Too Late To Do The Right Thing?

On our long drive home from Phoenix on New Year's Day, Bruce and I spent quite a bit of time talking about what goals we had for ourselves, both individually and as a couple, in the new year. Two of the goals we set were financial: We wanted to increase the amount in our emergency savings by $5000, and we wanted to pay off our Sequoia as soon as possible.

When we arrived home I began sorting the two weeks' worth of mail our neighbor had collected for us, and among it was a plain white envelope from Bruce's business partner/former close friend. (To recap, Bruce started a business with a friend a couple of years ago and I guess the fact that I just called him "former" should clue you in to the fact that things didn't end well. We were bought out for an amount significantly less than what we felt we were owed, but the relationship between the two of them had gotten so bad that we just wanted to get the hell out.) I jokingly said to Bruce, ""You've an envelope here from R, so I guess we are getting sued or something."

Bruce opened it. Shockingly, and I do mean SHOCKINGLY, the envelope included a brief note and a check. The note was only a couple of lines long and said something along the lines of, "At the time we split I didn't know if the business was going to survive so I couldn't pay you, but here it is now. Hope all is well." You could have knocked me over with a feather. The check was for the difference between what we were paid and what we felt we were owed at the time of the buyout: an amount that allowed us to get our savings account exactly where we wanted and pay off all but $1000 of the truck.

Let me say a few things about this: This man was under no legal obligation to pay us this money. We signed a contract saying we sold our portion of the business for an agreed upon amount and he paid us that. Did we think we deserved more? Yes. But we were the ones who had decided that it was better to take the offered amount and be done with a situation that was painful and ugly. We haven't gone about feeling like he "owed" us anything, and as we have looked back on the situation our attitude has been "Well, there's something that didn't go quite as planned," and not "That bastard really screwed us over." I don't think either Bruce and I continued to hold any anger over the financial part of the transaction.

Although, let's be perfectly honest: The emotional part of the transaction, because it was a friendship, has been a little more complicated. Bruce felt like one of his closest friends turned on him; put a price on the friendship; valued money more than a person who had been in his life for a decade. So while the loss of the money stung for a little while, the manner in which the friendship dissolved has been significantly painful for my husband. I don't know if I'm a total hypocrite for trying to say these two things together, but A) I'm not angry at this guy, and B) I think he is a Class A Jackass. It's just a fact. Like that he has brown hair. It's just how he is and maybe he can't help it. There's no use being mad about it, but I also can't forget how horrible this was for Bruce.

I also have to say though, that we are really grateful for this unexpected gift. I appreciate that this man thought back on this situation and tried to make it right. That took some courage on his part, courage that I don't know I would have had were our positions reversed. We did not expect this in a million years and the money has been put to excellent use for us. We expected our financial goals to take all year to reach and we have been given a way to reach those goals before the first month is even out. It feels like a blessing and I suppose I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.

While grateful, though, it still doesn't feel like things have been made right. I'm a jerk for even saying that, I guess, but I feel like the worst part of the whole situation was the conduct of a friend, and that's something money can't fix.