“You gave her money?” Cait whispers, her face going white.
“Yep, fifty thousand dollars!” Fiona sings merrily. “That’s not nothing by a long shot!”
My beautiful girl’s face falls.
‘That’s why you didn’t make the investment in my company, isn’t it? Because you gave the money to my stepmother instead,” she says in a slow voice.
At this, I sit back on my heels for a moment.
“Cait, the fifty thousand I’m going to invest in Get Pressed has nothing to do with the fifty thousand I gave to your stepmother. These two things are unrelated.”
“But it’s for the same amount,” she says, her face resolute. She won’t look me in the eye, and there are two spots of red on her cheeks.
“Yes, but that’s just a coincidence!” I say. “Honey, fifty thousand is nothing to me. I could write you a check right now for fifty thou and it would clear just fine. I could write ten checks for fifty thousand each, and it wouldn’t matter. The money is nothing to me.”
At that, Fiona chimes in again.
“Except you’re using the money to pay for her body,” she smirks. “Let’s not leave that out.”
With that, I lose it. I stand up in anger, and begin to advance on the scrawny woman.
“Get out!” I roar. “Get the fuck out, and never come back, bitch!”
Fiona laughs merrily, not at all bothered, but at least she sashays towards the exit.
“Bye you two!” she sings merrily. “Mommy loves you, Caity! Just call me after this is over. I’m sure you understand that you were nothing but dust under my heel all along!”
Then she disappears in a waft of sour-smelling perfume, and Cait and I look at one another. My beautiful girl is pale, and her hand is pressed to her belly, as if protecting it.
“Cait,” I say, getting down on one knee again. “You have to believe me. This is not a scheme hatched by me and Fiona, no matter what you think. Yes, I slept with your stepmother that once, but that was before I even met you. Please, sweetheart. You have to believe me.”
Cait is silent, looking fixedly at her hands. Then she lifts her head and stares at me with expressionless eyes.
“Did Fiona tell you to come out with Buster that day? Did she tell you that I was wandering around your neighborhood?”
Oh shit. Oh shit, oh shit. I decide I have to be honest because I love this woman, and the more lies I tell, the less likely I’ll be able to save this relationship.
“Yes, she did,” I admit. “I decided to go for a walk with Buster to find you.”
“But how did Fiona know I was there?”
“I don’t know,” I say slowly. “It was likely just a good guess. She might have been spying on you from afar. But Buster and I wandered around for a good forty minutes in the neighborhood before we stumbled upon you.”
Cait is silent, her eyes bright even though she still refuses to meet my gaze.
“But why did you go out to find me that day?”
Oh shit. This is where the story gets even worse.
“Because sweetheart, Fiona was already in the middle of her blackmail scheme. I was only listening with half an ear as she ranted and raved about how “I owed her,” but when she mentioned that a luscious, gorgeous, teenage girl was wandering around my neighborhood homeless, I took the bait. I came out to find you without having a plan, and then this happened,” I say. “I have no excuse. I wasn’t thinking straight, and that’s on me. Because after our first meeting, suddenly Fiona’s bullshit didn’t matter anymore. I just wanted you, and if I had to pay her some fake hush money, it was no skin off my nose.”
The gorgeous girl shakes her head.
“I’m so confused by this turn of events. Was there blackmail or not?”
I take a deep breath, trying to keep my voice steady.
“There was, but it wasn’t real,” I say. “It’s hard to explain the chain of events in any coherent way. But suffice to say, a woman I slept with came calling. She wanted to blackmail me, and she wanted to entrap me too. She happened to mention that a very beautiful girl was in my neighborhood, and I went out to investigate. Then, all bets were off. I met you, and suddenly, I didn’t even care about the blackmail anymore. Let Fiona get her rocks off. Let her have her fifty thousand dollars because it’s nothing to me. You are what matters.”
Cait goes pale.
“Am I, Travis? Are you sure?”
“Yes,” I say fervently, taking her hands in my own. “I love you more than anything, Caity. I’ve been such a fucking fool all this time, emphasizing how this is nothing but a transaction, but in fact, that’s not true at all,” I say fiercely. “I’ve fallen in love with you, and only you.”