Page 84 of Because of Blake

An incredulous smile creeps across my face. “That’s good, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it paid for all my expenses. My art supplies, living off campus, beer. But it didn’t change my mind about what I wanted to do with my life, which pissed my dad off.”

“So, what happened?”

“He cut me off, other than paying for school, and we haven’t talked since I graduated.” Blake hangs his head.

I reach out and run my hand down his arm, gripping his hand. “I’m sorry.”Blake lifts his head to meet my gaze. “Don’t be. He was a jerk. But that’s not the reason I’m telling you all this.”

“Okay, then what’s the reason?”

“Maggie, I’m worth… a lot of money.”

“What is ‘a lot of money’?”

Blake scrunches his nose and says, “Three million.”

My jaw drops as my eyebrows shoot to the sky. “What? Three mill– Blake, that’sa lotof money.”

“I know. It’s also the reason my fiancée and I broke up.”

I let go of his hand, a sudden jolt of illogical jealousy rushing through me. “You were engaged? When?”

“I proposed to Myra right after we graduated college. We dated for a while, lived together for a bit even. We were in love. Or, so I thought. After she said yes, I told her about the money, which was a lot less back then, but still quite a bit for a twenty-two-year-old. I wanted to give her a dream wedding. I wanted to give her everything.” Blake’s face falls with the sadness this story is bringing him. “Then things changed.”

“How so?”

“She stopped looking at me like I was the rest of her life, and started looking at me as a budget. All of a sudden, it was about how much she could spend, it was about status and my bank account, not aboutusanymore. We fought about it. I called everything off, let her keep the ring, but it really fucked me up.”

“I bet.” This poor man.In my mind, I picture Myra to be a woman much like Abbey, and I want nothing more than to slap Myra.

“I didn’t want to tell you because I was afraid of it happening again. I haven’t been with anyone this serious in a long time, nor have I found anyone who I even considered telling about my money. Until you.”

I brace myself on the washer. The vulnerability radiating off Blake thickens the air, so I reach out for him, taking his hands in mine and pulling him to me. “Blake, do you really think I care about your money?”

“No. But to be fair, I didn’t think Myra would, either.”

“Touche. Well, thank you for telling me.” I bounce my toes around in my shoes. “Can I let you in on a secret of mine?”

“Of course.”

“I’m worth a lot of money, too.”

Blake tilts his head to the side. “What do you mean?”

My tongue juts out to wet my lips and I take a side-long glance at the door. “My father-in-law was an investment broker. He made himself a small fortune, which is why he could afford to build a mansion of a house in Boulder County. He taught my husband all his tricks and gave us all the tips. We did pretty well ourselves. We were able to pay our house off ten years early.”

“That had to feel good.”

“Yes, it did. But when my father-in-law died, he left all his money and everything to my husband, who left all his money and everything” –I lock eyes with Blake, arching my eyebrows– “to me.”

Blake’s eyes widen. “So, you got, like, double of everything?”

I nod. “My father-in-law even set up trust funds for my kids for college. If they choose to go, they’ll have hundreds of thousands of dollars at their disposal. They’re set.”

Blake furrows his eyebrows a second before quirking one up. “So, how much are we talking here, Maggie?”

My toes wiggle so rapidly in my shoes, I’m surprised I’m not tap dancing across the floor. “Last time I met with my advisor… five million.”

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