Page 152 of The One I Hate
“I do have a guy, though, that can get you quite a deal on a Disney vacation, if you’re ever interested. Maybe take the child there one day?”
I laugh, suddenly having the image of Simon pushing a stroller around the Magic Kingdom wearing Mickey Mouse ears. “Good to know.”
“Anyway, back to the arrangement.” Simon leans back in his seat, assuming a thoughtful position. “Do you feel that the rent is too high? Do you need to renegotiate?”
I shake my head. “No. That’s not the problem. I’m not paying enough.”
“Oh really?”
I know this has been playful, which I’m somehow appreciative of because confrontation is never fun, but this is the heart of the matter. The real stuff. He needs to know how I feel, and how it can’t go on. I need to stand my ground, no matter how charming he is.
Or how good he looks in that suit and glasses.
“Since I began leasing the space in September, I thought I was paying rent to Magnolia Properties. At first, my checks weren’t being cashed.”
“Really? That’s interesting…”
“I thought so. I brought this up to Emmett, then suddenly they were. It just seems strange.”
Simon’s cocky smile starts forming. Apparently this acting skit of ours is going exactly how he wants. “Miss Bennett, are you trying to ask me how I was using the money you sent as rent each month?”
I let out a breath. “Yes. I am.”
“Do you have the gift?”
“The bank statement?”
He nods. “That’s where the money went.”
I grab my purse and look at the paper I received earlier.
“You’ll see that there’s twenty-one-thousand-dollars in the account. Which, if the math is broken down, is the rent you have paid Magnolia Properties these past six months.”
“Why is it in a separate account?”
“Because once Baby Bug is born, she will be named the beneficiary of this account.”
“She….what?”
He smiles, takes off his glasses and comes around his desk, turning me slightly so he can sit in the other chair across from me. “I would have given this restaurant to you for free, but I know you would have fought me tooth and nail.”
“You would have been right.”
“And for those first few months, I honestly didn’t know what to do with the money. It felt wrong taking money from you. Which I know it shouldn’t have, because business is business. I didn’t know what to do, so I just didn’t cash them.”
Simon takes my hands in his, which I don’t fight him. In fact, feeling his touch is needed in this moment more than anything. “Then I got the idea to open the account. I know I should have told you about it, but I thought maybe you’d be less mad whenyou found out knowing that every penny will go toward our daughter.”
My jaw drops slightly. “All of it?”
He reaches over and takes my hands in his. “I know money has always been a weird and touchy topic for you, but I need you to know something if we’re going to be together. I have money. A lot of it. More than I should probably have. And do you know what I like doing with that money?”
“Buying overpriced baby furniture?”
“Besides that,” he says with a laugh. “I like helping the people I love achieve their dreams.”
“Is this something you’ve done before?”
“I have, they just knew about it.”
