Hollis Signed Away His Interest With The Cabin Sale Deadline Near

At eleven twenty the next morning, we sat around Ada's conference table.

Hollis held his pen without uncapping it. Grant had placed the final settlement in front of him, with colored tabs at each place he needed to sign.

"Tell me the numbers again," Hollis said.

Ada looked at Grant. His own lawyer answered him.

"The trailer sale brings $23,500. The shop contributes $5,440 from collected invoices. Cottonwood receives its full $28,940, subject to confirming the payoff date."

Any small daily interest would come from the shop's cash account. Nobody was going to lose the deal over pretending a balance stood still.

"And Basin?" Hollis asked.

"Forty-eight thousand from the cabin proceeds. They've agreed to waive default interest if closing happens on schedule. You pay their $1,200 in agreed costs."

Hollis looked at me.

"You couldn't do any of this without my cabin."

"We wouldn't need to if you hadn't signed those forms."

Grant touched the first tab.

"We have thirty-four minutes."

The cabin proceeds would also pay the $2,100 audit fee, $4,800 in my agreed legal costs, and $18,000 to the shop under the settlement. That last amount would cover old bills, customer work, and the loss Hollis had caused by locking us out.

There would still be money left for him before his own lawyer's bill. I had accepted that. I wanted a running shop and a finished fight, not every dollar he would ever earn.

He finally uncapped the pen.

"This says I give up the business name."

"It says the partnership will wind down and its assets will pass to Stefan after the lenders are paid," Grant said. "He's choosing a new name."

"Kalinowski," Hollis said, making it sound like a flaw in a board.

I said nothing.

At eleven forty-two, he signed the last page.

His handshake had never felt as firm as that sheet of paper sliding across the table.

The next three weeks were less grand than a victory ought to be.

I answered calls. I made trees. June sent weekly reports. The trailer buyer lowered a ramp, checked both trailers, and wired the agreed price into the supervised account.

We collected enough invoices to add our $5,440. Cottonwood sent a final payoff figure and received the full amount, including the small interest adjustment from our cash account.

Ada kept the payment receipt and requested the lien release.

"Paid and released are both things I want on paper," she said.

One customer canceled. He had waited too long and found another maker.

"I understand," I told him.

I wrote down his $900 refund and the date the settlement funds were due. He agreed to wait until then. He did not owe me a second chance just because I had won a first round in court.

The landlord visited on a windy Thursday. Her building lease still named Hollis, and she wanted that settled before we changed anything else.

We signed a new lease at $1,100 a month with a $1,200 deposit. June put the rent date on the wall calendar.

"Wood doesn't care who owns the building," I told her.

"The owner does," she said.

At the cabin closing, the money moved in the order written in the settlement. The mortgage was paid first. Basin received its $48,000 and the agreed costs. The audit and legal bills were paid. The shop received its $18,000.

Hollis received what remained after the listed payments and his own charges.

He had tried to turn our machines into quick cash. Now he could watch every dollar of his cabin sale find a named place to go.

Both lenders delivered the required releases. Ada checked the records as the release filings appeared. The auction company sent a written cancellation, with all seven serial numbers attached.

June paid the waiting refund that morning. Then she marked each old customer deposit as either returned or assigned to a specific order still on the rack. There was no loose cash to call wages, and no blank space where an order could disappear.

I read that page at my bench.

Then I read it again.

"They're staying," I told June.

"They've been staying. Now we can finish the paperwork."

The ownership transfer and partnership wind-down went forward under the settlement. After the court closed the civil case, the bond money came back to me.

I replaced my worn truck tires. I left the rest in savings.

Hollis came for his coat and personal files with Grant beside him. June checked the removal list. His last key went into a sealed envelope for the landlord.

He stopped at the door.

"You could've talked to me."

"I did. You offered me two thousand dollars to disappear."

He left without another word.

Near closing time, while I swept beneath the press, a county investigator came through the open door carrying Basin's original loan application.

"Mr. Kalinowski," she said, "I need to ask who signed for this equipment."