AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Going out again?” She laughed, finishing off her sandwich. She’d already eaten most of it before I arrived. Ruth had always had a relentless appetite. “Wasn’t two seconds ago you were saying you wouldn’t get a chance with her.”
“I don’t know what’s going on, and I’m not going to read into it too much.” I put my hands up. “All I know is that I like it.”
“I’d say.” She beamed at me, her expression soft. “You look damn good. And not just from that bougie dress your rich girlfriend got you. Nice seeing you be… you.”
I brushed my hair back, suddenly too awkward to meet her gaze. “Yeah… I guess so. Anyway, answer the question. I took her out to La Mar and she took me to the opera. I feel like I’m not keeping up.”
“Don’t play the keeping-up game with a mega-millionaire. Just do something nice and have a good time.”
“I guess so…” I felt my face prickle. “She’s more down-to-earth than I’d have thought. More… real. Human, I guess. Makes sense she likes that kind of thing. I guess net worth is just a number, especially when you’re running some… highly-leveraged luxury goods brand. Something that could get wiped out in an instant.”
Ruth stopped, studying me for a minute, before she said, “That’s loaded. Everything okay with her?”
“Ex-husband is trying to give her shit,” I said, my voice tart. “Wants her to reconcile with him. Says he misses her. I think he misses having a rich woman under his thumb.”
Ruth snorted. “Because there’s a recipe for a winning marriage…”
“Maybe not. Pretty sure all he cares about is if he personally wins, though.” I pursed my lips. “I wish I could help. But I’m doing the exact opposite. He knows about us and… isn’t happy. So Cameron didn’t want to risk it by being too close to me.” I held my drink up to my lips, just breathing in the scent of it, staring across the street to where people walked quickly by. “But I’m a bit selfish, I guess. And neither of us like doing what we’re supposed to.”
“Don’t tell me she’s considering going back.”
“Wouldn’t you?” I said, giving her a helpless look. “Even if it were to someone you didn’t love and weren’t sure you ever had, if it meant not losing everything?”
She pursed her lips. “I mean… what’s the point of all that money if you’re not happy anyway?”
“I guess. Just…” I dropped my gaze to my food, suddenly seeming miles away. I laughed, distant, hollow. “Her brand’s valued at three hundred sixty million dollars. Am I worth three hundred sixty million dollars?”
Ruth shook her head, kicking back in her seat as she picked up her drink, tipping back the rest of it. “Men ruin everything.”
“You’re saying that to a lesbian? Preaching to the choir…”
“I’m jealous. Would be so much easier to date women.”
“It’s, uh, not always easy either. Besides, apparently a man can still ruin everything…”
She scoffed. “Touché. Always getting in other people’s business.” She set her glass down hard, giving me a loaded look. “You ask me? Girl’s got to make her own decision. You just lay out everything on the table and let her decide where her priorities lie. I mean, you’re putting things on the line for her, too, aren’t you?”
I raised my eyebrows. “Am I?”
“Sticking around working a job you don’t like when you could have gone for a fresh start in Vegas… I know you like this place, but it’s loaded, isn’t it? Things go wrong again, it’s going to take a toll on you.”
I paused. “I like the job plenty.”
“Oh, bullshit to someone else. I know you. It’s sucking your soul out, isn’t it?”
“I mean…” I chewed my cheek, looking away. “I wouldn’t go that far. Just that… I miss Queen Pearl.”
“Yeah…” Her voice fell off, looking down. “Yeah, I get that.”
“Felt like we were doing something that mattered. Felt like we wanted to make people’s lives better. Leon isn’t like that. They just want to make the numbers bigger, make the line go up. I’d forgotten how… how…” I gestured airily. “How cynical it all is.”
“Didn’t have a great morning there today, I’m guessing.”
“Supervisor went with me to a tour, trying to show me the ropes. Straight line system. Meaning harassing a client nonstop until they either walk out the door and Leon can cross them off and move to the next one, or they sign and Leon can forget they exist. Got to pressure an old couple into a purchase they weren’t ready to make.” I forced a smile. “Supervisor bragged after it was done about making them feel guilty. Just dropped it casually as an effective sales move. How easy it is to make them feel guilty and sell them a little assuagement.”
“Lovely,” Ruth said, her voice dry.
“And sure, I could make a lot of money that way. Hell, you put me in there a year ago, I would have been dutifully making old women cry just to tick a few more boxes, sell a couple more places. But…” I shrugged, taking a bite of my sandwich, mulling the words over. “It’s not really what I want to be doing.”
