Page 68 of The Secret
“I’d welcome that.” I take in the deep lines around his mouth and eyes and cup his jaw. “Are you okay?”
“I am now,” he says, with a lopsided grin, squeezing my hip.
“I’m sorry about your dad.”
“Don’t be—he was an asshole. I’ll fill you in sometime, but not now.” His hand slides down to my knee. “I just want to enjoy this. Will you have dinner with me tonight?”
I nod.
“Areyouokay, Liss?”
“I am. Seeing you here … it’s amazing.”
“God, I’m sorry I put you through that.”
“How long are you here for?”
“Twenty-four hours.”
My jaw drops as he gives me another squeeze. “That’s all the security services were happy with. We don’t have a security detail anymore, but we still have to let them know when we travel. Next time I’ll come for longer.”
32
DAN
Friday, April 1, 2022
The darkness of an early morning presses in around me, and I heave a deep sigh as I pass from dirt to the asphalt of the main highway away from the farm. A huge weight eases off my shoulders. Over the last three weeks, I’ve had a life outside of here, a life beyond the mess here. I’ve been more measured in my interactions, and calmer in my decision-making. This whole mountain we’ve got to climb sorting out my father’s estate, his shadow hanging over us, is receding like a wave: Someone has given me a future, and my heart is light with it.
I lean over to connect my phone to the car speaker system, and the cool voice of my audiobook fills the car. This should distract me through the five-hour drive down to Cape Town. I grin to myself: Listening to books about renewable agriculture and feeding my ideas into the farm is seriously pissing Jed off.
When I arrive in Cape Town, I text Liss to let her know I’m here and how much I’m looking forward to seeing her tomorrow. Then I spend four hours in meetings with lawyers, teeth grinding as it becomes clearer and clearer that almost no progress has been made since we started this process.Fuck. That.
The other side is stalling, no doubt with the aim of racking up our legal costs. The head lawyer on our team presents me with a bill that makes my hair stand on end. The pile of cash we made from the sale of the assets in Jed’s name is dwindling fast. What do I have to do to hurry this process along? They’re all smiles and apologies, but at the end of the meeting, I pull the head guy to one side.
“It can’t go on like this,” I say quietly. “We’ll run out of money very quickly.”
He nods. “I know, you said at the beginning how much you might be able to afford.”
“I’m so frustrated.”
“Rest assured, we are too. The other side wants to make this difficult for you. They want a fight, and it’s no secret you and your brother are struggling for money. They’re trying to force you into a corner, and unfortunately it’s a legal strategy that works. I’m sorry to say that, after how your father was in government, they’re determined to make you suffer.”
“Can we avoid going to court?”
“We can try and negotiate a settlement, but it’s likely you’d get nowhere near the real value of your father’s holdings.”
I nod at this. The alternative is to put the farm up as collateral to pay for lawyers’ fees. I don’t want to do that, and I certainly can’t do it without talking to Jed first.
“I need to talk to my brother about our next steps,” I say. “I’ll let you know.”
I step outside into the warm sunshine and pull my phone out of my pocket. I don’t want this sitting on my mind all weekend with Liss. The phone rings once, twice.
“Yo!” Jed’s loud shout reverberates over the clattering of what sounds like the thresher.
“Where are you?” I can’t help shouting back.
“In the old barn. Hang on.”
