Page 7 of Tied Up in Riches

“Working for that asshole? No way. But as far as the actual job, I did. I’m good with numbers. And I didn’t mind the secretary part of it. Besides the dry-cleaning. The man would make me get his underwear dry-cleaned. Who does that?”

Maci scrunches her nose. “No one I know.”

“Exactly.”

“Well, I bet we can find you something similar. This town feels small, but it’s fairly big. There’s a lot of businesses.”

“Thanks, but I don’t want to overstay my welcome. I doubt I’d make enough to afford my own place. And I feel like I have to go back to Connecticut eventually.”

“Why do you feel like you have to go back?”

I consider her question. Why do I feel that way? I miss my dad. And my best friend, Cam. Outside of that, though? “Obligation, I guess? I think in my head, Thailand was always a temporary escape from reality.”

“I get that, but I don’t think ‘reality’ has to be the same as you knew it before. If there’s anything I’ve learned from my journey, it’s how much power we have in creating our reality. You heard the girls yesterday. They love you like I knew they would. It’s not a problem for you to stay for a while and see if Oregon could be your new home.” I know part of her statement is her own wishful thinking, but I believe she means it.

“Thanks, Maci. We’ll see. I guess I’ll just enjoy this week, then make a decision.”

“That’s a good plan. You can’t know if a choice is right until you actually try living it. I’m here to help you regardless of the path you go down.” She smiles and leans her head on my shoulder, her positive energy charging my mood a bit.

Chapter five

Marcus

Troy pulls two chairs at my kitchen table out, sitting on one and kicking his sock-covered feet up on the other as he sets his motorcycle keys next to some papers I’ve laid out for the bar. We’d usually go over business in my home office, but I ordered Café Yumm since we’ll be here a while. I’ve been in California for the past week, resolving software issues for one of the companies I invested in a few years ago. I leave again at the end of the week to consult on the creation of a new app for a startup in Seattle that’s finally getting off the ground. So, we need to get things sorted. I have really overextended myself.

I take the seat across from him, my back facing the kitchen. “Alright. I have a few hours before my meeting.” I slip a neatly aligned stack of papers from my labeled folder.

“Perfect. I have a cake tasting tonight.”

“No luck with talking her into ice cream for the wedding?”

He chuckles. “Not yet. Hoping for an ice cream cake compromise.”

“I didn’t take Lexy for the type to get obsessed with all the details.”

“Trust me. I was surprised too. The girl didn’t have a single picture frame on her wall when I first met her. Not even a throw pillow. But she’s all about making this day perfect. She also doesn’t want to make any decision on her own, so I’m helping her with everything.”

“You love it.”

He chuckles. “Yeah. I do. I would even if she didn’t reward me every time after.” His grin slips into a smirk. “Oh, speaking of. I was going to book our honeymoon this week. I know it’s still a ways out. You sure you’re still good if we take three weeks?”

“Absolutely, man.”

“Lexy’s been bugging me for the past year about taking a break. It’s all been a blur since we moved home, you know? Thought this might be a nice surprise.”

“You’ve been working hard. You deserve however long you want to take. Both of you. Where did you decide to go?”

“A week in Italy and two in Greece. It’ll be both our first time traveling out of the country so I thought we should go to a couple of places.”

“That’s perfect.”

“I think she misses the beach from growing up in California too.”

“Or you miss her in a bikini?”

He chucks the pen he was twirling in his fingers at me, but his smirk tells me I’m right.

I catch the pen where it hits my chest. “I got you covered.” I toss it back to him. “We’ll figure it out.”

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