I called her from the casita. With the door locked.
I told her.
She was quiet for a long time.
“Mrs. Briggs,” she said. “Have you told anyone?”
“No.”
“Don’t,” she said. “Not yet. Not your son. Not your friends. Not your pastor. Nobody.”
The second thing I did was call another attorney.
Lorraine recommended him. A tax attorney named Harvey Chen. And a financial advisor named Diane Okafor.
Within days, I had a legal team.
They helped me claim the ticket anonymously. Arizona lets you do that now. Through a trust.
They helped me set up the trust.
Lorraine asked what I wanted to call it.
I thought about it for a long time.
I thought about a porch. A blue mug. A wobbly ceiling fan. A piece of mesquite with letters burned into it.
“Second Cup,” I said.
Lorraine wrote it down.
The Second Cup Trust.
And under it, a company. To hold property. To buy things.
