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They walked to the edge of the lake, and Desiree removed her heels and placed them on a stone bench nearby.
“You’re going to walk barefoot?” Montez asked.
“I sure am. I ran around barefoot all the time growing up. The bottoms of my feet are hard as hell, and if I end up getting something stuck in my sole, it won’t be the first time. I can handle it.”
Not to be outdone, Montez removed his shoes.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Joining you in your crazy decision. I hope I don’t regret it. Come on.” He led the way along the paved walking path.
They walked closely together, their arms brushing every so often. Her skin was soft, and a couple of times he bumped into her on purpose.
Montez broke the silence. “So the reason you ran around barefoot was because of your parents’ financial situation?” He hoped she would answer and didn’t consider the question to be too prying. He simply wanted to know more about her.
“Yes and no,” Desiree replied. “My parents didn’t have a lot of money to buy the latest clothes and shoes like my friends’ parents did. Not that I minded much. I liked being barefoot, and their financial situation wasn’t their fault. They invested a lot of money—their entire savings, including pulling equity out of the house—into a fraudulent scheme. I found out all this once I became older. Turns out the guy who scammed my parents scammed a lot of people and ended up killing himself.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah, it was crazy. Anyway, they lost everything, and from then on took hit after hit. My dad worked in a factory and got downsized. The new job he found didn’t pay nearly as well. My mother, who hadn’t worked most of their marriage, had to find employment. She didn’t have much experience because she hadn’t worked in years, so the money she brought in wasn’t enough to make up for the loss in income. The crazy thing is, growing up I didn’t feel as if I missed much, but now that I’m grown, I recognize the signs that they were struggling.”
“What were some of the signs?”
“I remember one time, they took me out for my birthday. Thinking back, only me and my sister ate dinner. My dad had a Coke, and my mom drank water. Am I boring you?”
“Not at all. Keep going. I want to be all up in your business.”
She giggled. “Okay. So, the house had been paid for when they pulled out the equity. My grandfather had left it for my dad, and I really believe he would rather cut off his right arm than lose that house. Their biggest struggle has been making those payments because they took out the equity. My plan is to make sure they keep it and no longer have to struggle. If I can get the senior VP of marketing promotion, my quarterly bonus will increase, and after two bonuses I should be able to pay off the balance of their mortgage.”
Montez stopped walking. “That’sthe reason you want the promotion so badly?”
“Well, I deserve and want more money. Who doesn’t? But my main motivation is to pay off my parents’ mortgage so they don’t have to live with that worry anymore. I want them to have the life they would have had if they hadn’t made that bad investment. Even with the bad investment, they made sure I had everything I needed when I went off to college. I can’t imagine the additional financial strain that put on them.”
Beautiful and thoughtful.
“I figured there was more to the story. That’s really nice.”
She shrugged, her expression turning bashful.
Montez started walking again. They were nearing the bench where they’d first arrived. “If there’s anything I can do to help you get that promotion, I’d gladly do it.”
She slanted a sideways glance at him. “Really?”
“Hell, yeah. That’s a good reason.”
“You’ve done plenty already, and I appreciate it.”
They slowed down as they arrived at the bench.
“We made it back, and neither one of us got glass stuck in our feet,” Montez announced.
“We’re very fortunate.”
“Yes, we are.”
Silence fell between them, and she stepped closer. “I’ve decided.”
“About what?” Montez asked, genuinely confused.
