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I tucked my top lip between my teeth, trying my hardest not to grin like a fool. “So you’ve been keeping up with me, huh?”
“Hell yeah I have. Gotta keep up with your investments, make sure they’re growing, right?” he said, nudging my shoulder.
“Ah, but I bought you out two years ago, Ash,” I reminded him, and he nodded.
“Yeah, and I let you off cheap. Should have charged a “knew you way back when” fee on top of the value of my stake in the company.”
“But because we’refriends, you didn’t do me like that.”
“Onlybecause we’re friends. If you were anybody else, I’d still have my ten percent.”
Nowthatwas a memory to hold on to.
Four years ago, not too long after Kellen lost his job, Ash had taken a chance on me.Vivid Vixenwas a fledgling company back then, still considered indie in the nail world. I had the drive, and I had the ambition – what Ididn’thave was the money.
But I knew people who did.
Some were friends, and some weren’t, but everyone I approached, I approached with the same energy. “I can do this. It will be big. If you invest in me, I promise you will get your money back, if I have to mow lawns and wash dishes to do it.”
I don’t know if it was friendship, genuine belief in me, or simply a desire to get me out of their face, but I ended up with the money I needed, for the building I was in now. Myownproduction facilities, myownresearch lab, my owneverything.
Two years later, I bought back every single percentage of my business I’d sold to make it happen. Ash had been one of those investors.
“I’d think you’d congratulate me on being a shrewd enough businesswoman to know you were a softy, and take full advantage.”
He laughed. “Uh, that’s… a way to look at it.”
“The only way to look at it.”
“Well, in that case, I’ll drink to that… if I had a drink.”
I rolled my eyes. “Wow. Very subtle way to tell me you’d like a drink.”
His shoulders hiked up. “I mean, I’m not gonna pretend I don’t see that very nice mini bar over there, that I just imagine is full of top shelf liquor.”
“Oh I’m sure,” I told him, standing up from my seat. It wasn’t until I was halfway there that I got a little self-conscious, remembering that I hadn’t bothered with underwear underneath my yoga pants and tank, since I wasn’t expecting company. Suddenly, I felt like I was jiggling all over the place, but when I glanced back, Ash’s attention was out the window, admiring the view of the city.
“You still drink that frilly shit from college?” he asked, once we made it to the bar. “Lemon Drops, Appletinis and shit?”
I fake-gasped. “I’ll have you know that my tastes have matured. I drink sweet red wine now, the cheaper the better,” I laughed. “You still aMauveand coke man like your friend?”
“Til’ I can’t lift the glass by myself anymore.”
He was quiet as I fixed the drink for him, and then slid it to him. He looked at it, confused.
“You’re not going to have one?”
I shook my head. “No sir, I was halfway through my second bottle of wine when you knocked on the door, so I probably shouldn’t.”
“Just a sip, Monica. Come on. Enough to drink to Kellen’s memory… the good years.”
My eyebrows went up when he first mentioned drinking to Kellen, but honestly, the good years we’d had together definitely deserved a toast. I splashed enoughMauveinto a glass of my own for just a sip, laughing when Ash grabbed my hand while I was still holding the bottle, to tip in a little more.
“Okay, now that’s more like it,” he said, raising his glass, and I followed suit, even though I really was feeling a bit tipsy from my drinking earlier. “To a friend, a husband, to… a deeply flawed man, who was loved in spite of, and taken before his time. Cheers.”
“Cheers,” I said, clumsily tapping his glass with mine before I swallowed the liquor inside. “Oh, shit,” I chuckled, putting a hand to my throat as theMauveburned its way down.
“Goddamn lightweight,” Ash scoffed, shaking his head as he chugged his drink back.
