Chapter Forty

Brandy

I woke up the next morning to what I thought had to be a dream still.

I was naked, curled up in Collin’s arms, listening to him breathe softly in his sleep, in what looked like the fanciest hotel I’d ever seen the inside of that I wasn’t working in. I’d often been to hotels for some fancy dinner or meeting back before my life fell apart, but if they ever put me up at all, it was in one of the lower-level economy rooms. Nothing like this.

For a long time, I lay on his shoulder and stared at him. Things I hadn’t noticed before came into sharper view now that I knew his story. Three dark marks in his lower chest and side weren’t just moles or birthmarks. They were scars where bullets had entered his body. A long, looping line that went from his right shoulder down his chest wasn’t an odd crease in the skin, it was from where something sharp had scraped across him, barely sparing his life during an explosion.

He'd worn those scars for years and never told anyone about them. He didn’t want glory. He didn’t think he deserved it. My heart broke for him and the pain he’d carried for so long. While my pain was different, I knew what it was to carry a heavy load inside and not let anyone see it. I knew a fraction of what he went through, and still, it was enough to make me contemplate never going outside again.

It made me remark on how brave it was for him to talk to me in the first place. To ask me out. To stick with me when things got weird and difficult. He had to be the bravest person I’d ever known.

Slowly, I drifted back to sleep, and I didn’t wake up until I felt Collin kissing my neck and working his way down to my chest. When I opened my eyes, I was ready for him, and I took him eagerly. And in that embrace, we healed.

The week passed so quickly that five days felt like it only lasted a day or two. Detectives came and spoke to us, a reporter tried to get an interview, and we fielded calls and visits from the brothers, their significant others, and Basil, who made the trip with my grandmother on a video call.

Setting up the phone on the dining room table, Basil and Collin left so I could speak to her alone. I had the phone propped against a stack of plates and watched as my grandmother smiled happily.

“I see you are looking good,” she said. “I’m so glad you look so happy.”

“I am,” I said. “I’ll be back in a couple of days, and we will open the shop again. I just needed this time off.”

“Of course, of course,” she said. “I understand. Can I talk to you about the other night, though? I have something I need to say.”

“Sure,” I said, grimacing as I remembered the conversation and how it had ended.

“Brandy, I know I am getting older, and that the disease I have is slowly eating away at my brain. I am trying to stave that off as best I can, but it won’t work forever. I know that. And I know that I am hard to handle when those times do come. But the other night, I was angry, and I took it out on you. And for that I am sorry. You didn’t cause this. You can’t control it. And my anger is more about what I can’t control than at you.”

“I know, Granny,” I said.

“Look, I know I am having fewer and fewer days where I stay lucid, but I do know this for sure. When I have something to do, something to occupy me, I do better. And the only thing in the world that makes me happy is being in that shop. So if you will have me, I’d like to continue working there with you. Tying ribbons, talking to customers, all those things. I understand that I will need help, and that sometimes I don’t know that something’s wrong. But I want to be useful. It’s important to be useful.”

“I understand that,” I said. “I’ve been thinking about it. The customers really enjoy seeing you, and I love having you there rather than worrying about you with a caregiver. So why don’t we have you in the shop with us, and you do what you like to do, and the kitchen is off limits. How does that sound?”

“That sounds wonderful,” she said. “And if you’d like, the caretaker can come too. I don’t mind having someone keep an eye on me and making sure I’m not doing something I’m not supposed to.”

“That would be a good idea,” I said. “Speaking of, is she there?”

“She is,” Granny said. “Do you want to speak to her?”

“I do,” I said.

The camera moved, and the bright young face of her caretaker, Darcy Brown, appeared. She had on bright purple lipstick that contrasted beautifully with her light brown skin, and the biggest eyes I’d ever seen with gorgeous lashes.

“Morning, Brandy,” she said.

“Good morning, Darcy. You look lovely today. I love that lipstick.”

“Thank you,” she said, “I like it too. You wanted to speak to me?”

“I did,” I said. “Can I pull you aside away from Grammy for a minute?”

“Sure,” she said, taking the phone and standing, moving across the house and into the hallway. “What’s up?”

The door opened in the suite, and Collin came back in. He pointed at the kitchen and headed that way when I nodded.

“I wanted to check in on her with you,” I said. “How is she doing this week?”

“She’s been great,” Darcy said. “She does better when we get her up and moving, and I really think that working in the shop rejuvenated her a lot. I heard you say she might be able to come in and work a little, and I think that would be great in limited amounts for her mental health.”

“Me too,” I said. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

“If I may, I do have something I need to bring up while I have you alone.”

“Sure.”

“It’s a matter of payment,” she said. “I hate to be like this, but I do need to have some idea of when the invoice will be paid for this month.”

“I understand,” I said, frowning. “I don’t have my books in front of me because I’m out of town, but when I get back, I can go over them and tell you what I can do.”

“If I can interrupt,” Collin said, sticking his head out of the kitchen.

“Yes?” I asked.

“I just couldn’t help but overhear. Tell her there’s nothing to figure out. I will send her the money she needs. Just give me a service she wants to be paid on and I’ll do it right now.”

“What?” I asked. “No, you can’t do that.”

“Sure, I can,” he said. “I should probably tell you some things. Can we talk for a minute? When you’re done?”

I finished my call with my grandmother and Darcy and found Collin sitting on the porch outside, overlooking the city. He was drinking a cup of coffee and had one sitting out for me on a tiny table between the two chairs. I sat in the other chair and took my coffee gratefully, enjoying the warmth in my hands on an unusually cold morning.

“So what did you want to talk about?” I asked.

“I haven’t really discussed any finances with you yet,” he said, “and I probably should.”

“I don’t know,” I said. “Things are still new, and we don’t need to go there if you are uncomfortable. You know my situation. While the lawsuit happens, I’m kind of stuck.”

“Which is why I wanted to go ahead and talk to you now about this,” he said. “The thing is… I’m… umm… I’m kind of… wealthy?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Well, the ranch, it does really well, but that money is the family’s, right? It gets shared between us, and we do very well from that. But then, aside from that, we all have our own finances from our own adventures. Well, I guess everyone except Luke, since his primary thing is the ranch. Anyway. I’ve been interested in the stock market and investing since I was a teenager. When I got access to my own money, instead of just saving it, I started investing. I’ve done that with every check the military ever sent me, and so on, and, well, I have quite a bit of money saved up.”

“How much is quite a bit, if you don’t mind me asking?” I asked.

“I don’t mind,” he said. “Well, I don’t mind telling you, of course. And my brothers if they asked. Last I checked, which was last week, I had somewhere around eighty million in the bank account.”

My lips went numb. I know for a second I stopped breathing.

“Hup…”

That was all I could get out of my mouth.

Collin seemed to notice I was in some kind of distress and leaned forward, taking the coffee out of my hand before I dropped it. He also couldn’t help but grin a little.

“You okay?”

“Eighty… million?” I forced out.

“More or less, yes,” he said. “I have a bunch more tied up in investments currently. See, I got very into the idea of crypto, and then got spooked right before everyone else. I sold it all off right before it started crashing and made a killing. Some of my other investments are doing well too. It’s surprising, even to me, how much it all accumulated, but there it is. All my secrets are out now, I guess.”

“You have eighty million in savings ?”

“Seventy-eight million in savings,” he said. “Two of it is in two checking accounts that I keep. One of them is primarily being used to handle the family’s legal trouble. The brothers think that’s a family checking account, but I haven’t told them it’s just me.”

“Collin, that’s insane.”

“I know,” he said, chuckling to himself. “I kind of like being a secret multi-millionaire. It’s fun. No one knows. But I have all this money saved up and nothing really to do with it. I can’t think of a better use of a fraction of it than helping take care of your grandmother. So what I want you to do is give me the number of that company and switch the billing over to my account. That way it’ll come out automatically, and you never have to worry about it again.”

“I can’t let you do that,” I said. “What if… what if things don’t work out? What if you decide you don’t want to be with me anymore?”

“I won’t,” he said with a finality that made me believe him. It was like a hammer being dropped. “But even in the event that something did happen, and I give that a percentage chance of less than zero, I wouldn’t have the heart to do that to your grandmother anyway. She’s a treasure of Foley, Texas, and I’d be a real heel to take away her caregiver because I was upset with you. No, once she’s on my bill, she’s there for life.”

“I just… I don’t know what to say…” I said.

“You don’t have to say anything,” he said. “This is what people do. Besides, your name is going to be on the account soon anyway.”

“What?”

I blinked at him for a long moment, and he laughed.

“I’m trying to tell you I love you, Brandy Shaw. And I don’t plan on ever, ever letting you go.”

“Oh,” I said, my heart beating hard and my face flushing. “Me either.”

“Then it’s settled,” he said. “Now. What do you want for lunch? Especially now that you know money is no object. If you want to fly to France for a baguette, we can make that happen.”

I laughed, wiping away a tear of shock, surprise, and happiness.

“Why don’t we just order a pizza,” I said, “and some really good ice cream?”