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“I wouldn’t have had it any other way,” she tells me, stepping back to really look at me before frowning as she catches sight of the chunk Paris took out of my arm today. “Do I even want to know what happened there?”
I shake my head. “Some things are better left to the imagination.”
“And what do you suppose I imagine?”
“Definitely a shark bite,” I tell her, glancing down at my arms. “You know, because I recently took up surfing lessons. I’m a survivor.”
“Ahhh,” she says as the bartender hands her a drink and then hurries to fill my glass of champagne. “How strange. I could have sworn it looked like you got swiped by a stray bullet, but now that I look at it, it’s definitely a shark bite. I don’t know why I ever thought of anything else. You’re lucky to be alive.”
I laugh and raise my glass to her. “You don’t know how right you are.”
Karleigh’s eyes bug out of her head and she quickly takes a long sip from her drink. “But that’s all over now?” she questions. “You called your surfing instructor and canceled any future lessons? No more shark bites?”
I shrug my shoulders. “I mean, I’ve canceled my lessons for now, but I really do love surfing and I’m actually really good at it so I can’t promise that I won’t get back in the water, and I sure as hell can’t promise that there won’t be any more shark bites, but for now, I’m happy to give it a rest.”
Karleigh shakes her head and takes another drink “Holy shit, kid. You’re going to be the death of me,” she tells me. “You have no idea how worried I’ve been about you since you fought that guy in my driveway.”
My eyes bug out of my head as horror takes over me. “You saw that and didn’t come to help me?”
She shrugs her shoulders and grins back at me. “It wasn’t my fight to be involved in,” she explains. “And besides, you looked like you had it handled … until you didn’t.”
I groan and lean into the side of the bar. “Why am I not surprised?” I ask her, rolling my eyes as I dig my hand into my pocket and produce some papers. I let out a breath and I watch as she picks up on the seriousness growing in my gaze. “Look, I’m really happy you were able to come tonight,” I tell her as her brows begin to furrow in curiosity. “You mean the absolute world to me. You gave me a home when I had nothing and if it weren’t for you and the way you taught me to have faith in myself, I think I would have given up a really long time ago. I owe that all to you.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she says. “You had it in you all along. I just helped you to see it.”
“You did so much more than that,” I insist. “You taught me what it means to feel love for the first time in my life. You were a mother to me and you taught me that trusting another human being is possible. I’m a better person because of the time I spent with you, and I want to say thank you for that.”
I hand her the papers and she glances down, confused about what the hell I could possibly be giving her. She unfolds them and scans over the documents. “What the hell is this?” she asks, wondering why the hell she holds the deeds to a big home in Santa DeClara, just an hour from her home now.
My eyes well with unshed tears and I hold them back, determined not to break during this. “Just this morning, I learned that my parents were in the property market. They invested in homes, studios, businesses, factories, even penthouse apartments in the most expensive cities, and this here,” I say, indicating down to the papers. “Was one of them.”
Karleigh shakes her head, having a hunch where this is going. “No, Winter. If you’re doing what I think you’re doing then you better stop it right now.”
“I want you to have it, Karleigh. I don’t need it. My parents invested in hundreds of properties, and this one right here is exactly what you’ve always dreamed about. It has seven king-sized bedrooms with a pool, tennis court, and a billiards room that can be transformed into some kind of cool playroom for the kids,” I tell her. “I’m going to have a meeting with my lawyers to have the property transferred to you and make sure that everything is brand-new. I’ll have all the rooms decked out for the kids and make sure that I replace that stupid TV that you’ve been holding over me. I have so much in this world that it would be a crime for me not to share it with you. You’re doing such great work, Karleigh. Imagine how many kids you could take on. You could sell your current home and get a nice big wad of cash to your name, plus no more mortgage. You wouldn’t even have to work.”
