“I know. Let me get you something light to eat and then you can sleep again while I head to the office and deal with a few things.”
By the time he’d tidied up and taken the dogs for another play outside, Ruby was fast asleep. He got in his car and headed into town to deal with the details the lab guys had come up with regarding their latest program.
Tyler met him at the lift, hands sliding down his legs repeatedly as if he was stressed out. “Man, you’ll never guess what happened?”
Simon held up his hands hoping it wasn’t problems with the latest program from the team downstairs. “What?”
“I got the house. Holy shit, do you know how much that cost me?”
Simon grinned and threw his arms around his best friend, whooping in delight. “I don’t care how much. We’re going to be neighbors. That’s all I care about.”
Tyler shuddered. “I’m freaking out, Simon. Really freaking out.”
Simon grabbed his arm and dragged him into the basement, shutting the door. “Listen to you. There’s nothing to freak out about. You have a house next door to me. A wise investment.”
“But it was so much money.” Tyler’s face was pale. “I’ve never spent that much before in one hit.”
“Seriously, Tyler. Get a hold of yourself. It’s about time you spent some of your money. Leaving it sitting in the bank is only getting you a bigger tax bill all the time. We worked freaking hard for that money. Enjoy it.”
Tyler ran a hand through his messy locks and groaned. “I don’t know how to let go of the fear. What if we lose it all tomorrow?”
Simon shrugged. “So what? We’ll start again. We’ve done it once; we can repeat that.”
“I don’t know.” He paced the office. “Do you really think I’ve done the right thing?”
“Yes, I do. Look at our past. In just over five years we’ve built on our initial program. We’re in every developed country in the world. NGO’s use our software free of charge to help countries still fighting for progress. Schools use it at hugely reduced rates and we give scholarships to kids who deserve them no matter their background. Our software is used in every rocket launch, every satellite floating around the earth. What could possibly go wrong?”
The world would need to end for them to lose everything. Simon lowered his voice understanding the fear but wanted to help his friend get past it. “Tyler, you need to let it go. Understand that nobody is going to come and take this all away from you. What you and your mom went through was tough, but you both survived. We will too. We own it, pal—we invented it. It’s ours unless we give it all away.”
Tyler grinned, a crooked smile that reminded Simon of the younger version of his best friend. “I guess. It’s just, you know, freaking me out.”
“I get it, man. But you need to remember who you are and what you’ve achieved in the last few years. You can afford to buy what you want without worrying.”
Tyler sighed and straightened his shoulders, nodding. “Yeah. I do. I really do.”
When Simon walked in the door of her house later that day, he found Ruby curled up on the couch watching the television. “Hey, how are you?”
“I’m good. Much better I think.”
He put his keys and phone on the table and came over to sit on the edge of the couch. Ziggy immediately pawed at his leg to be picked up.
“That little lady has you wrapped around her paw.”
He smiled and stroked the silky black head. “She’s allowed. I’d do anything for this little girl because she’s had a hard time and she’s so damned cute. More to the point, what can I do for you?”
Ruby smiled at him. “I actually think you’ve gone above and while looking after me so far. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I hate seeing you ill.”
She screwed up her face. “I hate being sick too.” She shuddered. “But now I’m on the road to recovery and I have you to thank for that.”
He could hear a but coming on.
“You don’t need to sleep on the couch tonight, Simon.”
* * *
She’d said it wrong, judging by the look of desire in his eyes. A glint, a hint of a smile creased his lips.
“You can go home to your own place is what I meant. I’ll be fine.”
He blinked. “Are you sure? I don’t mind staying again. I’d hate for you to have a relapse and a tumble.”
Ruby smiled. “I’ll be fine. I feel so much better now. A little weak and shaky but I don’t want to vomit, my head feels like it belongs to me at long last and I’m starving. All good signs, don’t you think?”
“Yeah, I guess. But I’m not going until I’ve walked the dogs and fed you dinner.”
She was about to disagree when he held up his finger.
“And I’ll be here in the morning before work to take the dogs for a quick walk to the park so you can relax again tomorrow. Agreed?”
He was being so kind and sensible. She couldn’t argue with that. “Agreed.”
“Right then. What do you want for dinner? I can call and get anything you desire delivered.”
Ruby almost protested but held her tongue. Everyone got food delivered these days. It wasn’t like he was throwing money around. Uber Eats was so common it was ridiculous to even think he was showing off.
“Is there any of your mom’s chicken soup left? I could really go that with some crusty bread dunked until it’s soft and mushy.”
Simon gave her the cutest grin. It reminded her of the boy she’d first met when they were both still in high school. Fresh faced, happy and incredibly smart. She’d fallen for him back then and not much had changed.
“Soup yes, bread, no. But I can run down to the bakery
