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Malcolm is hurt. I’ve hurt my friend because he thinks me and Max are really me and Max. “I met him Thursday,” I admit. “He asked me for a favour, that he needed a date for the wedding.”
“You met him Thursday? What did he do for you to ask this favour? Must be pretty big.”
“He told the police I was with him instead of in Noam Tate’s hotel room just before he died.”
Malcolm opens his mouth and then shuts it. “I… I don’t… I thought you weren’t doing that anymore,” he manages.
“It wasn’t like that. I’ve known—knew—Noam for years. He’s been sort of a mentor for me.”
“A mentor for you being…” Malcolm knows about my past, but we’ve rarely talked about it.
“A businesswoman,” I say simply. “I own part of Fantasies with Marcus and Coulter. I own quite a few nightclubs. I owned the E dating site. Mature Adult Female is mine, too.”
He doesn’t even bother shutting his mouth this time. “You own a lot,” he manages.
I shrug. “I’m a billionaire,” I tell him sheepishly.
Malcolm stops walking and rounds to face me. He looks like he’s about to drop into the sand with shock. “And you live beside me? What the hell, Cady?”
I glance around. We’re far enough away from the private beach in front of the condo, but there are still people milling about, and I’m not comfortable discussing my life with strangers.
But this is Malcolm, and he deserves to know the truth about me.
A figure waving back by the lounge chairs catches my eye. It’s Maximus and even with the distance and the sun squinting my eyes, I can tell he has a big smile on his face.
I don’t even think about it; my mouth has already creased into a big smile as I wave back.
“You’re a billionaire?” Malcolm asks in disbelief. “Care to explain how that happened?”
I take another quick look back to see Max sink into a chair beside Dexter, laughing about something. Happy.
Happy because he saw me?
Turning, I motion for Malcolm to start walking as I give him the quick version of my life, feeling better with every half-truth I correct and every gap I fill in.
Because if I can tell things to Malcolm, then maybe Max and I…
That thought does things to me for the rest of the day.
Good things.
40
Maximus
We gather for the wedding at sunset, on a platform on the beach. The sun sets behind them as Callie and Marcus say their vows.
They stand alone with the minister, no one standing up for them, but there’s a feeling of warmth throughout the guests watching, swelling toward them like a wave.
I’m truly happy for my friend. He’s waited a long time to find a woman like Callie.
It’s hard to believe that once I was ready to make that same commitment to Caroline.
We would have had a much different wedding; opulent and expensive, as she liked the best of everything. There would be no getting married on the beach at sunset, in a simple, off-white dress that blew around her legs.
And bare feet. Neither Callie nor Marcus wear shoes.
Caroline would have wanted the biggest church filled with flowers and people in awe of the ceremony. She would have wanted one of those huge dresses with lace and ruffles and a twenty-foot train.
