5- Say Uncle

"Hi Uncle Henry."  I said as we continued to hug, he wasn't really my uncle but he was the only person who we keep in contact with while we moved around all those years.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him.

"Well I came to see your boss and to speak with you." He said , he got a lil serious when he said it .

I asked Zach to go get Tony who was in the back office and I went and took a seat with Uncle Henry, Marcus was still there drinking his coffee and doing whatever it was on his phone and    Ms. Flirty was still trying to get my attention.

As we sat down he looked around to see who could hear and started to speak in spanish.

" How come you still dress like this, you're almost eighteen." He asked .

"I've gotten used to it I guess, maybe after my birthday I'll try something new." I replied.

"Are you liking it here or do you want to move again?" he asked.

"I like it , I've even made some friends ." i said as i turned to Zach and Lisa.

"Do they know?" he queried.

"No , I think its better if I don't tell them yet. "I answered , "Ok , any trouble or issues?" he asked.

"Well...... I've noticed a black SUV stopping in front of the store for a while , no one gets in or out and then leaves after a while . Should I be concerned about this ?" i answered ,  he just stopped for a moment and pulled out his phone.

" I'll inform your father and i'll have  someone keep an eye out ." I nodded in agreement.

At that moment Tony walked towards us ,"Don't you have work to do Julien ?" He snapped at me.

As I began to stand up, Uncle Henry grabbed my hand and pulled me back down to sit and he spoke "This concerns you Mr.Archer and my nephew here is going to be a witness ."

Tony's anger was evident on his face, since the meeting five weeks ago he has been pissed off about everything and now more than before as i was the lawyers nephew and witness.

Uncle Henry went through his documents and took out one in particular , it had a check attached to it '$35,000.00 wow that's a lot of money '   I thought to myself .

" As we all know you have to close this shop by the end of the week , I would like to purchase all the items in this shop. Would this be enough?" Henry said ,placing the check in front of Tony. His eyes grew wide at the large amount. '' And trust me , if you sell all of these items you won't even make close to that amount."

" I was not planning on selling anything ." Tony snapped, flinging the check back to Henry "I have a place already, it's just for me to move all my belongings. I don't need any handouts!"Tony continued as he got up and stormed back to the office in the back.

"Alright that's settled then."Uncle Henry said as he sighed and ripped the check in half and placed it back in the folder with the rest of the documents.

"So what happens now ?" i asked him.

"Well he just has to move out and the owner of the building gets to do whatever he wants to do with the place ." he answered, I glanced over to Marcus who was talking on his phone.

" Uncle is that guy over there the owner of there building ?" I questioned , still looking over at Marcus.

"No he's just a tenant on a long term lease, he rented out two floors of this building, he was supposed to be staying in the building for two years, but he made a new arrangement to stay for five."

"OH" was all I could respond with, I actually thought he was the owner of the building , guess i was wrong .

" Well I have to get going .................Oh yeah here's your birthday present ." he said as he pulled out an envelope from his jacket.

"Uncle my birthday is in a few weeks." I replied as he placed the envelope in my hand .

"I know . But I won't be seeing you for your birthday and I still have part to play in the gift your dad and I have planned for you." He answered.

"Well are you going to tell me ?" I whispered playfully.

"NO. But you and your friends are going to use this gift and have some fun before your birthday."he said , I quickly opened the envelope to find a black credit card with my name on it , I smiled while holding the card i gave my uncle a hug and he hugged me back .

"Thanks Uncle Henry ." I said still hugging him. He gave me a kiss on the cheek and said "You've been moving a lot and never really had time for some fun." he paused for a second and I started to tear up a bit. "Take that card and do something fun with your friends." He said as he gave me one last squeeze before saying goodbye.

I stood in the same spot for a moment trying to regain my composure , when Marcus walked over and placed a handkerchief in my hand along with a business card , he leaned in close  to my ear and whispered " Think about my offer ." and then he walked out of the shop.  I walked to the back room and placed all the items in my backpack.

I stayed seated in the room for a while when Lisa walked in and took a seat right next to me .

"You alright? " She asked.

"I'm good, just a little emotional right now." I replied.

" Is it because your uncle gave you a birthday present or is it because you are a girl?" Lisa responded. I looked at her a bit shocked for a moment.

"Both, how did you know I'm a girl?" I asked her .

" I told her."Zach said as he walked in the room and also took a seat next to me. I looked at him wide eyed for a while.

" How long did you know ?"  I asked him.

" A few days after you started to work here. Everything about you screamed girl from the moment you started to work here, I have seven sisters and a few are tomboys so I know what to look for, That and your bag fell open some time ago and your ID cards fell out. I told Lisa as soon as I found out ,soon after that Marcus asked me but I guess he knew before I could answer him." Zach explained.

I looked at them tears started to well up under my eyes ,when Lisa pulled me into a hug.

" We figured it was better to be friends with you and when you were ready you would've told us , but when we saw you cry when your uncle left ,it was better if we just comforted you ,as your friends." Lisa said.

" I've never had friends." i said under my breath

I pulled away from her and stopped my tears while i pulled out the card that was in my backpack.

" My Uncle said to enjoy my birthday with my friends and he gave me this card, I guess that means we're going to be having some fun for the next few weeks ." I said with a big smile on my face.

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