Page 66 of Interning For A Billionaire

“He is her ex-boyfriend. The whole office knows about him! Classic co-dependent moron who went psycho when she dumped him. Calls the office all the time and she refuses to take his calls.”

I didn’t even know that. So much I didn’t know about Belle. What else had she been hiding?

“Jesus, Michael, you just believed this guy over Belle?”

“He wash very convvvinshing…” I said.

Maya frowned and took another sip of her whiskey.

“This is what I don’t get about men,” she said. “You’d dump her, the best thing that has ever happened to you, without even talking to her?”

“Whaddaya mean…beshhht thing?”

She sighed and poured me another drink.

“You have a life now. You go out, you travel, you do things apart from rock climbing only. It’s not just work, work, work all the time. You have balance. For the first time, ever, you were nice to people in the office, smiling, noticing their hair, remembering their names. She makes you happy.”

“No, she doeshtnst!”

“Not now, obviously,” Maya said, shaking her head.

“I can’t bear to see this.” She shook her head. “If you want to hear the truth about Sven, ask Samira.”

She gave me a hard look. “You have a lot of money, Michael, and you are a clever man. But about some things, you are really, really stupid. And let me tell you, those are the important things you need to be smarter about. What good is all this money and all those brains if you can’t even see that Belle Scuziak is the best thing that has ever happened to you?”

I was too drunk to think up a good response quickly. By the time I had an answer of sorts ready for her, she was gone.

Chapter 25

Belle

Dr. Wang was a short Asian man with a nervous manner and a friendly smile.

He came up to us in the waiting area.

“Good news,” he said. “It seems Mrs. Leary had a transient ischemic attack, what we call a TIA.”

“A what?” I asked, slightly bewildered. This sounded very serious to me, but a huge grin broke over my father’s face.

“It’s a ministroke,” my dad said. “It’s not as bad as a real stroke.”

“So, did she have a stroke or not?” I asked, confused.

“Not really,” the doctor said. “It was a temporary loss of blood flow but no damage was done.”

He added, “It’s a warning, though, she has to take better care of herself. Get her blood pressure down, lower her cholesterol.”

“And that’s it?”

“When can she go home, doctor?” my father asked.

“We’ll keep her overnight, see how she’s doing tomorrow. But maybe the day after? She’s doing very well now.”

I hugged my father and felt his arms tighten around my back. Both of us were incredibly relieved. We went to see my aunt and I was pleased to see that she was already looking better.

“We’re going to go home for tonight, Kate, that all right with you?”

“Of course, Bob, I’m just going to sleep anyway,” she said.

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