Page 82 of No More Billionaires

Maybe I had. Why not take it all the way?

I stood there facing him, barefoot on the cold marble in smeared makeup, torn dress, and crazy hair, and dropped the last pretense I’d been holding onto.

“Most of all I’m sick of loving a man and being too afraid to admit it—to him or myself. So yes, Larson, Idolove you—whether I wanted to or not. Whether you believe it’s real or not—I’m in love with you. And now I’m leaving.”

I turned and padded across the lobby toward the bar, knowing he wouldn’t follow me.

At the moment, I didn’t want him to.

There’s an old country song advising us girls to “hide your crazy.” Well, sorry, Miranda, but I let it out—my crazy and my truth.

Ihadbeen a gold-digger, a puppet, a chameleon. I had (almost) married a man for money.

I’d hidden my shameful past instead of owning up to it.

Then I had failed to control my heart and fallen in love with another man I’d never marry.

And now I was tired and needed my daddy.

TWENTY-FOUR

Facing the Dragon

BZZZ.The buzz of my silenced phone sounded again, causing it to vibrate on the hotel nightstand.

“Your mother again?” Daddy asked.

I lifted my head from the pillow and checked it, hoping to see Larson’s name. “Yep. Want to talk to her?”

He glanced back at me over his shoulder from the foot of the bed.

“Nope.”

He turned back to the muted sports program on the television. “Just turn the damn thing off. You look like you haven’t slept in days. Go on to sleep—I’ll be right here. Things will look better in the morning.”

I rolled onto my back, staring up at the flickering lights from the TV set on the ceiling, enjoying the heavy feel of the hotel bedding, the peaceful quiet of the room.

Daddy had taken one look at me in the Town Club’s bar and escorted me directly to his car. He sent my mother a quick text telling her Cadence would pick her up and then called my poor sister to arrange it.

When he’d asked me what happened and learned what Momma had said to the Overstreets, he’d announced neither of us would be going home tonight.

I yawned. “What if she calls the police or something? You know how dramatic she is. Both of her meal tickets are M.I.A.”

Daddy frowned. “I’ll step outside and call her back in a minute. And don’t say that about yourself. I know you’re joking, but you need to start thinking differently, respecting yourself. So do I. I should have taken a stand long before now. For both our sakes—and Cadence’s, too.”

“I already think differently. That’s why I’m here shacking up with Dear Old Dad instead of with Mark… or Larson.”

“So you two broke up tonight?”

“It was inevitable.”

“You didn’t really care for him, then? I thought you liked this one.”

“No, I do—I did. It’s just… guys like him and girls like me… we don’t really go together, you know?”

Daddy rose from his perch at the end of the bed and came over to sit beside me the way he did when he’d read The Hobbit to me, night after night. He looked down at me and stroked my hair back from my face, making me feel eight years old again.

“I hope you know you’re good enough for anyone—no—any man on the planet would beluckyto have you in his life. You’re smart, you’re funny, you’re kind, you’re great at your job.”

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