Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 69018 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 345(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69018 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 345(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
She latches onto the tree branch of the post, hoists herself up onto the big leaf platform that hangs off one side, curls up, and starts the beginning of a long grooming session.
“Why?” It’s safer to ask that with my back turned to him. “Is this hush money? Payment so I just disappear? Or so I give you rave reviews, and you can complete your merger?”
“I’m not sure the merger is happening. I’m rethinking it. I’m rethinking the whole direction I am going with it.”
What?! Holy shit.
“Bigger isn’t always better, and the grass isn’t always greener,” he adds.
It’s the always that gets me every time someone says those things. The grass can be green some of the time. And bigger can be better in some cases.
“Did Peach Lips work her cat magic on you? Did you smell her breath and know that forever after, no smell is ever going to be so wonderful? Do you want to bottle that scent and wear it every day?”
“Gah, what? I…I’m at a complete loss to even fathom the logic of what I just heard.”
“Or did getting bagged in the nuts such that your life flashed in front of your eyes change up some of your priorities?” I’m asking in the nicest way with a smile on my face. It’s easier to laugh about this than it is to cry all over again or let this man see just how badly I’m rattled. I still have no idea what to even begin to think.
He studies me carefully. “I paid the debt because it wasn’t yours. You were always going to have it hanging over you after losing your mother. I found that to be cruel and unfair. That, in addition to the guilt I felt about nearly ruining the path you’d put yourself on—a perfectly good path—wouldn’t let me ignore your situation any longer.”
“Unfair? Guilt?” I splutter. “That’s hardly a reason to drop half a mil on a stranger. The whole world is unfair. You likely know that firsthand.”
I’m not going to pretend that someone who has seen some kind of service or worse—and I’m just guessing here, but my gut is rarely wrong—doesn’t have scars. Just because I can’t see them on Thorn doesn’t mean they don’t exist. He might have scrubbed his background, but his company basically states that it was created through hard work, perseverance, tenacity, and an unwavering zero percent standard for error.
He completely ignores that. I’m not even fishing, and I’m not asking him to talk to me about himself, but I can tell he’s so used to shutting it down that there’s zero chance of it happening.
“This afternoon, when I was sitting in my office and going over and over in my head what I saw down in the lobby of my building—how people changed in an instant and how it really seemed like it was magic that occurred—I wanted to do something. Not just for the cats but for you. I know it doesn’t make sense, and it’s hardly appropriate. I overstepped. I knew you’d be angry as well as somewhat happy, but I did it anyway. I know the hospital the money was paid to will use it to help other people. That’s my hope, at least.”
“You should have used it for your own benefit,” I mutter.
“I don’t need any help. I’m fine.”
The I’m fine thing is never going to fly with me. I should just leave this alone. Say thank you, accept that he didn’t do this just so I owe him something—I still freaking hope that’s not true, but I’m not getting that vibe at all—pack up, and then get out of his hair. Now that we’re not trying to out-ruin each other, I really have no reason to be here. It’s crazy that I am here in the first place. Even if this was his backward way of apologizing to me, it was completely unnecessary.
He helped me without my knowledge or consent, but it’s done now, and I know I’m not going to be able to convince him to undo it. The best I can say is thank you and get out of his hair.
“I don’t have anyone. You know that through all your background checks. I have Peach Lips, and she has the world, so she’s given me that too. But as for a best friend or true family, that was my mom for me, and she’s gone. I’ve spent years trying to be okay, but I know I’m not ever going to be properly alright again. I’ve done what I could to build a life. I thought this was the end of it, but it’s just another fork or bridge or whatever analogies people use. And now…this. I really don’t know how to thank you or what I can do for you to make your life equally better.”