A Home From Nothing

Chapter 7

I see the recognition light up her eyes when she sees its me sitting on the floor between the man and woman on white chairs with a light blue backdrop. I was smiling but it definitely didn’t reach my eyes. I was so sullen back then. Never able to be happy, always wondering if something I did would set them off.

“I think you need to go home. Now. Ill take care of finding coverage for your shift and inform the DON why you left. I think they would be pretty understanding of this.” Jenny says, walking towards me and ushering me out of the room. She pulls me to the Director of Nursings office and takes care of informing him of the news report and that it was my parents they found.

I had stopped by and told Domino and Graham about the news report and who they were to me. They both held on to me when I slid to the floor and bawled. Saying it out loud broke me in a way I didn’t think I could break. I don’t really have any fond memories of them. We never spent time together or did all the things other kids said their families did while growing up. I grieved the loss of that, for the loss of what should have been. The next three days pass in a blur of questions, cops and paperwork.

Graham drove me all the way to Tennessee and helped me navigate through all the paperwork for the police and for the lawyer handling my parents property. All I ever knew about my dads job was he was an accountant for the biggest distillery in the country, turns out he was also moonlighting as a drug mule and embezzling money from the distillery. I was a bit taken aback but not entirely surprised at that.

After getting the house and car titles applied for in my name, I decided to get some boxes and see if my fathers office needed clearing. Graham stayed at my parents house packing things and looking through for other valuables. I know we didn’t have much in the beginning but as I got older, we had more and nicer things. Well, they did. I got the bare minimum of necessities and occasionally they would splurge and buy me something nice. Just to be able to say they did, then they would take it away the next time I would upset them.

I head into Jackson to the distillery. There are 3 buildings on the property, a tall looking wooden warehouse with no windows, a huge tower of a building with at least 10 floors in front of the warehouse and in the back and to the left, a house. Not a huge brick mansion like one would expect from a super wealthy man but a rustic building with a wall of windows in the front, half rock half log. A large red door in the middle and a balcony overlooking the other buildings.

As I guide the car into a parking spot near the warehouse, I take in the buildings and how they’re set up. Where you can see each of them from any other. Almost in a triangle, interesting. I grab a single box from the back seat and walk into the tower.

I’ve never seen such a sleek design in my life. The tops of the counters and the walls are all a marble black with streaks of silver and flecks of gold while the cabinets and doors are all a smoky gray. On the wall in the middle of the room is the logo from the bottle and the name, Langston’s Whiskey.

I’ve never been here before so I head towards the beautiful plump blonde sitting at the desk to my left. She has her soft locks styled in pinup fashion, deep red lips and eyes rimmed with coal. Her name plaque reads Jenna Draper.

“Excuse me, I don’t mean to bother you Miss. Draper, I was just hoping you could point me in the direction of the accountants office? I’m here to pick up Troy’s things.” I say as pleasant as I can, hoping I’m not interrupting anything important. She finishes typing out whatever it was she was working on before giving me her attention.

“I’m afraid there may not be much left in there after the police came and went through everything. They were on a mission and Mr. Langston was not about to let them miss anything in that investigation. Are you from the lawyers office?” She looked up at me at that point and I couldn’t decide if I wanted to tell her who I was or not. She looked pleasant enough but I don’t know how anyone in this building would behave if they knew I was related to him. I decided it would be easier to just tell the truth. It’s not like I stole the money.

“Actually no, I’m his daughter.” I confess with my head down and my eyes avoiding her. She looked struck by that. As if she were smacked in the face by that.

“I didn’t know they had children. He’s never mentioned having kids. Ever.” She blinked long and slow a few times before gathering her thoughts. “I’m so sorry for your loss. Please, if there’s ever anything I can do to help you, just let me know.”

“Thank you. For now I think directions would be helpful if you have the time.” I replied, hoping I didn’t miss the mark on what she was offering.

Her forehead wrinkles for a moment and then she’s standing, “I’ll take you there myself.” As she walks away, I see her grab her phone from her desk drawer and as we walk she types something out before showing me to the elevator.