Chapter Five
“That’s it?” Luca says when I’ve explained. “That’s all? You want me to fund an annual memorial scholarship through a school? You don’t want a diamond necklace or a Louis Vuitton bag?”
I scrunch my nose to tell him no. “I just want to get the scholarship started. And it has to be designated for someone coming from rehab. You can set it up through the university. I’ve already checked the legal aspects of it, and they’ll do it if I can find the funding. This is something I’ve wanted to do for a really long time, but I didn’t know how to raise enough money.”
Luca leans back in his chair and crinkles his face as he looks out the window. I asked for an initial input of twenty thousand, but maybe he’s going to try to bring it down to ten. I’m sticking to my guns, though. Scholarship or no deal. The interest on it isn’t going to amount to very much each year, but it will at least pay for books or something. The waiter comes to bring us fresh limonatas and clear our dishes. He asks if we want dessert, but I shake my head and Luca sends him off to get the check.
Luca turns back, piercing me with the dark blue of his eyes. My request seems to frustrate him. “Why is this so important to you? Why is this the thing you’ll agree to be my fake girlfriend over when you don’t want any of the things normal girls would want?”
“It just is,” I say. “And I am normal.”
He leans forward and softens his look. “Sorry, you know what I mean. Average girls. And don’t even try to tell me, Astoria Herriot, that you are average.”
I smile because he seems sincere enough. But he’s not charming me into a penny less. I’m about to tell him this when he leans back again, clearly calculating it all out.
“So, how exactly did you decide this scholarship is worth twenty K?” He has his phone on the table, and it lights up with a text in Jasmine’s name. He looks at me instead of picking up his phone.
I can’t believe he’s such a jerk that he’ll haggle with me over money for a scholarship because he expects me to want designer swag instead. I should have asked for thirty.
“Well, the things you’ve offered seem like they’d be at least that.” But maybe I don’t know, after all. It’s not like I’ve ever chartered a private plane to Hawaii or bought a Dolce Gabbana coat. “And, if I’m going to be spending my time to help you, I think you can spend some money to help other people.” I want to add “Especially since you seem to have more money than sense,” but I manage to leave that unsaid.
He pinches his eyebrows and doesn’t smile. “The thing is, that’s not much seed money to run a scholarship fund with. You’d be lucky to pay for books with the interest on that eachyear.”
“For some people, that could make a big difference. It’s that or no deal.” I hold his gaze, determined, but then I feel ridiculous and grab my drink.
“How about a quarter of a million?”
I sputter my limonata, choking.
Luca laughs.
“Dollars? Are you kidding me?”
Luca shrugs. “Look, I need to make a certain amount of charitable gifts every year for tax purposes, which my accountant has been on me about anyway. Why not this? Besides, the exchange rate is in my favor, and it will help my image. Especially once people find out about Rowdy.”
I just stare at him, which he seems to find extremely amusing. This is way too good to be true.
“You know,” he says, “seeing you speechless might be as much fun as I’ve ever gotten from having a tidy sum of cash to throw around. So does this mean we have a deal?”
I close my mouth and we shake hands.
“No one can ever know about any of this, though,” he adds.
“Agreed.” I push my glass away. The last thing I want anyone to know is that I’m helping this jerk’s diva girlfriend move on from someone in rehab. I already feel like a total creep. But, if it helps his album with her do well, then it’s helping him. Especially since he already knows the girl is gone. I just hope he’s not fooling himself that she’ll change her mind when he gets out.
“Nobody can find out,” I say. “Ever.”
He nods as the waiter approaches with the check. After the guy walks away with his cash, Luca catches my gaze. “So, tonight, Jamie Talon concert, aye?”
“Aye.”
“Brilliant. I’ll pick you up at six-thirty.”
I can hardly wait.