Page 59 of Arden and the Girl Downstairs

I think he puts on an act to hide from the world. I’m grateful that there are only a few people in the bar at the moment, and they’re mostly distracted by their own conversations.

“Yes, I’m serious,” Chad confirms. “I can’t offer you a lot more money, but you will get a raise and more hours. Oh, and I got notification today that my apartment will be ready in a few weeks, so I’m willing to add that in as a perk of the promotion.”

I watch carefully, and if I’m not mistaken, Logan’s eyes glass over like he is about to cry.

“Are you sure?” he whispers, and my heart breaks a little for him.

“Positive. You proved yourself while Ella was away, and both Ella and I are looking to spend more time away from here, so I’d rather help someone who needs it.”

I giggle, and both sets of eyes turn to me. Woops, probably not the most appropriate time to laugh. I get myself under control and explain, “Chad, you have a thing for taking in strays—no offence, Logan. You did practically the same thing for me when I needed it most.”

Arden

As I head into the kitchen, everything is quiet, and I can’t seem to find my friends. That is, until a squeal from outside reveals their location: they’re out by the pool.

We’re heading into winter, but we’ve been fortunate enough to have some warmer days still, so I’m glad that they’re making the most of the ridiculously expensive puddle I had installed in the backyard. We had a lot going on during summer when we first moved in and have hardly used it.

Walking through the back door, I stop and smile as I take everything in.

Yasmin’s floating around the pool in her unicorn floaty, while everybody else is sitting around on the sun loungers, chatting. It’s nice to see all my friends in one place and it’s even better seeing them all so happy. I honestly didn’t think at the start of the year that this is how my life would end up, but now I cannot imagine wanting it any other way.

Ella saved my life by doing what she did. Okay, that’s probably a tad dramatic. She did something out of the kindness of her heart to help a virtual stranger that needed helping, and I can never thank her enough.

The fact that she is perfect for me, even though she’s the opposite of me, is just the icing on the cake. She’s lounging on her chair, wearing a baggy T-shirt that comes to her knees, and unicorn slippers—by the pool. I am not entirely sure why she’s wearing slippers by the pool, but that’s Ella. You can’t tell that girl what to do because she’ll do what she wants, regardless. And, as she puts it, you can fix everything with unicorn slippers.

I make my way over to her and sit at the end of her lounger. She lifts her sunglasses and smiles at me. “Hey, handsome. How was your day? I missed you.” The sweet sound of her voice calms me.

“I missed you too. It was a long day, and some of those meetings were pointless. Remind me again why I’m letting Ralph do what he’s doing?”

Ella laughs at my whining. I’m not usually one to complain, but this girl makes me want to tell her all about my day—both the good and the bad.

“Because he made you like a gazillion dollars, and you didn’t even know.”

“You know it wasn’t a gazillion dollars, right?”

“Close enough.”

“No, not close enough. It wasn’t even half a billion dollars. But that’s beside the point. Why am I letting him set up all these meetings?”

She moves to sit on my lap and wraps her arms around my neck. “Because it’s what’s best for you. And it’s what’s best for your company.”

I interrupt her. “You meanourcompany, Mrs Blakely?”

“Yeah. Okay,ourcompany,” she mimics sarcastically. It’s something we’ve “argued” over for the past few weeks. “What have I done to deserve a title or a stake in this?”

Ella doesn’t think she’s entitled to my assets, and I’m trying to show her she absolutely is. It’s getting easier, but it’s still a work in progress. Ella didn’t come from money, but she needs to accept the fact that we have a lot of it, whether she likes it or not.

We are wealthy. Very wealthy. We technically never have to work if we don’t want to, but that’s not how I want to live my life. I never wanted to be a trust fund kid. I wanted to prove to my dad that I could make it on my own. That’s why I promised him all those years ago that I would pay back every single dollar he’d ever spent on the luxuries in my life. I understand a dad’s job is to support his children growing up, but I never expected him to continue footing the bill for me when I started paying for my friends as well.

Like this house, for instance. It was an investment.

It cost a lot of money to renovate, but it could potentially be our forever home. It’s big enough for all of us to be together, while still having our own spaces. I designed it in such a way that we could have a family here.

We could be together while being apart.

And we’d never need to worry about the things teenagers generally have to worry about.

So, last week when I could cut a cheque to Dad and pay off everything, it felt nice. The argument with Dad, on the other hand, was funny—comical, even. I’m kind of glad I had Ella there to defuse the situation.

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