“And before that it was land, real estate and personal care lines. Now they’ve got their hands in a lot of pots.” I put itout there so that they wouldn’t find something out later and feel some way later. Now I needed to say something about it to Aldrich.
“And you work for a living.” I could hear the appreciation in Billy’s voice so I didn’t take offense to her comment.
“Yes.”
“That’s admirable. Most people would sit back and collect their dividend check with a smile.”
I laughed because Billy described my entire generation besides me and Dalton. The ones who did work normally did so for the family and only had titles because of nepotism. “I refuse to have those folks think that I’m as vapid and lazy as they are.”
“And they gave up the suite without issue?” Lyric looked prepared to battle my family if they tried to stop us.
“I’d planned on offering it to you once I saw the game schedule. I didn’t know if he would want Ami to travel but he’s made it clear that it’s non-negotiable unless the environment is really hostile. I decided that my family perk would actually come in handy for once.”
“That’s really generous of you, Sterling but we can’t just let you pay for that.” Rye spoke but everyone else was nodding and I thought they’d appreciate my solution to the ticket situation.
“But I’m not paying for it.”
“Girl, you know what we mean. How big is the suite because we might still need to secure additional tickets for everyone.” Billy looked worried and I knew she had a large family and extended family.
“I think it seats thirty or forty people.” I shrugged because I knew the family had one of the bigger suites but I didn’t have the full logistics of it yet. I assumed that everyone would want to travel to the game and if necessary I would see if the suite next to ours was available. The good thing about people who owned the suites was that they saw them as business opportunities. Fewlooked at the games and went for the enjoyment of it unless they needed it to close a business deal. Most people attended games in the boxes they owned to see or be seen when necessary. I was fairly certain that, for the right price that we could get what we needed.
I glanced up from my plate when I realized that everyone had gone quiet. “What?”
“You just said that so flippantly.”
“I was just stating the facts. If we need more space—”
“I think that would more than cover everyone. I just have to tell you that my father-in-law will absolutely try to pay you.” I wanted to laugh because I would have to hurt that nice man’s feelings.
“He can keep his money because I’m not going to take it because I haven’t had to spend any.”
Billy just grinned and the rest of them snickered so I could tell this type of behavior was the norm for her father-in-law. “Mac is old-school. He’s not going to let someone else foot the bill for him. You have a jet?”
“No, I travel commercially like a normal person.” That was one thing I refused to do. The family had access to a jet timeshare because it was a better business write-off for each of us to travel privately and then expense it. But I wasn’t so wasteful as to drop thirty-thousand dollars for me to take one flight. That was a year’s worth of first-class travel depending on where I needed to go.
“Not this time.”
“He has access to a plane?” I couldn’t lie that the thought of not having to take Ami through the airport held merit. I looked at her again and she grinned at me like,yeah mama, we want the pj.
“He has a plane. And I’m sure he was going to offer you a seat on it anyway but now it’s just confirmed.” Billy nodded andher multicolored eyes were shining. I could tell she was the type of woman who liked equanimity and I appreciated her extending the offer.
“That’s not—”
“We’re not doing this. And this isn’t a tit-for-tat thing. Everyone flies on it for a group trip. And since you’re family you were already accounted for.” She said that casually as she sipped her champagne like she hadn’t just healed a part of me with her acceptance.
I watched her and knew she wasn’t going to allow me to say no. “How big is this plane?”
The ladies at the table laughed and me and Aphrodite glanced at each other.
“Big enough.”
Ami started fussing so I picked her up and bounced her on my thighs. Her pacifier fell out of her mouth and she kicked her legs like she was trying to stand.
“Guess we’re going to be flying private to the game.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Secrets
