“Real money?”
“About three hundred.” Kia started typing again.
“A month?”
“Ha. I’m notthatbig. A year.” Kia didn’t look up. “How do you think I’m buying your ancestral forest? I’ve got investors putting up the down payment. I’m financing everything else. I can’t do that selling hot dogs.”
Three hundred a year. Did Kia mean…
“Three hundred thousand?”
Over a quarter of a million for posting hot dogs?
Kia flipped her phone over on her knee and looked up.
“Yeah.”
Nina always said men married for money or looks. Women married for money, but they were attracted to power.Money represents power. That’s the real draw.Sullivan hadn’t gotten it. Until now. The casual way Kia dropped the sum… was impressive.
It was hot.
Objectively.
Not to Sullivan personally.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have saidyour ancestral forest,” Kia said. “I didn’t mean to make fun of it.”
Sullivan didn’t say anything. Kia had been a worthy rival in the kitchen. She was apparently a worthy rival in life too.
Kia looked at the young couple. “They’re going snorkeling in Hawaii for their honeymoon.”
“Think they’ll make it?”
“Snorkeling?”
“Marriage.”
“I hope so.” Kia rested her elbows on her knees, chin on her steepled fingertips. “They look happy.” She turned toward Sullivan without lifting her chin, her eyes wistful. “I’d love to be them. To find someone to love forever.” She exhaled a soft snort. “That’s not in the cards, is it? Have you been married?”
That’s how little they knew about each other.
“No. You?”
“I’ll have time for that when I’m dead.” A faraway look clouded Kia’s eyes. “But when I do… if I do… I want it to be someone I have fun with, someone who’s always got my back. Shotgun rider.”
“Someone who loves me exactly the way I am.” Sullivan heard Aubrey complaining.Pull your shoulders back. You look like a cat in the rain.
“How could they not?” Kia covered her lips with her fingertips. “Sorry.” She shrugged. “You’re kind of a snack.”
Sullivan gazed past Kia’s shoulders. “I always thought I’d get married just once. I guess I’m old-fashioned. I don’t think people should stay in bad marriages, but I thought I’d choose someone who’d want to be with me forever.”
“The one thing in your life you wouldn’t have to question,” Kia added.
“Yeah.” Sullivan gave a rueful shrug.
“That’s what I wanted too. I don’t know how I thought I’d find her living in a different city every week though. I think my dad never married because he’s always moved around too much to find true love, and he wouldn’t settle for less.”
“And look at us now.”
