I arched my brow at her because she couldn’t be serious. “Girl, you’re a millionaire.”
She returned my look without a second of hesitation. “And you’re an heiress.”
It was my turn to shake my head because although her words weren’t an exaggeration; I wasn’t the type to wear that title with any sort of pride. “I’m a damn nurse and a nanny.”
“Girl, you the baby mama please be so for real.”
I thought about what Aldrich had said about me getting visitation and I had to smile. “You might be right.”
“Ain’t no might. I’m just glad you accept.” She gave the sellers the information they needed before she wrapped her arm around mine so we could leave this vendor.
“Come on, we've got a few other places to stop before we go back to the table. I’m not trying to let some of these hating ass hos get the best shit. And since we gotta go back over there and someone is going to say something slick, I need to have gotten all my shit in case we get kicked out.”
I leaned my head on her shoulder and grinned, plotting how I was about to cut up all these clothes she’d just gotten. “Don’t worry, even if they try, I've got you.”
“I hope you know you’re not going to shake us.”
I’d left Ami with Aphrodite because she wanted to give me a break to finish up looking at vendors. There was one that was selling furs and although it was crazy to need one in Texas, I was from New York and wanted to see what they had to offer. They had a pair of fur boots that I knew I was going to get and possibly the matching cropped jacket. Billy came with me but I felt likeshe was trying to make up for what she’d said earlier about trad wives.
“I’m shocked to hear you say that.”
Her beautiful face frowned up momentarily as though she were working through the many reasons why I would feel that way. “Are you upset about what I said earlier? I truly didn’t—”
I didn’t mean for her to feel guilty again so I interrupted her before she apologized again. “No, it’s not that. But you’re the one who helped him hire me. Being the wife of a player might change how you look at me.”
When Billy’s whole face dropped I knew I’d insulted her despite that not being my intention.
She folded her lips and then released a breath that I knew was her way of trying not to fuss me out.
“I hope you know that nobody here cares about the fact that you found your person in Money. Hell, you seem to be exactly what he needs outside of what you’re doing with Ami. And in my eyes the way you love her only solidifies that you’re the right person for him. Too many women would be jealous. Would try to be manipulative, but I could tell then and now you’re a genuine person. And if what I said offended you, I apologize. There is nothing wrong with being with someone who allows you to do what it is that you want to do. I want that for every woman in this world. If it’s as simple as running a business or as complex as taking care of home, women deserve to have the choice.”
“You said complex as taking care of home.” I knew she had to have help because her business was booming and she was extremely successful. Hearing her value the help she had was a completely different outlook from how my mother viewed the people who worked for her.
She laughed, and I couldn’t understand what was funny. “I have four children, Sterling, FOUR.” She wiggled her fingers and said four like even her ass was shocked she had so many.Now I was laughing right along with Billy. “I’m never going to knock anyone who takes care of home full-time because I know firsthand what it takes to do that. I have my mother, my husband’s adopted mother and his father who are all on call to help us and we still have additional help. I know the privilege I have in being able to have help and I would never put another woman down for her choices.”
Billy’s words had me on the verge of tears and I knew she was only trying to reinforce that she wasn’t judging. Aphrodite trusted her and so did Aldrich so opening up to her seemed like a safe bet.
“Thank you. That’s my own insecurity coming out. My mother has basically told me I needed to settle for any man because I physically couldn’t get a top-tier man and working was beneath me. I don’t know why they work so hard and then expect their children to be everything they aren’t. I don’t have kids—”
She barked a laugh and then nodded her head toward where Aphrodite was sitting with Ami. “That baby that you were carrying on your chest would definitely like to have a word.”
I grinned my heart warming at how easily she assuaged my fear. “You know what I mean. But I like being with her and looking after her. I always said I would just have my maternal urges filled by being a nanny but—”
“But it’s different than that now, right? Because your emotions are there.” Her voice softened like she completely understood what I was saying and I could only nod.
“Yeah, and I enjoy making sure that everything is taken care of. I have a lot of pride in that but it still makes me feel like I gave in to her machinations and it pisses me off.”
“Didn’t you go to school?”
“Uh yeah you saw my credentials.”
“Right. Credentials,plural. You have a master’s in nursing. You’ve been a travel nurse for the last few years. That’s nothing to sneeze at. You graduated from Johns Hopkins—”
“Yeah, but it’s not Ivy so she’s not impressed by that.” Which was ironic because my mother didn’t go to an Ivy League school herself.
Billy’s lips tightened, and I could see her trying to be kind. It didn’t work, though. “Respectfully, fuck her.”
I laughed because the vehemence in which she said it was funny but also made me feel protected. The same way I did when I spoke with Aldrich, Aphrodite or any of the people I’d met here so far. “Wild that you started that off with respectfully because it was anything but. Not that she didn’t earn it. Do you stick up for everybody like this?”
