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Of course, she would. “Ridiculous. Get out.”
“The mighty Steven Cox. The fearless Hellhound is afraid he’ll get rejected by a woman.”
“If you’re going to spit out bullshit, then GET OUT.”
“You know, on the one hand, I want her to reject you so we can lead this company together for another twenty years. But, on the other hand, seeing glimpses of the old Steven over the last few weeks makes me hope she wouldn’t so that you can finally be happy. And I can have my friend back.”
“Are you done? I’m busy. I have work to do.”
“You have feelings for her, don’t you?”
“Get out.”
“She’s nothing like Barb. You know that, right?”
No, I didn’t. “Shut up.”
“I did some more digging on your Ms. Bloom.”
I leaned forward and gave him a menacing look. “You had no right to invade her privacy.”
Unfazed, he said matter-of-factly, “Don’t you want to know what I found?”
He couldn’t have found out anything I hadn’t already uncovered. I wearily rubbed my hands over my face. “It doesn’t matter. Nothing’s going to happen.”
“She grew up rich. As rich as we are now, but her dad was a piece of shit. When Laura was fourteen, her mom got sick with cancer. Her dad bailed, stole her college fund and her mom’s fortune. He was living the good life on a yacht in the Bahamas, while his wife went through chemo, and his daughter worked like a dog to support them and pay off the medical bills.”
I didn’t want him to know so much about her. She wouldn’t want people pitying her or treating her differently because of her past. And I didn’t want anyone knowing about her painful past except me. “It’s none of our business.”
“Her mom died a couple of years later, but the medical bills didn’t disappear. But do you know what else I found out?”
“Stop. I already know everything.”
The shock on his face was always comical. “Seriously?”
I nodded.
Of course, I did. I had made it my mission to know as much about her as I could.
“That’s why you said it didn’t matter that it had taken her eight years to graduate from university. You knew she had all those bills and all those jobs, didn’t you?”
“I wasn’t going to hire a lazy, spoiled, entitled hotshot. So, yes, I did my homework to make sure the candidate was honest and hardworking.”
“You’re not only worried that she would choose the job over you. It’s not the rejection you’re worried about, is it?”
“Enough. Get out.”
“You’re worried shewillaccept you. But for your money.”
“She’s not the type.” But I wouldn’t blame her if she was. She grew up in luxury. She would do anything to get that back. Anyone would.
“You think she’s like Barb,” John said. “She’s not.”
Why did he keep mentioning my ex? Probably because he knew me better than anyone else. Even more than Aunt Mable. And he knew I had stayed away from relationships because of what happened with Barb. “You can’t know that.” Except, I think I did know.
She’d passed up on a marriage to a billionaire. With that Kenny guy. Had she meant what she said to him? That she didn’t care about his money? That she wanted to make her own fortune?
He could have given her the world, but she rejected him.
