“I’ve been better.”
He pointed to the phone in my hands and asked, “Have you heard from him?”
“Nope.” It had been two days since I’d left his place, and I hadn’t heard a word from him since. “The last thing he said to me was that we needed to cool it until we know if it’ll all blow over or not. As long as his past isn’t brought back up, we’ll be okay.”
Ty pulled in a deep breath and held it for a moment before slowly letting it go. The entire time, he held my stare with sympathetic eyes. It made my stomach knot and my chest restrict painfully.
“What aren’t you telling me, Ty?”
“N-nothing. I was just wondering what it is that he doesn’t want to get out.”
I shrugged and fought against the tears that burned the backs of my eyes. “I have no idea. I’ve asked him, but he refuses to tell me. Back when I first realized that I had a thing for him, I had Dave do a criminal search on him, but that came back clean. I honestly don’t know what’s so bad that he’s this scared of it getting out.”
He briefly sucked his teeth while doing something on his phone. “Have you, by chance, been online today to see what’s being said about you—well, your sister?”
“No. To be honest, she pissed me off so badly today that I haven’t been able to think straight. I’ve pretty much boxed everything up to keep myself busy so that I didn’t go next door and grovel for his forgiveness. Why?”
“Well, a few things about Jacoby that have come out.”
I stared intently at him, as if trying to read his mind—or force him to spit it out.
“There are a few articles, so I’ve had to piece some of it together, but from what I gather, his dad was a televangelist.”
I shook my head quickly to stop him before he continued. “I don’t know what that is.”
“You know those church sermons on TV? Not like from your local church, but the big ones. Usually very loud and enthusiastic, sometimes they heal people.” He paused for my response, and once I nodded, he continued. “Okay, so that’s what his dad did. Apparently, he was a big deal, worth a ton of money—I think one report had his net worth around two hundred million.”
“Dollars?” My eyes were so wide that they immediately began to dry out.
“Yes. Their show was nationwide.” He gave me a second to let that sink in. “Anyway, his mom helped run the ministry. They were very popular among the religious community, being among the top few who were in such high demand for speaking gigs and appearances.”
“That’s really a thing?”
“Yeah…people can make a lot of money doing that.”
I still didn’t understand, though. I could see why he wouldn’t want to be in the limelight, especially if he’d grown up in it, but why hide who he was? His paranoia over his past didn’t make sense. “Why doesn’t he want anyone to know that?”
“He’s probably more concerned with people discovering that his parents were frauds.” Ty nodded as I gasped, practically choking on that news. “They were arrested, charged, and convicted of tax fraud as well as hiding assets that were paid for by donations made to the church.”
“Embarrassing, sure, but that still doesn’t explain Jacoby’s reaction.”
“Well, there’s more.” Before Ty had a chance to say anything else, Dave walked in. “Just look it up. I’m sure once you read what’s being written about them, you’ll understand the importance of privacy to him.”
“What?” Dave asked, glancing back and forth between Ty and me. “What are you guys talking about? What did I miss?”
“I’ll tell you on the way home. We have seven hours to kill.” I started grabbing the boxes to take them downstairs. And as I predicted, my best friend didn’t make a single comment about my being unprepared or lack of organization. No one knew me better than he did.
* * *
I was too tired for this.
After a long drive home, not getting to the apartment until after two in the morning, all I wanted to do was spend an entire day in bed. I would need at least that much time to grapple with everything I’d learned about Jacoby’s family on the ride home. Each article got worse and worse, but I couldn’t stop myself from reading everything I could find, even articles from twenty years ago. The whole thing seemed more like an episode of Law and Order than someone’s life, but that’s exactly what it was—Jacoby’s life.
No wonder he didn’t want anyone sniffing around.
But a day in bed wasn’t in the cards for me. I had to go to the shop and let them know that I was back so I could be added to the next schedule. Now that I wasn’t getting a penny from Tiffany for the last month and a half that I’d done her bidding for her, I needed money. Dave had been struggling to keep up with things in my absence, and I couldn’t expect him to keep doing that now that I was home.
However, after speaking with my supervisor in the back office, I was informed that I had been replaced. They’d managed to keep me in my position, though, which meant I was still an assistant manager. Except I was no longer the assistant manager at that location. During this meeting, I also learned that if I wanted to stay in my position, I would have to travel over forty miles one way to the closest store in need of an assistant. My other option would be to step down and become an hourly associate—which came with a considerable pay cut.
I kept reminding myself that things came in threes. First was losing Jacoby, then it was losing the money that I should’ve
