Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 72655 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72655 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
“Oh my gosh!” Her squeal is as spicy as her soup smells. The microwave dinged sometime ago, and neither of us noticed.
I lunge for it and open the door. “Shh,” I admonish. “I don’t want everyone knowing, especially because it’s not really a thing. And even if it were, workplace stuff is so…it’s just not good.”
“Wait. Was it your idea for him to restructure the place the way he did? Because that had insider intuition written all over it.”
“No. It was all him.” Lies, but this one is a good one. I don’t need any credit for having a great idea. I’m not the one who made gigantic sacrifices and went through a lot of trouble to make it happen. “How many other people know about this?”
“Hardly anyone. I might have just been walking down the hall at the right moment when you guys were in the reception area with his mom. She’s super sweet, by the way. At least she looks like she is. It sounded like she hadn’t met you before, though.”
“Mr. Montfield and I met at a fundraiser a while ago.” Yeah, using his last name really makes this sound more convincingly casual. “Almost a year ago. We’ve known about each other since then, but it’s more like a casual friendship. I haven’t met his parents.”
Mabel gives me a strange look as she slips her soup bowl onto a plate so it’s not too hot to handle. “I didn’t know casual friends were a thing.”
“I mean, we’re friends, and we’re all happy and nice when we see each other, but we’re not friends from childhood or anything.” I am not good at this. Not good at all.
Mabel just laughs, and it’s not unkindly. She’s one of a kind in so many ways, and one of those is her ability to see something and intuitively know she shouldn’t tell anyone else. Even if she hated me, she wouldn’t have divulged something she didn’t consider her business. She came to me with her worries today because she has a big heart, and she’s concerned about someone she thought I was dating.
But I’ve since totally disabused her of that notion. Completely. Without a doubt.
“We’re not really dating,” I reiterate. Again. I have noticed that Mont hasn’t looked so hot in the happy pants lately. Correction: He’s looked every bit as hot as he always has. I mean, temperature hot. On the happiness scale, though, that reading is subzero. “But I’ll check on him. I’ll make sure he’s doing okay.”
“I just didn’t want to notice and not say anything to you. I wanted to talk to him, but I’d feel silly bringing it up. I think it would only make him uncomfortable. It’s important to check on our friends, whether they’re happy or sad, especially when things don’t appear like they’re okay. Even rich people have problems, and they have feelings like everyone else. Maybe it’s a mental health thing, and that’s something that should never be ignored. If he trusts you, maybe he’d be willing to share with you.”
“I’ll talk to him right away,” I tell her.
“Sounds good.”
“Mabel?” I call out as she turns around. She cranks her head over her shoulder and raises a perfect brow. Literally, they’re perfect because she pencils them on. Or in. I don’t even know. I just know she does it because they aren’t natural hair if you look closely. They don’t go all wonky like mine do at the ends. I wish I had the courage to just wax mine off and draw them on, except I suck at makeup, so…not going to happen.
“Hmm?” she murmurs.
“Did you make that soup?” I ask.
“I did!”
“Can I pay you to make me some?”
“Oh, goodness, no. I’ll make you some for free. You don’t have to pay me.”
“But the ingredients cost money.”
“How about I make it for you and give you a receipt for the groceries, and then we call it even?”
“If you’re sure. But your time and the electricity and stuff isn’t free.”
“Hey, we’re friends.” She winks at me with her equally incredible lashes. They’re extensions. She’s told me where she goes before, but I’ve also never been brave enough to try it either. “And I know for a fact that some of the improvements to this place came from your suggestions. I don’t care how you guys met or what you’re doing in your personal life, but I know that even if you were dating a man rich beyond everyone’s wildest dreams, you’d still be exactly you. Don’t worry. When I looked him and his family up, I found they’re pretty normal for rich people. They don’t even have a lot of stuff. I looked at his parents’ house and his house and his other business locations, and they’re all so normal. He seems like a pretty down-to-earth guy, too. I meant it when I said this place lucked out.”