Just a Few Digits Shy
Griff
Ryder laughed like I'd just said something funny. "You're shitting me."
I shook my head. "Nope."
We were standing in the gourmet kitchen of a hot new property that was only hours away from being listed. The place had five bedrooms, six bathrooms, and a view of the Mackinac Bridge that would knock Maisie's socks off.
I smiled at the thought.
Ryder asked, "So why are you smiling?"
The last twenty-four hours had given me plenty of reasons to smile, and all of them starred Maisie. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"Because you just told me you were busted."
"You mean the thing Sierra said?" I waved it away. "Eh, it's not a big deal."
"The hell it isn't." He gave me an expectant look. "So…?"
"So, what?"
"So, what did Maisie say when she learned you were loaded?"
I smiled. "She didn't."
He gave me a funny look. "But you said it yourself. Sierra told Maisie you're a billionaire."
"Which I'm not." And then, at his confused expression, I added, "I checked the markets this morning. I was a few digits shy."
"A technicality?" he said, like I'd tried to tip a valet with Monopoly money. "You do know that's not gonna fly, right?"
I recalled us laughing in the shop – me and Maisie, plus Chad – after Sierra and Devon had bolted. "Relax," I said. "It already flew."
"What, like a pig?"
"No, like a rocket."
Ryder frowned. "What do you mean?"
After Sierra had dropped that bombshell, I'd called her a liar to her face. And I'd told the whole lot of them that even if I were the richest guy in the world, I'd still pick Maisie over anyone else.
Maisie had loved it. Sierra, not so much. She'd bolted soon after, dragging Devon along behind her. And then, after a single question from Maisie, the thing was done and settled.
Sticking with the basics, I told Ryder, "Maisie asked if it was true. I told her no. End of story."
His frown deepened. "So you lied?"
It felt like an insult – and not the usual kind. "It was no lie. Like I said, I ran the numbers."
Ryder gave a slow shake of his head. "Man, are you in trouble."
I wasn’t following. "Why?"
"You know she's gonna freak, right?"
In my mind, I could already see her reaction. Just the thought of it made me feel like a kid before Christmas. "That's the plan."
But Ryder was still grinching out. "You say it like it's a good thing."
"It is ," I said. "It'll be a surprise – a nice one, for a change. She'll love it."
" Or she'll be pissed that you lied to her."
What the hell? "Except I didn't." I gave him an annoyed look. "And since when are you by the book?"
"Since when are you a dumbass?" He glanced around the kitchen. "Even this – you do realize girls like to choose their own place, right?"
I glanced toward the nearest window, where the realtor was setting up a for-sale sign near the shore. It was nearly sunset, and the water shimmered like diamonds all the way to the bridge.
Something stirred deep in my chest. That view, Maisie would love it. I looked back to Ryder. "Who says I'm buying it for her?"
"So you are buying it?"
He talked like I was minutes away from signing a deed. "No, I'm just looking, getting a feel for what's out there."
"And then what? You're gonna whip out your checkbook? Spend a few mil on a place she hasn't seen?"
The guy knew nothing. "No, I'm thinking we'd look together."
"When?"
That was easy. "Nine days."
"Why nine?"
As if he didn't know. "Because that's when I'm done with the bet."
"Screw the bet," he said. "You're playing with fire. You know that, right?"
It was a strange thing for Ryder to say, considering the guy had torched his own guest house – twice.
When I started to reply, he cut me off. "And before you say it, the thing with the guest house was an accident."
I stared, waiting for the punchline. "Both times?"
"Yes, in fact. And we're talking about you , not me."
Even for Ryder, he was acting strange. I studied his face. "And why are you here, anyway?"
"Because you invited me, remember?"
"Yeah, because I found you sitting on my stairs."
He shrugged like we were neighbors living on the same street. "What? I can't drop in to see a friend?"
I considered his recent behavior. He should've been in Chicago, not haunting the island like a ghost. "You're up to something."
"Me?" he scoffed, giving me a hearty slap on the back. "If I were you, I'd worry about yourself."
For as long as I'd known him, he'd never been such a killjoy. "And why's that?"
He grimaced. "Because when it comes to women, a technicality isn't gonna fly."
What he called a technicality, I called a nice surprise. "Nine days," I said again. "That's how long it's gonna take."
"For what?"
I smiled. "For me to say 'I told you so.'"
He didn't smile back. "Or for me to say it while you cry in your whiskey."
I wasn't worried. In my mind, I could already see it – the look on Maisie's face when I finally came clean.
Unless I was reading everything wrong – and I knew I wasn't – she and I wanted the same thing.
Or so I thought.