“Just wanted to wish you both a good first day at school,” I heard Callum say despite not being on speaker. He was muffled, but I still heard him. “Did you children get the vehicle I had sent over this morning?”
Bru shot me a look that could have killed me where I sat, and I started to say something, but he spoke first.
“Yeah, Sloane almost had it sent back,” he said, and I growled, ripping his phone away. He sneered. “Hey—”
I put his phone on speaker, then connected it to the phone stand on my dad’s dash. “Hey, Callum.”
“Good morning, Sloane.” One thing about Callum Montgomery was that he sounded as much like a businessman as he came across in person. In the handful of times I’d seen him, he dressed in nothing short of a suit and never once stumbled over a syllable in conversation. He was also older, well into his sixties and carried a polish about him that definitely made me question how my father was ever in the same circle as this man. Let alone close enough to make him our guardian.
As it seemed my father must have had another life before Bru and me. I suspected this anyway because on the few memories I did have of my mother (she died when Bru and I were really young), my dad had been happy. He’d been at ease.
Though maybe this was the mere perception of a child. I didn’t know, but what I did know, was that this Callum Montgomery was not only well versed but well off. I looked into him a bit, and he had businesses all over the world, a self-made entrepreneur, I guess.
Currently, he was on the other side of the world conducting business dealings, but had come back to not only settle my dad’s affairs, but take care of his kids. Callum had literally taken care of everything after our father died, funeral included, and though I’d been grateful, we really didn’t know the guy.
I supposed it was just one more thing my dad kept to himself in the virtual lockdown that was his head. He kept a lot to himself, his own personal vault.
“Good morning,” I returned through the line. “We did get the car, and it was very generous.”
“Of course. Of course, but was there an issue?” His voice was inquisitive. “Your brother said you were trying to send it back.”
Bru eyed me from his seat, and I rolled my eyes.
“I just told the men I believed the delivery was a mistake. You see, we already have a car. My dad’s Chevelle.”
He remembered that, was there at the will reading when it’d been given to us as well as all my dad’s personal assets. Dad hadn’t had much, but he’d had the Chevelle, and my brother and I had used it to drive down here from Chicago.
“I definitely see where the confusion would come from,” he said, but sounded busy in the background. He probably was. “But there is no mistake. I know you have the Chevelle, but there are two of you. I figured you take one and your brother the other.”
Bru raised his hand like that was obvious.
I eyed him. “Yes, but it was very generous.” The Chevelle was worth like a few grand max. I shook my head. “It’s just too much. I’m grateful, but yeah, it’s a lot.”
“I see,” he said. “But then again, I don’t. It’s my job as your guardian to take care of you and your brother, and it’s an honor doing so. Your father was a great friend to me, and with his passing, I simply want both you kids to be as comfortable as you can possibly be.”
I looked away after he said that, studying the road. He’d said something similar at the funeral.
“I want you kids to ask if you ever need anything. It’s the least I can do. You’ve both had such tragedy,” he’d said.
I could imagine he felt sorry for us, two clearly poor kids in comparison to him. I shook my head. “Yeah, but I don’t want you to think we expect any of this.”
And technically, he wasn’t my guardian just Bru’s.
I felt some kind of way taking things from him because of that. Like all this stuff had a counter, and I didn’t want to owe him anything. He never made it seem like we did, but still.
“I understand if you don’t want to accept the car, but I hope you will,” he continued. “You and your brother have both had a lot of changes. A new school. A new town and life entirely. Having two vehicles will help with that transition.”
“I agree,” Bru stated, putting in his two cents. He faced the phone. “I really appreciate it, Callum. Sloane does too.”
“I do,” I said, and I didn’t want it to come across that I didn’t. “I’m sorry if I came across any other way.”
“You didn’t, and like I said, I understand,” he returned. “I really hope you’ll accept the gift, but if you don’t want it, I get that too. If you’d like a different vehicle, you can let me know that as well. I’ll have anything arranged for you.”
Now, I felt bad. “You really don’t have to do that.”
“Really, it would be my pleasure. You know, you and I had an agreement. I may be technically your brother’s guardian, but that’s just on paper. You call the shots always, Sloane.”
He’d said that during the will reading, that the custody thing was just on paper and Bru and I were free to do what we wished. Even still, he wanted to be there for us and had plans to come out to Maywood Heights often to check on us. He was supposed to after he concluded his latest business endeavor. I guess he was building an airport in New Delhi or something. Wild. Even still, he found a way to fit us and our unusual situation into his life. I was grateful for that.