“Mm-hm. You said your dad died when you were little, and that your mom…well, she…”
“She’d run out on us a few years before that,” he finished. “It’s okay, you can say it.”
Lucy offered a soft, sympathetic smile. “She left you. And after your dad passed away, you lived with your uncle. He raised you alongside his son, like the two of you were brothers.”
“Right. What I never told you was that my Uncle Devon was really well-off and that my cousin, Neil, was…well, he was sort of a problem child, I guess you could say. Always in trouble at school and later with the law. I didn’t have any of those problems, so I sort of became the de facto favorite in the house. My uncle set Neil up with a generous trust fund, but he left everything else to me in his will. He died a few years back, and I inherited. The houses, cars, and other liquid assets all came to me right away, but there were certain milestones I had to achieve before I could get access to the money. If I graduated college with a bachelor’s degree within four years, I’d get a million dollars. If I earned a master’s degree, I’d get another million. If I kept a corporate job for at least five years, I’d get five million. It was my uncle’s way of trying to keep me on the right track, I guess. He wanted to be sure I didn’t just coast through life because of all the money.” He stopped, looking at Lucy as though to gauge how she was handling the news so far.
“That’s actually a really good idea on your uncle’s part, I think,” she said. “But, um…you’ve already been at Acray-Sys for almost six years,” she pointed out.
A new light came on in Aaron’s eyes. He shifted to face her better and said, “Yeah, well, just before my five years were up, I was assigned a new Executive Assistant and she was really cute, so I stuck around the office a little longer to see if anything might happen between me and her.”
Lucy was dumbfounded. She widened her eyes. “Are you…are you joking?”
“No. I like you, Lucy. I’ve liked you since the first time I met you, and I’ve only liked you more the better I’ve gotten to know you.” Warm threads wove themselves around Lucy’s heart at this declaration, and she grinned. Before she could confess that she’d always liked him, too, he blurted, “But, um, before I say anything else, I think we need to talk about Ava for a second.”
Another current of surprise swept over Lucy, stiffening her shoulders. She was startled to hear the other woman’s name come out of his mouth. He’d never mentioned her again after his phone message. “Ava?” she repeated blankly.
“Uh-huh. Remember how I’d told you she was ‘different’ from other girls? Well, that’s because she and I had already dated once before, back in college. She dumped me back then, and I never got over it. When she suddenly showed up again, saying she wanted to ‘reconnect,’ I thought maybe it was the universe giving us another chance together.” He rolled his eyes a bit. “So I took her out. And I was going to take her out again, but then...” He paused, looking uncomfortable.
“But then you called me and said you weren’t going to see her anymore,” Lucy prompted, wondering where all of this was headed. “You asked me out instead.”
“I did. And I’ll tell you why in just a minute. But first I need you to know that Ava and I argued pretty bad, and that it wasn’t me who broke things off, it was her. It was right after that, that I called you and left that drunken voicemail.” His face twitched with unease. “I just want to be honest with you about all of this, Lucy, but I really hope you won’t take it the wrong way. It isn’t that I didn’t like you all along. I swear I did. But I wasn’t sure what to do about it. It seemed like such a tricky situation, given that we worked together. I never wanted you to feel like I was using my position to coerce you, or to make you uncomfortable about working at Acray-Sys if things didn’t pan out between us.” He paused again, chewing his lip. “And then, when Ava showed up again, it was like all my common sense just flew out the window. I thought for a minute, that maybe I was ‘supposed’ to be with her instead. I was stupid, alright? I was so dumb and, for whatever it’s worth, I’ll always regret it.”
His disconsolate expression touched Lucy’s heart. She reached out to cover his hand with hers. “It’s okay, Aaron. You don’t have to explain anything to me. I understand.”
“Yeah?”
“Of course. She was your ex-girlfriend. There was obviously some baggage there, emotions that were hard to just toss away. I get why you’d give her another chance. And it’s not like you had any obligation to me or anything.”
His eyes bored into her, and she saw a maelstrom of regret and worry churning in their hazel depths. “I just don’t want you to ever think that you were my second choice, okay? It wasn’t like that. Not really.”
Lucy nodded, even though now she felt more confused than ever. “Okay, but what are you talking about? Your second choice for what?”
“There’s another milestone I have to meet soon if I want to get the rest of my inheritance. See, I have to get married before I turn thirty.”
Lucy’s pulse pounded in her temples, and her face got hot. “That’s really soon,” she said. “Your birthday’s in, like, six months.”
“Yeah, I know. Time is of the essence.”
A thought struck Lucy, and she said, “All those girls. All the dates you always went out on—you were looking
