Merritt Signed Away His Share Beside Thirteen Unpaid Customer Names

We did not settle on the strength of a boat offer.

Ruth asked for proof of ownership, any debt against the skiff, and a closing date. Merritt supplied the papers through his lawyer. There was no loan to pay off. The buyer wanted a clean bill of sale and a working trailer light.

For once, the repair was Merritt's to arrange.

The skiff sale brought $11,200. Of that, $9,160 went straight to the lawyer's trust account under written closing instructions. My $4,600 buyout payment went there too.

The combined $13,760 covered three amounts: $7,760 toward customer refunds, $4,200 for Owen's costs, and $1,800 toward my legal and accounting costs.

The $1,840 still in the booking reserve completed the $9,600 owed to customers. That money was held in place until the refund payments were ready.

I ran the sums on a calculator. Then I ran them again in pencil.

"It's all there," Leah said.

"I know. I need to see it."

She moved the papers so I could.

Merritt wanted to sign at his lawyer's office without another court visit. Ruth said the settlement would include a judgment entered by agreement, so its terms could be enforced if someone failed to do them.

He could agree to that or continue the case.

He agreed.

In early May, we went back to the small courtroom. I wore the same sweater. This time I had slept the night before.

The judge asked whether I had read the full agreement, understood it, and signed of my own choice.

"Yes."

She asked Merritt the same things.

His yes came more quietly than mine.

The judgment set the amounts he owed and how the funds would be paid. It confirmed my lease and ownership of the listed improvements. It required a final accounting and the end of our partnership after the remaining work was done.

Merritt gave up his interest in the shop's loose property and trade name for the $4,600 buyout. He also had to return the laptop, keys, booking records, and account access by a set time.

There was no promise of a job waiting for him.

The refund schedule listed every customer, amount, and payment route. No one was reduced to a single line called outstanding liabilities.

The judge signed the order.

The clerk gave us the next steps for getting the entered copies. It felt strange that the room could become so ordinary so fast. A chair scraped. Someone outside asked where to wait for another case.

Merritt stopped me near the stairs.

"That room cost me my boat."

"The room cost me $18,640," I said. "Your debt came from somewhere else."

He looked as if he wanted to argue, but his lawyer was holding the door.

At three that afternoon, he brought the laptop in a grocery bag. He laid three keys beside it.

Saskia stood by the clean table while I checked the serial number against the inventory. The charger was missing.

"It's at home," he said.

I wrote charger outstanding on the return sheet.

He stared at it.

"It's twenty dollars."

"Then it should be easy to bring back."

He returned with it the next morning. I crossed out the note, wrote the time, and gave him a copy.

That was the last time he came behind my counter.

With Nell's written approval, a locksmith changed the outer lock after Merritt's access ended. This time, the work order named the right tenant. I paid $186 from my own new business account and put the receipt in its folder.

Owen called when his cost payment cleared.

"I should have asked you directly before I signed," he said.

"You should have."

"Would you take overflow repairs from my shop someday? Direct quotes. No promises made for you."

"Send an inquiry when you have one."

It was enough of an answer for both of us.

I stayed late to write the last refund notices. Saskia addressed envelopes while I matched bank details with the signed forms. We called each customer to confirm the destination before sending a dollar.

The first transfer went to Eli.

I watched the payment screen until it showed submitted. That word was not the same as received, and I had learned to respect the space between them.

The printed notices gave Ruth's office number as well as mine. Each customer could check the payment without taking my word for it. Saskia folded the last sheet and pressed the crease with her thumb. We had spent most of an evening doing something Merritt could once have done in a few honest calls.

At closing time, I carried the old notice from my lamp to the case file. I kept it behind the agreement Merritt had signed three years before.

Then the front bell rang.

Eli stood in the doorway with a drysuit bag and a question.