“Maybe?”
He chortled. “Yes! I’ve been waiting forever for you to get over Rob and quit locking away your heart.”
“I’ve been over Rob for a decade. I was never that into Rob.”
“Lies, all lies.” He sobered. “I don’t mean you’ve been in love with the bastard all this time. But you took one risk young, diving headlong in with him, and you got burned. It’s made you careful.”
“I knew what I was doing with Rob from the start.”
“Bullshit. You were a romantic looking for your fairy tale, and for a while, you thought you’d found it. Rob’s disinterest in romance smacked your heart into hiding.”
“I’ve dated a lot of guys since Rob.”
“You’ve fucked a lot of guys. Tell me one you actually thought you might be serious about.”
I scanned back through my admittedly mediocre dating history. “Felix.”
“Sweetie, you told me he had the brains of an anime kitten.”
“He was fun.”
“He was a pleasant distraction.” Jamie raised an eyebrow. “Tell me about the new man. I bet he’s nothing like Felix.”
“Well, not much.” I hesitated, but I really wanted to talk about Shane with someone. “He’s smart, for one thing. Not educated, but he reads for fun and he has opinions. He can make a logical argument. He’s tough, too, self-sufficient.”To a fault, from my point of view, and yet that’s part of what makes him special.“And, very unlike Felix, he doesn’t care about how he looks.” That thought made me pause, because was it true? Or did Shane make himself not care because even a good haircut was money he didn’t have to spend? Either way, I didn’t think he had much vanity.
“Is he a construction worker? I’ve always thought you were more relaxed around your job sites.”
“No.” I didn’t want to mention the job thing. I really didn’t want Jamie to look down on Shane when he’d kept his life on track since he was seventeen. “Thing is, he has almost no money. I feel like I’m walking on eggshells not to damage his pride, but fuck, I have more money than I need right now. Enough to make a huge difference in his life.”
“But he doesn’t want you to?”
“No. Not directly.”
“You need to be careful of a man’s pride.” Jamie met my gaze on that little screen, and I knew we were both thinking back to the days when we’d had to decide how much pride we could afford. Jamie left home younger than Shane or me. When we met, he was working as an escort, a fuck toy for one of the rich men who came to a party at Rob’s. We’d kept in touch through the ups and downs, even after we both left that life. Jamie didn’t get the generous goodbye Rob gave me. He eventually took a job in retail and worked his way up to store manager. But even when I got handed a million-dollar business and he was helping shoppers on Black Friday, Jamie never let me give him more than a good case of beer, either.
“I know. It’s hard, though. I want to make his life easier.”
“Do you want to be the boyfriend or a sugar daddy? Because we’ve both been there.”
“Right.”Yes. Yes we had.A rush of affection for Jamie washed through me. “It’s good to see you. How’ve you been?”
“Meh, the store’s kicking my ass, but I’ll survive.”
A soft meow at my feet was the only warning I had before Mimsy leaped up in my lap, sticking her butt in my face as she asked for attention. Jamie got a good close-up of pale fur before I arranged the cat in my lap and held the phone out of the way.
“Did you get a cat? I always said you should have a pet.”
“No. She’s Shane’s.”
“That’s your guy’s name?” A playful smile tugged at Jamie’s lips.
“He’s not mine, exactly.”
“But you want him to be.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yeah. Except, I’m still so messed up lately, I’ve, like, cried in front of him twice, full on ugly-cried. If he doesn’t want my money, then what makes me worth putting up with that kind of emotional mess?”
“Seriously? Your money?” Jamie straightened on his couch to glare at me. “You gonna be like the douchebags we fucked and assume money’s the only worthwhile thing about a man?”
