Mae shook her head gently back and forth, as if in disbelief.
“He didn’t make it easy, as you can imagine. But he gave it to me. And when I went to the bank, there was actually twenty thousand more in the account than I needed. It’s a loan,” I clarified. “I was already approved for my own, but I didn’t want your parents to lose their place and it was the only way to get it so quickly.”
“Wow.” She took the napkin from her lap and put it on the table. “And he gave you twenty thousand more?”
“Yeah. I called to ask him about it. He said if I tried to pay that back, he would only re-deposit it.”
She looked as confused as I had been.
“It was a gift. For the bar. One I had planned on giving back, but I’ve decided to suck up my pride and use it instead on the kitchen renovations.”
“Beck—”
“I’m still sole owner,” I reminded her. “And I won’t put your name on there until it’s done if you give me a hard time.”
“You’re a real winner, you know that?”
“I do,” I said sincerely. “Today, it feels like I just won the greatest prize in the world.”
46
MAE
It had been a whirlwind twenty-four hours.
From a business meeting turned engagement, to a day (and night) I wasn’t going to stop fantasizing about for a long time, and then back home to celebrate with my parents who were, quite literally, waiting on the doorstep, I stopped short before heading into the bar.
Was this him? Again?
A sparkly silver “congratulations” banner adorned the entrance. At this point, I should probably not be surprised. To say Beck had gone all out these past two days was the understatement of the century.
My fiancé.
The only hesitation I had wasn’t related to Beck at all. Every doubt had been erased; his assertion that I was different than the other women wasn’t just words. He’d shown that to me, and I believed it. Knew he loved and would cherish me.
It was my decision-making that gave me pause. To think I had agreed to marry Mathieu scared me a bit. The difference between the two men—their motivations, character and actions—could not have been more stark. When I called Jules to thank her and tell her the good news, she quoted her therapist, as usual.
“You made the best choice you could with the information and self-worth you had at the time. That doesn’t mean it was wrong. It means you’ve grown.”
Thank goodness for that.
I was about to start a night shift, one I might have groaned about a few years ago when I’d helped my dad out at the bar between CIA and France. But now? I couldn’t wait to work alongside my fiancé, especially since it meant meeting up with Parker, who was coming up later to show me his plans for the kitchen renovations.
I pushed open the door to a round of applause.
At the bar, the entire crew. Including a hotter than hell bartender who apparently planned to live in button-down shirts now after I’d teased him about saying yes to his proposal thanks to his attire. It was Beck’s forearms, I’d said, that sealed the deal.
He grinned, probably knowing exactly what I was thinking as he more vigorously shook the ice shaker in his hand. I blinked, forcing myself to focus on the people sitting and standing in their usual corner of the bar.
Mason. Parker. Delaney. Pia. Jules. Only Cole was missing. A round of congratulations met me as I hugged each one of them and everyone talked at once.
“I wasn’t surprised at all,” Delaney said. “You two were meant for each other.”
“Tell your fiancé he still owes us three hundred bucks.” Mason nodded to the man in question, who quipped back, “Two hundred.”
“What do you think?” he asked me.
Beck poured martinis for two women at the other end of the bar. Ones I might have been threatened by, especially as they both looked at him with stars in their eyes, if it weren’t for the absolute certainty that Beck wasn’t interested in them.
