“Twenty million divided by three hundred sixty-five days. Whatever that number is, since I don’t have a calculator handy, you can times it by each day they need the deadline extended. So, three weeks would be twenty-one days at that rate. Get my drift?”
“That’s over a million dollars.”
“And?”
He went silent. “I’ve known you almost my entire life. You’re my best friend’s sister, and I love you like a sister, but I’m going to politely say, you’re fucking high if you think that’s acceptable.”
I smiled. “Troy, the thing is, you doknowme. Therefore, the second you picked up your phone to call me, you knew thiswasn’t going to fly. And because I know you, I know you came prepared. What do you have for me?”
“A counter.”
“Which is?”
“The Westons are willing to give the Gordons ten percent of Horned’s gross sales every day until the rollout is complete. If the timeline is less than three weeks, the payout will end on the final day. If it’s more—and that’s not the plan, but worst-case scenario—we would like the Gordons to allow us to have a buffer until the rollout is finished. They will be compensated until it’s complete.”
I snorted. Regardless of how this looked, I’d won. “Ten percent?” I laughed, playing with the phone cord. “You know that number’s a joke.”
“Gross, not net, Sophie.”
“I heard you the first time you said it, my friend. My statement stands.” The email from Troy had come in, and I clicked on the message, reading the terms he’d outlined. “Come back with a better counter that my clients will actually consider.”
“Do you know how much ten percent is?”
“Troy,” I groaned. “Return with something that’s actually presentable, and then we can talk.” I grinned even though he couldn’t see me.Damn it, I love my job. “Anything else?”
He laughed. “I don’t like going up against you, for the record.”
“I wouldn’t want to go up against me either.”
“Can we switch topics?”
I let out a loud breath. “Please.”
“How’s my girl Abbi?”
Our Fort Lauderdale crew was a large, tight group with unbreakable trust, and for good reason—we’d gone through a lot together. Troy and I were the only ones who had left Florida, ironically to pursue law degrees. The others—including mybrother, Hayden—were back home, working in the boating industry. But what never changed, regardless of distance or how often any of us talked, was that we were family.
Not all of us were blood, but that never mattered. We were thicker than DNA.
And to know my daughter had a slew of protective uncles who loved her like their own, as Troy did, there was no better feeling.
“She’s fabulous, and she misses you tremendously. When are you coming over to see her?” I rubbed my thumb across the framed picture of her on my desk.
“I have a better idea. How about I pick her up sometime in the next week and take her for ice cream?”
I smiled. “You have no idea how much she would love that.”
“Same. I’ll make it happen.”
I set my arm on my desk, my eyes focused on eachWestonthat Troy had typed in his email. “Want to hear something wild? Colson’s daughter is in the same gymnastics class as Abbi.”
“You’re shitting me.”
My eyes closed. There was no way I was telling him about the other coincidence. I was ending it here. “I wish I were.”
“Life never gets dull, does it?”
I laughed. “You can say that again.”
