever since he’d left for New York.

  Phil was older than Brad, and had worked for Brad’s father. He’d been with the firm ever since he’d gotten his CPA. He was in his fifties and had put four kids through college working there. His son was a doctor, both his daughters were lawyers, and his youngest son was a CPA. Brad had viewed Phil almost as an older brother, and frequently sought his advice about practical matters, and running the business after his own father died. They had stayed very much with his father’s model, after modernizing it somewhat. They were highly respected in the community as a firm with integrity. Phil had thought of going out on his own early on, but once he had a family, he needed the stability that Mackenzie and Son offered.

  “Would you like a cup of coffee?” Phil offered when she sat down.

  “No, I’m fine,” she said, but didn’t look it. He noticed that her hands were shaking, and she kept glancing at the closed door to Brad’s office, as though she expected it to open at any minute, and the large teddy bear frame of Brad to walk through it. Phil had felt that way at first too. He was a slight, gray-haired man, who looked older than his years. When Brad died, he felt as though he had lost a brother. He was still reeling from the shock himself. But he also knew that they had decisions to make.

  “Are you doing okay, Maggie?” he asked, concerned about her. He hadn’t seen her since the funeral, and she’d been through a lot herself, having been in the crash. She nodded. She didn’t want to tell him about the headaches, the nightmares, or the sleepless nights. Her doctor had given her sleeping pills, but they left her groggy and hungover and even more depressed the next day, so she didn’t want to take them.

  “I’m okay,” she said softly.

  “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and it may be too early for you to talk about this, but sooner or later we need to think about the business. It’s running smoothly now, and it could for a long time, but it’s going to be years before Aden is ready to step into it, and Brad wasn’t sure he’d ever want to. He’s young, and he doesn’t know what he wants to do yet. Brad wanted to be a professional baseball player as a boy, but he outgrew it,” and Maggie knew that a broken elbow in his pitching arm had changed that, and he had settled into his father’s business. “Whatever he decides, Aden won’t be ready to take over for at least ten or twelve years. That’s a long time, and Brad was part of the magic here. Clients need someone they can relate to, and I’ve always been more of a behind-the-scenes man.”

  “What are you saying, Phil?” Maggie looked worried and was afraid he wanted to quit. She couldn’t run the business without him, and she knew she couldn’t do it herself. She wasn’t an accountant and didn’t have the skills. She was more of a girl Friday when she came in to help Brad out. She didn’t deal with clients.

  “I thought about it a lot, and I don’t know how you’d feel about it, but I’d like to buy the business, or even enter into partnership with you. My son Bill is a CPA now, and he wants to come into the business with me. I’d already spoken to Brad about it, and he liked the idea. We need some young blood here, until Aden is ready. Clients like that too. But now we don’t have Brad to run it. I’d have to step up to the plate on that. I will anyway. But I want to build something for my own family, a legacy we can count on and that I could leave them one day. If you’re interested, I’d like to have the business appraised, figure out a fair price for it, and start paying you. I’d rather have full ownership, if I can afford it. I’d be willing to sell my house to do it, and put that money into what I could pay you. It would be worth it to me, Maggie. And, of course, I would preserve the name. Maybe we could call it Mackenzie, Abrams, and Sons. I think I might have just enough to pay you a decent price for it, if you could be patient, and let me pay you in regular installments over a year or two.” She looked stunned. She wasn’t sure how Brad would have felt about her selling the business, and Aden no longer having it as an option for a career later on. But she also wasn’t at all sure that Aden would ever want to work there, and Phil was right, Aden was a dozen years away from stepping into his father’s shoes, and maybe not even then. It was a long time to keep the business warm, and Phil would be retired by then, and couldn’t help him. Phil was an honest man, who had loved Brad and genuinely cared about the business.

  “I don’t know,” she said, looking confused. “I’ve never thought of it. What did Brad say when you talked to him about it?” He had never mentioned it to her, and she wished she could have his input.

  “I talked to him about becoming a partner, and he wasn’t opposed, as I mentioned. But things were working the way they were, so there was no rush. I never considered buying the business from him. This changes everything. We have to think about the future.” She wanted to say “What future?” but she didn’t. She had no future without her husband, and maybe the business didn’t either. That hadn’t occurred to her until now. She didn’t have a clear idea of their financial situation, and didn’t feel ready to yet. Phil had tried talking to her about it after the funeral, but she didn’t want to hear it. She knew he was in the process of evaluating Brad’s investments. Brad had been conservative and put back everything he earned into the business, then invested in the stock market himself.

  “I have to think about it,” she said, she felt like she was letting Brad down if she sold, especially so soon after his death, but he was a smart businessman, and she wondered what he would have advised her to do in their present circumstances.

  “The firm will certainly be viable for a long time, but keeping it won’t make much sense if Aden never comes to work here,” Phil said. She agreed with that, but how could she ask her son to make a decision about his future at seventeen? That wasn’t fair to him, to have to make such an important choice now, one that would impact them now and for a very long time.

  “Do you think I need the money?” she asked him, and he shook his head and smiled at her.

  “Brad wasn’t a rich man by today’s standards, but he was very comfortable, and wise about his investments. I’ve almost finished appraising the estate. We need it for probate anyway. I think he had close to a million dollars in his portfolio, including what he had saved.” Maggie looked shocked. She hadn’t expected that at all. Neither of them was extravagant, and he never talked to her about money. He just took care of everything and told her she didn’t need to worry. She assumed he’d always be there to run it all. She didn’t need to know about their finances while he was alive.

  “A million?” She stared at Phil.

  “Close enough.”

  “I thought maybe a couple of hundred thousand.” And th
eir house was worth something, though it was small. It wasn’t in the most expensive neighborhood, but they were happy with it. “What do you think the business is worth?” It would be worth a little less now, without Brad, Phil knew, but he would build it up again, as he stepped up to the front lines and made it his.

  “I’m not sure. A little more than that. Ballpark, maybe a million two, or three, somewhere around there. Brad had picked up some very substantial clients, and was still developing it. He was always trying to make the business grow. He taught me a lot. To be honest, that would be a big bite for me. But I’ve already talked to the bank, I could get a loan. And if we sell the house, I’d give all of that to you. Julie is willing to move into an apartment now that the kids are gone. It’s a sacrifice we’re both willing to make, and the house has appreciated more than we expected.” They lived in a nicer house than she and Brad, and Phil had done a number of improvements on it himself over the years. They had added a pool when their kids were younger. “I think I can make it, Maggie. But it’s up to you. If you don’t want to sell to me, I understand. You don’t need to sell. Brad had life insurance too, and they’re anxious to speak to you.” She suddenly felt sick. She didn’t want to benefit financially from her husband dying. He had left her nearly a million in investments. He had left some of it to Aden, in trust for when he was older. But she had a roof over her head, and now Phil was offering her a lot of money for the business. With insurance money on top of it, she suddenly felt overwhelmed. She would have paid it all back just to have Brad alive again. She didn’t want money instead of Brad, but at least it sounded as though she could pay for Aden’s college education, even if he didn’t get a hockey scholarship. That was something at least.