Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 76203 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76203 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
“What do you mean?”
“Why Golden Glades instead of Shady Valley?”
“Have you seen Shady Valley? Landlocked small town in the middle of nowhere. I want to be on a beach, peeling bikinis off a new girl every day. Not creating a rotation of the same small-town girls and shooting pool or drinking at the only bar in town.”
“I see your point,” I agreed. “Though Golden Glades isn’t exactly a big town either.”
“It’s close enough to one.”
“Fair. Ready to meet Huck?”
“He’s gonna love me,” Spiro boasted with a devilish smirk.
The thing was… I was pretty sure that was the case.
Runa - 3 months
“I love it,” I told Teddy as we toured one of the buildings he and his team had come up with that they thought might work for the site of a future women’s shelter.
“It needs a lot of work, I’ll admit,” Teddy said, turning in a circle. “But you’ll soon have the money. And I don’t think any of the other locations will be as protected as this one.”
He was right. It was at the end of a dead-end road with no access to the back of the building, thanks to a large lake. Sure, if someone was determined enough, they could come across the lake to access the building. But that was where a tall, unscalable fence came in. I wouldn’t want open-access to the water anyway, if kids were going to be around.
“And there is a lot of room out back for play equipment,” I agreed. “What was this place again?”
“Some sort of factory. It’s built well. The brick walls work in its favor, even if it’s going to take a lot to turn it into the little apartments you are aiming for.”
“If I’m going to do it, I want to do it right. There is such a need for these places. And for places to stay that feel like a home, not a shelter.”
“It’s an amazing project. And you will have more than enough money soon enough.”
Teddy had been invaluable navigating this whole process of figuring out how to handle the rare earth mineral rights, how I would even handle that much money, where I could invest, and how to save.
It was enough to make my head spin. Me, who never had more than a few thousand dollars at a time in my life.
But Teddy had a lifetime of experience with even more money than I would ever have. He was able to break down the complications into simple terms and ease my fears.
And he wasn’t pushy.
He was as rich as God, but he still worked hard at creating more wealth. Yet he understood that my path was different. Sure, I wanted money for Denali, and maybe even Denali’s kids. But I wanted to dedicate a large chunk of this found money to things to help women like the one I had been for so many years.
This would just be the first of the many projects I had planned all across the United States.
“This is the one. I can feel it. Let’s try to lock it down.”
“You know,” Teddy said as we made our way back out of the building, “you still haven’t talked to me about any of the houses I found for you and your family.”
“I know. I’m having a hard time making that decision.”
We’d mostly been staying in the apartment York had rented out—one, cute, happy little family in enough space for us for the time being.
We had months left on the lease. Plenty of time to figure out what we were going to do next.
York and I had been batting around ideas for staying until the school year was up, then taking Denny on a cross-country road trip. We could buy a nice camper so she didn’t have to sleep outside. We could visit a bunch of the national parks, tourist attractions, and random towns that were always packed with things to do.
She was young, sure. But old enough, I felt, to remember a lot of the experiences. Or, at the very least, enjoy it in the moment.
And, yes, in doing so, I would get to reacquainted with a part of myself I’d needed to set aside to take care of a baby on my own.
“You might be putting too much pressure on it. You don’t have to commit to a house forever, you know. You can change your mind every year or five years if you want.”
“That’s true. But Denny has known so much instability in her life. I want there to be something constant for her.”
“I can understand that,” Teddy agreed as we made our way to his town car. “I will let the lawyers know your plan,” he said, since I decided to use his lawyers to keep things simple. “They should start mining for the minerals in the next three months. I very much doubt anyone will try to buy this before then.”