“Sure, why not?” Zoey set the plates down in the sink and crossed her arms protectively around herself.
I crossed over to the small wood desk by the fireplace. Opening a tiny drawer, I grabbed a key and moved the multi-platinum record for Butterfly off the wall, revealing a deep compartment. Unlocking the safe inside it first with the key then the combination, I retrieved my binder of financial statements and brought it back with me to the counter. Placing it in front of Zoey, I opened the binder to a ledger of my financial assets.
“I hope you don’t think it’s weird that I’m letting you see this. I don’t want to freak you out.” I studied her expression, which remained impassive.
“Okay, but this stuff is none of my business.” Zoey looked at me quizzically, without even glancing at the statement.
“Well, I disagree. This is entirely your business. My schedule is about to get busy again until the end of this year. I just thought that before we go to New York, we could really make a commitment to each other.”
“Wait, I’m going to New York?”
“Well, I just assumed you’d be with me for the premiere.” I was such an idiot. I hadn’t even asked her.
She stared at me for a long moment. “Are you asking me or telling me?”
“Asking. Will you come with me? We’ll get an entire PR plan put together to control the press as much as possible.”
Zoey didn’t respond, but she finally scanned the spreadsheet. “Holy shit, Ty. You’re not just a millionaire, you’re like a zillionaire!”
“I just want you to know that I’m secure. We are secure.” I reached over and put my hand over hers.
Zoey shut her eyes and sighed, looking up at me with a tight smile. “I haven’t earned any of this.”
“I beg to differ.” I crossed my arms. “The songs I wrote about you bring me royalties every year. This is as much your money as mine.”
She looked astounded. Her brow furrowed as though she was deep in thought.
“Look, I wanted to show you my finances. Royalties from my songwriting and producing pay me as much as LTZ does. More even. I’m investing wisely, aside from a couple crazily expensive cars. I’ll never be able to spend what I have.”
“Your money doesn’t matter to me, Ty. Don’t get me wrong, I’m proud of you” Zoey’s eyes pooled with tears. “You’ve come so far.”
“Well, Carter set us all up with his financial manager, who has been brilliant—”
“This is all so much.” Zoey buried her head in her hands. “I’m not sure how to feel.”
“I was hoping it would make you feel safe. I mean, you really don’t need to work at the firm or at the foundation or at any job if you don’t want to, Zoey,” I attempted to reassure her. “You can take the time to do whatever you want. I just want to be with you every step of the way. And, I don’t want to hide you anymore. We need to reclaim our lives.”
“I get what you’re saying, but—"
“I know, I’m being impatient. That, and making assumptions about what you want. Or when you want it. I’ve said my piece. At least now you know where I stand.”
“I’m just trying to process, it’s a lot of big changes. I’m feeling overwhelmed.”
Without saying another word, I put the ledger back in its place and cleaned up the kitchen. Part of me was afraid that I’d say something I’d regret because I was ready to take the next step now. The other part knew not to push her after my behavior in LA.
“Ty?”
“Butterfly, why don’t you go change? Relax. Maybe take a bath. I’ll finish cleaning up.” I smoothed her hair and kissed her on the forehead.
“But—”
“Look, the truth is I have a few more band commitments that are important. I’m also not going to apologize to you or anyone else that I want you to be with me as much as humanly possible now and later and forever. Once the band is on hiatus, there is no guarantee any of this will ever happen again for LTZ. Or, even that we will even make music together again. We could very well be tanking our career for good. There may be no more hit songs. No more Grammys. No more private jets whisking us to movie premieres.”
My calm delivery camouflaged my desperate need for her to understand where I was coming from. I refused to leave anything on the table anymore, especially with her. “While I hope that doesn’t happen, the thing is, I’m okay with it. I have lived this life nonstop for nearly a decade. Now I’m financially secure and can branch out into exploring the other things that are important to me. The foundation, for instance. But mostly, while I never, in a million years, fathomed that you and I would find our way back to each other, now that we are together again, I have everything.”
Zoey stared up at me with her big, innocent hazel eyes, letting me have my say.
So, I continued. “The thing is, babe? I support your ambition and encourage it. I don’t expect you to give up anything. Truthfully, there is nothing I’d rather do than marry you, retire and knock you up a bunch of times and stay home with our ten kids while you run the foundation or work somewhere else, or excel at whatever you want to do. I’d be content to go back to having music in my life as a passion not a career if it meant you were happy.”
“Ty—” Zoey looked like she was caught in a trap.
“It’s okay, baby. The truth is, we are in
