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He looks at me with a sad smile. “Most people didn’t believe it, not until I told them that I did.”
“Wait, you told people you stole their money?” He sighs and nods. I don’t understand, so I keep pressing. “Why would you do that?”
I prop myself up on my elbows, curious. I can’t imagine why he would do such a thing.
He hesitates. I can tell he doesn’t want to tell this story, but I need to know.
“Tell me what happened. I won’t judge you, and it won’t change my feelings for you. I just need to know the truth,” I say.
“I’ll never lie to you,” he says.
“Good.”
“I’ll tell you the whole story, but first, let’s eat. I’m starving.”
I smile. “Me too.”
9
Chaucer takes me to a nice restaurant. The SUV still smells of sex, and I wonder if the valet can smell it when he takes the car to park it.
Neither of us are dressed appropriately for this kind of restaurant, but it doesn’t seem to matter to the hostess who knows him by name and seats us right away. For someone accused of criminal acts, he sure does get the VIP treatment. Now I’m even more curious about his story. I figured he wouldn’t have much in the way of money after being accused of cheating people. Clearly that’s not the case.
We sit and order our food. While we wait, we order drinks. Once the waiter is gone, Chaucer reaches toward me and takes his hand in mine. “Are you sure you want to know about my complicated past?” He looks worried, which makes me worried as well.
I look him right in the eye. “I want to know everything about you.”
He sighs. “Okay. It all started when I went into business with my brother …”
He goes on to tell me that he started a financial investing business with his brother, his best-friend’s brother, as well as his best-friend—the guy he was with at the bar when I saw him last night. His brother had been in trouble with the law and had done some time, but Chaucer thought he’d turned his life around. While in prison, he had gotten his GED, and when he was out, he went to school for finance, the same way Chaucer had. Even though he had some reservations about his brother’s 180 degree personality change from crook to good guy, he wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Chaucer kept a nestegg just in case things went bad, and so did his best friend. But still, even though they had plenty of money, when he found out his brother was cheating their investors, he was devastated.
As he’s telling the story, I see the pain it causes him to say the words out loud. His hands ball into fists and there’s a twitch in his eye the whole time he speaks. I feel guilty for making him relive this ordeal, but I hope once I understand his past, I can help him come to terms with it.
“I knew it would break my mother’s heart if she knew my brother hadn’t changed after all, so I took the heat for him. It would’ve been his third strike and he was looking at serious prison time.”
“But you have to deal with the fallout now. That’s not fair.”
He smiles sadly. “It’s not, but I still have my family. And even better, I have you. If none of that happened, I wouldn’t have signed up for the baby-making club, and I wouldn’t have met you.”
My chest tightens, and I feel tears welling up in the corners of my eyes. I can tell he’s being honest with me. I reach toward him and put my hands on top of his. He releases his fists and weaves his fingers through mine.
“What will you do now?” I ask. How does someone recover after financial ruin? I know he said he had a nest egg, but still.
“Bradly—my best friend and I—opened up a chain of trendy coffee shops that are doing great. I’m getting back on my feet. I’m still dealing with a bunch of legal messes, but it will clear up soon enough.”
“Are some of those messes the reason why you looked so upset at the bar?”
“Yeah, I’ll admit, it’s a lot to deal with. One thing after another. I have to pay the clients back with interest, but at least I’m not looking at jail time.”
One last question—the one that has been bugging me the most—won’t get out of my head. Even though I believe everything he says, I have to know. “What happened with Bradly’s brother? The article hinted that he was murdered.”
Chaucer shakes his head and an angry scowl darkens his typically bright eyes. “I didn’t kill anyone. Aaron helped skim money off the top with my brother. He knew what he was doing would destroy Bradly, but for him, the cars and women that came along with the money was too tempting to pass up. But when they were caught and he thought he would go to prison, he took his own life.”
