Sure enough, as we strolled over to the bar, there was Markus chatting up the model look-a-like redhead who was talking way more than she was making drinks. My heart sank at the idea that Mattie was staying with this guy. Of course, I couldn’t tell her to leave her boyfriend anymore; I could only hope that someday she’d be confident enough to be alone.
So many people told me I was strong for being a single mom. I never really thought of myself as strong. You just did what you had to do in situations where you had to step up. What were my other options? Sulk away and give up on parenting my son? Obviously, I wasn’t going to do that.
Sure, times had been really rough right after my husband’s car accident. I had been home on extended maternity leave and to be honest, wasn’t planning on going back to work. Dating the Rich was a new company, and I worked as a secretary straight out of college. I had only worked there a few months when I got pregnant, and as soon as I had Connor, I knew I wanted to stay home with him. Luckily, Spencer was agreeable to my plan.
But everything changed one warm July night. Spencer had been driving home to Los Angeles from San Francisco. He had stayed late to help a client, and from the accident report, it sounded like he had fallen asleep at the wheel before he drove off the road.
Nothing could have prepared me for being a single mother and I certainly hadn’t ever thought I would have to be one. It was harder than I could have imagined, not having another adult around to help out with the day-to-day things.
I certainly couldn’t imagine what Mattie would have to deal with if she stayed with Markus and got married like they were planning. Nope, I wasn’t planning on getting married anytime soon – if ever again. I was accustomed to my single life, and it suited me just fine.
“Don’t say a word,” Mattie said as we walked up to Markus. “You are one hell of a guy. You think I’m just going to keep dating you when you do stuff like this?”
“Oh, babe, nothing was happening. I was just getting your drinks,” he said, yet he didn’t have a single drink in his hand.
“I’m going to get going, Mattie; I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said.
“It’s okay, Del; we just need to talk for a second and then I’ll go look at the art with you,” Mattie said. “I’m sorry. It will just take a minute.”
“No worries. I’m going to walk around. We can talk about it tomorrow at work,” I winked. “Take care of yourself.”
Chapter Two
Brandon
“How on earth are you going to get that painting into your house?” Josh asked as we left the art show.
“That’s a good question. I’m not sure. Maybe take the sliding glass doors off from the back deck?”
“What I would give to be so rich that I could buy paintings that don’t fit through doors. You know, it is really odd that you would spend that much money on that. Is that a lot of money to you? I mean, I don’t think you and I have the same view of what a lot equals.”
“Oh, come on, Josh, you know it’s a lot to me. Don’t you remember how I freaked out that first day you were teaching me how to trade stocks?” I laughed at the memory. “When I lost all my money on one trade because I was being stupid?”
Joshua was a day trading expert and made his money at home while he followed the latest stock trends. I had managed to convince him to teach me privately, since day trading wasn’t exactly a class you could take, and I was getting bored.
He was really good at what he did. We’d met a few years before at a friend’s party and I remember thinking that his job was the coolest. At the time, I was neck deep in my own company and working every waking moment. I traveled more than I was home and had just signed the paperwork for my divorce. Josh’s life seemed like paradise.
He talked about waking up whenever he wanted and spending the day watching the news and sometimes buying stocks. Other days, he just took notes and didn’t buy anything at all. If I had known about stocks and investing when I was younger, I was sure I would have picked that as a career. It sounded interesting and much more fun than the manufacturing business I had been running.
“Brandon, you just sold your business for, like, a billion dollars; losing five hundred dollars in a trade is nothing to you.”
“Five hundred dollars is a lot of money,” I protested. “Just because
I can replace it easily doesn’t mean I don’t value it.”
“Maybe if you weren’t a billionaire, we could continue with this argument. For now, I think I’m going to claim that five hundred dollars isn’t a lot to you,” Josh laughed. “Where are we going now?” he asked as we loaded into an Uber.
“I’d like to follow that hot blonde we saw back there, but since that isn’t an option, let’s find a club and chill for a bit.”
“That girl looked like a real-life man eater,” Josh laughed. “Did you see how she looked at that guy when he grabbed her arm? I thought we might have to rescue him from her if he hadn’t let go when he did.”
“He seemed like a chump, for sure.”
The air was crisp for a summer night, much cooler than we were used to in Los Angeles, but probably not cold compared to what others in the country dealt with on a normal basis. Our driver zipped through the streets and pulled up in front of Avalon, a hip, new dance club.
“Let me do the talking as we go in here. We don’t want a repeat of what happened last time,” I said as we made our way past the line to get inside.
“Hey, I thought a tip would help.”