Chapter 2

The choir’s late February performance of the Duruflé Requiemcame and went, but he hardly took notice as it was just one more item on a long list of things that had to be done. In the midst of everything else, Tom had performed in concert in St. John’s Cathedral in Jacksonville and in a church in Savannah, among other venues, and their respective scrapbooks were growing. Well, Tom’s scrapbook was actually bulging—and Noah’s was growing.

On a Sunday afternoon in February, they invited Tom’s mother and sister to Jacksonville. Mrs. Foster had been wanting to see what they’d done to the house, but conflicting schedules had postponed her visit. She and Barbara were planning to come to church, then meet them at Biscottis afterward

When they arrived at the restaurant, Mrs. Foster and Barbara were already sitting at a table, and with them was a man whom neither Tom nor Noah recognized. The man stood when they arrived at the table, and Barbara introduced him as her friend Jonathan Payne. Jonathan was tall, trim, and good-looking. Over lunch, they learned that he was a tax attorney.

They finished their lunch, and Tom said, “Do you remember how to find the house, Mom?”

“Of course, sweetie. We visited your grandparents there fairly often when they lived in the house. You were just a baby when they moved away from Jacksonville.”

They drove to the house and let their visitors in through the front door. Tom’s mother was amazed at what they’d done to the house. “The floors look great,” she said the minute she was inside.

“Thanks, Mom. We did all the work ourselves.”

They walked through the living room, then into the studio, and Tom said, “This old sunroom makes a nice studio, don’t you think?”

“Yes, it does,” Mrs. Foster said.

“I hope you’re taking full advantage of your home office deduction,” Jonathan said.

“You bet,” Tom said. “One of our friends is a CPA and he’s very much on top of that sort of thing.”

As they entered the kitchen, Mrs. Foster said, “Goodness, you’ve done a great job on the kitchen. It was looking kind of outdated last time I was in this house, and that was more than twenty years ago.”

They led their visitors upstairs and settled down on the comfortable furniture in the former sleeping porch. “This is a cozy room,” Barbara said.

“Isn’t it?” Tom said. “We probably spend more time up here than we do in the living room.”

“I have something for you in the way of a belated housewarming gift,” Mrs. Foster said, “but I left it in the car. Babs, do you mind?”

“No problem, Mother.”

Tom followed his sister downstairs and to the car. “Well, Barbara,” he said, “it’s been a while since you’ve introduced me to one of your gentlemen friends. Is he the one?”

“He could well be,” she said. “We’ll see.”

“How long have you known him?”

“A year or so.”

“I hope it works out. You deserve to be as happy as Noah and me.”

“Thanks.”

She retrieved the package, and they carried it back upstairs. After an hour or so, their visitors left, pleading a long drive.

THE LAWYER WORKING for Noah and Bobby’s Uncle Joe had contacted their lawyer, Mr. Cooper, literally at the eleventh hour, and the negotiations for a division of the assets owned by their late father’s partnership with his brother were plodding along. They’d demanded, and finally gotten, a full accounting of all the real estate holdings and other business affairs that were a part of the two brothers’ partnership. Jim Williams, their CPA friend, had spent a Saturday morning in Live Oak at the office of the partnership’s accountant, examining the books, and a fair market value based upon his report had been placed on the business by a consultant.

Noah was beginning to be concerned about the cost of it all, but Mr. Cooper had assured him that the partnership had ample liquidity, half of which was technically his and Bobby’s. “The cost of all this will be borne by the partnership before it’s dissolved,” Mr. Cooper said.

His mother had gotten the house in Live Oak sold in record time. In fact, it had sold before she’d gotten around to writing the checks she’d promised. After the closing, she presented each of her two sons with a check for half of the proceeds, and Noah had immediately deposited his check into the fund he and Tom had established for the purchase of a mountain cabin.

Their tenants moved out of the garage apartment a few days before their lease was up, and Carl Johnson and his partner Jim Williams came over to begin fixing it up to suit their particular tastes. They painted the walls and the ceilings, and their friends George Martin and Mike Foster helped them refinish the floors. After Carl and Jim moved in, the rest of the gang gave them a nice housewarming party. They’d already installed a privacy fence in the backyard, positioned just inside the thick hedge of viburnum that ran along both sides of the lot and across the back. When warmer weather arrived, they’d be able to indulge in nude sunbathing just as they’d done at their old house.