A Moment Like You (The Baker’s Creek Billionaire Brothers #2) - Claudia Burgoa Page 0,19

Vance to solve all our issues,” Leyla adds. “Stand your ground. Don’t let him bully you. He hired you to be his assistant, right?”

“Yes, and the contract says that I’m required to travel with him as he sees fit,” I disclose.

“Pierce could look at the contract and find a loophole,” she suggests. “If we get you the money to cover your debt, would you quit?”

“My parents’ expenses are too high. It wouldn’t be sustainable in the long run,” I explain. “He wants me there, I’ll comply. Also, I’ll make his life a living hell. He’ll regret having me with him. I should make him fly my entire family to Baker’s Creek. At least as often as twice a month. He wants to deal with the Aragons, I’ll show him how painful it could be.”

“That’s my girl,” Blaire says. “Why not have your parents stay with us every other month. I would need to check with your mother’s doctor, but I can monitor her from here and assemble a team to treat her. This might help her with her depression too.”

“Watching me torture my boss?”

She laughs, “No, the change of scenery, meeting new people, and looking forward to new experiences. I can make a plan that includes Henry flying your parents to Portland every other day to see a specialist.”

“Horse therapy,” Leyla says. “Poppy is pretty good with patients. Arden is learning to ride with her.”

Blaire summarizes to Leyla what is wrong with my mom and Leyla says, “Well then, Pierce will have to help me with this.”

“Not sure if you’re suggesting this to help me or just to make his life miserable.”

“At this point, you should know that I can find ways to do something good and yet, make his life a living hell,” she says with pride.

“I’m emailing you a form so your mom or her guardian can sign it. It gives me and Hayes permission to discuss her health with her primary doctor,” Blaire informs me. “We’ll strategize and come up with a plan that might improve her quality of life and will keep her close to you.”

“Thank you,” I say, feeling slightly better. “To both of you.”

“If you need anything else let me know,” Leyla offers. “Until the building where I’m setting my practice is ready, I don’t have much to do.”

“I heard a rumor that the vet lady is already seeing patients,” I tell her.

“God, can you stop checking Baker’s Creek social media?” Blaire grunts.

“They are better at telling me what’s happening in town. You two omit a lot of information,” I explain to them.

“So what if I treated a couple of cats and a dog,” Leyla asks.

“That’s not all,” I counteract. “You’re already working. How about the baby cow?”

“Josie Morgan’s cow had a calf. I helped during the birth,” Leyla explains. “It’s like Blaire says, you don't have to limit yourself because of a building. We have a duty to our patients. Listen, these guys might have the intention of helping this town, but they can only do so much. It’s like the factory. Aldry’s Sweets can’t be saved by any of them. Only you.”

“Which is why I have to be there, isn’t it?” I ask the obvious and actually calm myself because being close might cut the time that it’s taking me to convince the employees we’re not closing and that their cooperation will help the transition to the new administration. Not that I know who is going to be in charge.

“She’s right,” Blaire agrees. “I wonder if William thought about the lives he’d impact when he decided to write this will?”

“He was up to something,” I inform them of what I’ve found so far. “I’ve been going through the books for the factory, and three years ago he just stopped caring about it. Before that, it was running smoothly. It’s the same with The Lodge. Almost at the same time, he drafted this crazy will. Listen, if he had done that with Aldridge Enterprises, he’d have lost everything and ended up homeless within months of fucking up, unlike the rest of his assets and businesses.”

“Pancreatic cancer is usually diagnosed at the late stage. I doubt he had three years to live unless… When and how was he diagnosed?” Leyla asks.

“We don’t know the exact information,” Blaire informs us. “His doctor claims that it would violate the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act privacy policy. We could try to figure out a legal way to get that information, but the guys don’t care about