I ignored his bruised ego. “All I’m asking you to do isnottell her that you’renotdating me?”
“I don’t think it’s worth it.”
I was losing him. I could feel him slipping further away by the second. The jitters took hold of my body as I filled the plate with the remaining oysters from the box on the counter.
He couldn’t even begin to understand how much was on the line. My dreams. My future. My money! I’d risked everything on this one last chance, and I had to swing for the fences if I had any hope of making this work.
Grandmother had promised each of her grandchildren a quarter of a million dollars to start off with in life. The only thing we had to do was prove we were mature enough to handle it. She was impressed by high-power executive types, hence the horrible tweed skirt and blazer. She was impressed by serious-minded people, cue the stacks of horridly dry books I’d borrowed. And apparently, she liked steady boyfriends. I needed one more than I’d ever needed anything before.
I was the only one of nine grandkids who hadn’t gotten her early inheritance yet, and my cousins were starting to talk. But all I had to do was impress her and the money would be mine.
The truth was, Grandmother had smiled at me today—it was scary, but trap or not, it was more smiling than I’d ever seen her do in my life. I was so close. I could feel it! It was time to put my money where my mouth was and get this deal done!
Homerun, here I come.
“I’ll give you ten thousand dollars.”
He laughed so suddenly that I dropped an oyster on the floor.
“Make it fifteen and you’ve bought yourself a pretend boyfriend for the day.”
“Thirteen.” I’m sure it was all the antique shows, aka junk sales, I’d gone to with my parents when I was a kid, but desperate situation or not, I couldn’t keep myself from haggling. Thirteen thousand was a steep price to pay, but it wasn’t even a drop in the bucket compared to my end goal of becoming a multi-platinum recording artist one day.
I couldn’t risk blowing it with Grandmother over a few grand. If I had to tell her Cash and I weren’t together, that would lead to more questions about my abysmally non-existent romantic life. No. She liked that I was “with” a long-term guy, and that was what I needed to deliver.
“Wait.” Cash’s eyes grew as round as saucers. “You’re not kidding.”
“No, I’m not.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Look, I need to raise a lot of money quickly. She promised me a large sum of money if I can prove I’m worthy of it. If you can help me do that, it’s totally worth thirteen grand to me.”
Cash puffed his cheeks with a long exhale as he scratched his head. “I don’t know…”
“What don’t you know?”
His gaze shifted from me to the floor beside my foot, suddenly distracted from our hushed conversation. “I don’t know why this dog hasn’t eaten the oyster you dropped.”
He was right. The dog was definitely interested, at least it looked like it to me with all the sniffing he was doing. But he wasn’t eating.
Cash bent down and picked up the shell and lifted the slimy snack to his nose.
He sniffed.
He gagged.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“The oysters are spoiled. Couldn’t you smell it?”
“I tried not to. I hate seafood. I bought them for my grandmother this morning.”
“Are you trying to kill her so you can inheriteverything?”
“Stop being dramatic.” I leaned in for a sniff and nearly lost my Capitaine Crunchies all over the kitchen floor. “Great gobbs of goulash, those are enough to make anyone hurl.”
“They’re enough to send anyone to the emergency room.”