LizaE
Hopefully, by then, you’ll have a lot more money in the bank, the salmon run will be over, and there’ll be nothing she can say, other than she wished she’d invested. Did you offer her the opportunity?
PinkFish88
No, your text came through as she was leaving so I didn’t think to mention it. I guess I probably should. We’ll see how this small investment goes, and if we’re still doing well, I’ll have a chat with her. I wouldn’t want her to think I’d excluded her.
BrownDog40
Evening, ladies!
LizaE
Suze! How are you? We’ve been so worried about you. Did you talk to your husband?
BrownDog40
Yes, I told him everything. He left the house soon after we finished talking, which was at about six this morning. I hate to imagine what he’s going through. He’s got so much to deal with. I want to be with him to help him; coming to terms with what his father did is going to be incredibly difficult. But he won’t accept my comfort now. He looked at me as if he hated me.
PinkFish88
Give him time, Suze. It’s a lot to digest. He probably doesn’t know what to think. Hopefully, he’ll come around and realise that your only motivation was to protect him. That’s got to win you some brownie points.
LizaE
Lia’s right. He needs time and space. You seem like a decent and kind person. I’m sure he’ll remember that at some point and come around. Just don’t push him, let him do it in his own timeframe.
Hannah read their messages, nodding as she did. They were both right. Time was what it was going to take to get through this. Telling Damien she was sorry didn’t cut it and wasn’t the case anyway. She was sorry she was put in this position to start with, and she was sorry that she’d made a bad decision. But she reminded herself that she was pregnant with Amy at the time, Trish was undergoing chemo, and Damien was a big enough mess over the thought of possibly losing her. Adding this on top of everything else may very well have led him to a breakdown.
PinkFish88
We’ve been celebrating Jacob’s investments while you’ve been having such a hard time. I’m sorry your weekend hasn’t gone as well as ours.
LizaE
The offer is still there from Jacob if you’d like to invest, Suze. Doesn’t have to be a lot, but they are doing well at the moment. He thinks there’s still a bit more left in the run, but it won’t go on forever. Let me know if you’re interested and I’ll tell him to get in touch to answer any questions you’ve got and set up one of the accounts for you.
Hannah considered the offer. Each time Nat mentioned it, or she thought about it, as much as she couldn’t come up with any good reason that Nat should stop, her gut still swirled uneasily. Things that sounded too good to be true usually were. Nat was right in that her usual style would be to voice all her negative opinions on the scheme, but this time she would do it differently. She typed back a message.
BrownDog40
Would love to hear from him, thanks!
PinkFish88
That’s fantastic, Suze. I’d hate for you to miss out when we’re all getting so much benefit from this.
When Hannah had left her father’s, Nat was saying she planned to withdraw the money. It now sounded like this perhaps wasn’t the case.
BrownDog40
Are you investing more, Lia, or is it time to collect up your winnings and cash out?
PinkFish88
I was planning to stop, but Jacob seems so confident that there are still a couple of weeks left that I decided to try another investment. I owe my dad five grand, so he’s asked me to reinvest that and if it gains anything then he’ll take that money. His superannuation fund has let him down, and while he was planning to retire soon, he certainly won’t be living the type of lifestyle he’d like to be.
LizaE
Oh, that’s awful. Hopefully, the five grand will multiply for him. He could then reinvest it and make some more. Or even add some of his personal funds if he wants to get his future sorted.
PinkFish88
Not sure he’d want to take a risk like that and not sure I’d want to encourage it! If the five thousand works out for him, I’ll be thrilled, as will he.
LizaE
Sounds perfect. You seem very close to your dad.
PinkFish88
Not overly close but I’m hoping that this investment might give us something special to share. Fingers crossed. Must say I’m having a strange kind of day. I took my niece out to the movies, which was lovely. She’s a great kid, so much more mature than I remember being at twelve. Then I had a friendly conversation with my sister and Dad, which doesn’t sound strange, but it is for us. My sister and I rarely agree on anything. Usually one of us says something to put the other offside. And then, after discovering that my money had multiplied nine hundred percent, I got home to find my grandmother passed out in her armchair. My sister took her out to lunch, and I think she must have drunk a bottle of bubbles by the looks of her! She’s a classic. I’d better help her to bed.
LizaE
Night, Lia. Suze, let me know your email address and I’ll get Jacob to contact you. I’m about to ring him about something else so will tell him you’re expecting to hear from him. Chat tomorrow. x
Hannah sent Eliza the Gmail address she’d set up in order to join Gambler’s Aid anonymously, then signed off and opened Gmail, a small smile playing on her lips. It had been nice having a normal conversation with Nat at her father’s earlier, and she was interested that Nat had acknowledged it too. Her thoughts went to Phyllie. They were lucky Nat was available to move in with her but that wasn’t likely to last forever. She sighed. It was tricky getting older. At twelve, Amy was fighting for her independence. In their thirties, Nat and Hannah were having difficulty with a range of things, from finances to marriages. In his sixties, her father was facing issues as he neared retirement, and at nearly ninety, Phyllie was in the hardest place of all. A strong, independent and capable woman who was becoming a victim of old age. It had the potential to strip her of everything she loved, but mainly her freedom.
Hannah realised at that moment that she’d approached the Phyllie situation in entirely the wrong way by suggesting assisted living. What she should be doing was standing up for Phyllie’s rights – being an advocate for her. If Nat was right, that she was struggling with her memory, and if anything as serious as dementia was on the cards, then they would have to do everything to ensure Phyllie lived out her years precisely as she wanted and deserved to.
Hannah sipped her water, thinking of her grandmother. At eighty-nine, they probably didn’t have many years left with her. God, she would be missed. She’d filled their childhood with joy before and after their mother had passed. It was hard to imagine a world where she didn’t exist.
An email notification popped up on Hannah’s screen. She put her glass down and opened it. It was from Jacob. A very professional-looking email signed off at the bottom by Jacob Swain from BlueStar Financial Advisory. She clicked on their website link and started reading. She was intrigued to know more about this company and exactly who Jacob Swain was.
Hannah was on a mission the next morning when she arrived at work. She hadn’t heard from Damien and needed something to distract her. BlueStar Financial Advisory was precisely that. She’d done further searches on BlueStar but had found nothing other than the website. That rang alarm bells. Surely successful financial advisors would have media coverage, or stories picked up by other sites that would come up in the search results. Searching on Jacob also only brought her back to the BlueStar website. She picked up the phone and dialled Julian Baker’s number. He worked for Fraud Alert, a company that No Risk used regularly. Fraud Alert looked into companies that presented a risk and helped No Risk provide their clients with an even more substantial risk analysis than they could do on their own.