Page 71 of Trusting Fate (Hope Falls: Brewed Awakenings 2)

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Grace tried notto stare at Easton and Asher’s daughter Blake as they did a TikTok but she couldn’t help herself. It was, as Easton was so fond of saying about her, adorable. They’d been at her sister’s house for less than an hour and Blake, who was fourteen had roped him into doing a TikTok dance. The two of them were outside on the deck dancing in front of Ava who was the camera woman.

“Well, this is totally unfair.” Viv leaned against the counter and sipped a glass of wine next to the sink where Grace was doing the dishes.

“What’s unfair?”

“Easton’s hot, good with his hands, rich, and can dance. You hit the boyfriend lottery!”

Technically, Easton wasn’t Grace’s boyfriend, but since she couldn’t point that out, she decided to argue the one point that she could. “He’s not rich.”

“Yes, he is.” Viv nodded. “Well, he would be if he didn’t give all of his money away.”

Grace turned off the water and shifted to face her sister. She grabbed a towel as she asked, “What are you talking about Viv?”

“Easton. He’s rich,” her sister stated as if that was common knowledge. “Wait…you didn’t know that?”

How could a man who had spent most of his life travelling the world working with different charities be rich? And why would that man drive a beat up ’89 Ford truck. That didn’t make any sense.

“Why do you think he’s rich?” Grace wiped her hands.

“I was talking to Kenzie about how cute the two of you are and she said that she was so glad he met you because his family had always worried he’d end up with a gold digger who just wanted him for his money. Which I thought was ridiculous because, look at him. He’s the Hot One. I mean, even if he had Jeff Bezos’ money that is not the first thing—”

“What money?!” Grace hadn’t meant to raise her voice. She glanced around and saw that they were the only two in the kitchen.

Asher was in the basement watching football and Audrey was out on the porch with Blake, Ava, and Easton.

Viv sighed, seeming irritated that Grace had interrupted the tirade she was about to go on. “Apparently, the summer between his junior and senior year he interned for a tech startup company and they offered to pay him or give him shares. He took shares.” Viv paused dramatically. “That company was Google.”

“Google?”

Viv smiled and shrugged. “No, it was some company I’ve never heard of.”

“Why did you say it was Google?”

“Because I know how to tell a compelling story,” Viv explained as if that was justification as to why it was okay to lie.

Grace sighed.

“Anyway, when the hot one got home from the Marines, he sold his shares in the boring, blah, blah, blah company I don’t know the name of and he bought stock in Uber, and Spotify. That’s for real. He’d be like a mega-millionaire if he didn’t give away ninety percent of his earnings every year.”

“What?” Grace stared at her.

She’d thought he was a good person before but that would make him a fucking saint. There was no way she would ever be good enough for a saint. She was Elsa the Ice Queen not Mother Teresa. There were years she’d spent ninety percent of her earnings on her wardrobe.

Grace was feeling overwhelmed with this information, so she did what she always did, tried to deal with the facts.

Was it even true?

Would Kenzie lie about something like that?

No, she wouldn’t. It actually made sense now that she thought about it. Easton was smart. Really smart, so the investing didn’t surprise her. And he had the biggest heart and was the most selfless person she’d ever met, so why would it shock her that he gave away so much of his money?

He was rich. Really rich.

“Yep, he’s loaded.” Viv confirmed Grace’s silent conclusion. “Or he could be if he wanted to be. I guess the family never talks about it, Kenzie only told me because she thought I already knew. You know, since you’re his girlfriend.” Viv slowly lifted her glass to her lips and sipped her wine keeping eye contact with Grace the whole time. “Which brings up a good point. Obviously, you didn’t know about it. So why didn’t Easton’s girlfriend know about him being a millionaire?”

Grace had always wondered if Viv was suspicious about the relationship happening so fast. Ava and Audrey took things at face value. They were the people that met a stranger and thought they might cure cancer. She and Viv were the two that were sure they were trying to game a system.

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