Chapter 37
Chapter Thirty-Seven
A s much as she’d thought she wanted space to process everything, Erin was glad, in the end, that Lewis stayed on the train. After telling her his story, he wasn’t intrusive, but gave her time to let everything sink in. Looking back on her week with him, everything shifted slightly, but having him beside her meant she could get clarification rather than speculating.
“When you had that meeting with the accountant the other day,” she started, then left Lewis to fill in the blank since she wasn’t sure what her question was.
“Mr Garrett is the accountant for the hotel and also my private financial advisor.”
“And do you genuinely dislike him? Because it seemed as though you didn’t like him.”
“I don’t enjoy meeting with him.” He paused, seeming to ponder the question. “I was going to say that I don’t mind him as a person, but I’m not sure that’s true. I guess I don’t even like him as a person that much.”
“What does he actually do?”
“Helps me decide what to do with the money, then moves it around to the appropriate places. ”
“So he works for you?”
Lewis nodded slowly.
“Why do you employ someone who you don’t enjoy working with?”
His features filled with puzzlement as he cocked his head. “He was the hotel’s accountant before I took the place over. He’s not a terrible person or anything. And I guess it’s a case of ‘better the devil you know’.”
That didn’t make much sense to Erin, but it didn’t seem worth lingering over.
“What did you buy?” she asked, changing tack. All she got from Lewis was another puzzled look. “When you won the money, you must have splashed out. What did you buy for yourself that was totally indulgent?”
Creases appeared on the bridge of his nose. “I bought the hotel. That was a pretty significant purchase.”
“Yes, but that’s more like an investment, isn’t it? It’s a business transaction, not something indulgent. And was the hotel really something for you?”
“I own it,” he stated, misunderstanding her.
“I know, but did you buy it because you wanted to own a hotel, or because the place was failing and the staff were about to lose their jobs? Was owning a hotel something you really wanted?”
“No,” he said plainly. “I didn’t particularly want the responsibility of owning a hotel. I bought my house, though. That was extravagant.”
“It’s lovely that you could buy your own house,” Erin said. “I’m not sure it counts as particularly indulgent or extravagant. Not when it’s also a practical purchase and another good investment.”
He sank back in his seat. “I paid off my parents’ mortgage, and my sisters let me buy them a flat each, but it was hard work getting my family to agree to that. The people who I wanted to give money to weren’t keen to take it, but random people who I’d never met started sending me begging letters. There was a part of me that would have been happy to give it all away, but I also felt I had a responsibility to do some good with it…”
“The kid waiting to see Santa,” Erin mused as she recalled the conversation which hadn’t meant anything at the time. “You sponsor his football team. You said it was the hotel, but it’s you.”
He nodded. “I like to support community groups and other local projects. But even twenty-six million isn’t endless, so I invest a portion of the money to make sure I can continue to give to worthy causes. But figuring all of that out feels like a full-time job sometimes.”
“I’ll bet,” Erin said, trying to wrap her head around it all but not managing it. It all felt very surreal. “Also, if it’s so much work managing the money, why don’t you hire a financial advisor who you actually like?”
“I don’t know.” Lewis looked vaguely confused, as though he’d never even considered the possibility. “Like I said, Mr Garrett was the accountant for the hotel before I took it over, so it made sense to keep him on. And it felt easy to have him advise me with the rest of it, too. I already knew him, so I didn’t need to worry about him screwing me over or anything.”
“That seems like a flimsy basis to employ someone on.”
“Maybe,” he agreed with a faraway look in his eyes.
“Did you do anything fun with the money?” Erin asked after a few minutes.
The crease reappeared between his eyebrows. “Not especially. It felt like a burden really quickly. I also had the feeling that everyone was watching me and judging me. I still feel as though people are waiting for me to blow it all, or somehow make a mess of my life because of it.”
“I don’t understand why you work so much,” Erin said. “Surely you could hire a manager to take care of the hotel. At least so you don’t need to be there around the clock. ”
“I could,” Lewis said. “But I don’t want to be the guy who won the lottery and never worked again. That’s not who I am.”
“I understand that, but it seems you’ve gone to the other extreme. You work constantly.”
“I don’t really know why,” he said slowly. “But I didn’t earn the money. I guess sometimes it feels as though I need to earn it. Which I realise doesn’t make sense.”
“It does actually.” She paused and another ten minutes passed with them sitting in silence. “I guess you already donate to the dog shelter?” she asked eventually, remembering the odd look in Carla’s eyes when she’d mentioned promising them a donation.
He smiled warmly. “My sister has no interest in taking money for herself, but she has no problem begging on behalf of those dogs.”
“Did you tell your family not to say anything to me about the money?”
He shook his head. “I didn’t have to. Anna realised immediately that you didn’t know, and she told the rest of them. They thought it was better if you didn’t know until you got to know me. My family really don’t talk about it much anyway, so it’s not as though they had to bite their tongues constantly.”
Erin straightened her spine. “It all sounds quite depressing.”
“What does?”
She shrugged. “You won the lottery and when you talk about it, you don’t sound happy. It’s weird.”
“I think about this a lot, and I don’t think winning the lottery made me happier.”
Erin waited a moment, considering his words. “Are you less happy than you were before?”
His jaw tightened, and she knew the answer before he even spoke. “Possibly.” He exhaled a full breath. “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate my life, but the money brought a lot of stress, and whether they’re real or not, a lot of expectations. Also,” he added blithely, “when you’re a multimillionaire suddenly you can’t complain to anybody about anything.”
That made her smile. “I suppose you could always hire someone to listen to you complain.”
“Yeah,” he said, but he didn’t sound amused as he massaged his temple. The train was pulling into the station and he stood in the aisle and lifted her case from the rack.
“How do you get home from here?” he asked.
“I’ll jump in a taxi.” Usually, she’d get the Tube, but she just wanted to get home while encountering as few people as possible.
“I’ll walk you to the taxi rank,” he told her, then fell quiet as they eased their way off the train and through the station.
The queue for the taxi rank wasn’t long, and he stayed by her side when she joined it.
“Tell me what I said to annoy you,” she said quietly.
He turned to gaze at her.
“Just tell me. Don’t pretend I didn’t say something that irritated the heck out of you.”
Again, he rubbed at his temple, a pained expression darkening his eyes. “I realise you were joking, but you did what everyone does and offered me a way to solve a problem with money. Everyone thinks they’d have a perfect life if they won the lottery. People are more than happy to tell me what they’d do in my situation, but the truth is there are a lot of problems that money can’t help you with. Like…” He stopped and when he spoke again, his voice was calmer, more controlled. “Like what would you do if you suddenly didn’t know who to trust? If you couldn’t tell who was genuine and who was only pretending to like you because they were interested in your money.”
A lump clogged Erin’s throat. “I wouldn’t tell them,” she whispered.
He nodded gravely. “I know I should have told you, but I hope you can at least understand why I didn’t. ”
“Yes,” she murmured.
The understanding should have made everything easy, but it was suddenly very clear that it wasn’t just about his secret. It was about her, too.
The taxi queue moved forwards and then it was her turn.
“I know I said that I’d get the next train back, and you’d never have to see me again,” Lewis said, “but I really want to see you again.”
Her heart was pounding as she wrapped her arms around his waist. The driver of the black cab shouted for her to get in and she shouted back for him to wait a minute.
With the scent of Lewis filling her nostrils and the feel of his body in her embrace, she knew for a fact that she couldn’t get in that taxi and leave things as they were.
“Do you want to see my flat?” she asked in his ear.
Drawing back, his features creased in surprise.
She smiled faintly. “I want to tell you a story.”
“As long as it involves socks, I’m in.”