The Belated Billionaire

by Elana Johnson

  No tears.

  Relief cascaded through Katie, and she asked, “How was it?”

  Heather looked like someone had stuffed the sun down her throat. She glowed in a way Katie had never seen before. Ever.

  “It was so great, Mom. Theo is good at everything. He won like, five games, and he drove the nicest car there, and everyone wanted to go for a ride in it, and it made Amelia Grace sooo mad.” She laughed and rushed into the room. She jumped onto the bed beside Katie and started up again.

  “And then her dad said something about work, and Theo said at least he could afford to pay his bills. Her dad turned so red. It was awesome.” She lay back on the bed, a sigh hissing from her mouth.

  “So you made Amelia Grace mad at her party,” Katie said, trying to piece everything together. “I thought you wanted to be friends with her.”

  “She was so rude to Francine. You should’ve seen her. She took a cracker and crushed it up in her fist and then dumped it in Francine’s hair. And laughed about it.”

  “Oh, wow,” Katie said, knowing that every story had a dozen sides. “Why would she do that?”

  “Because Francine said she likes Moana more than Frozen.” Heather made a scoffing noise. “She’s just mean, Mom.”

  “Again, I thought you wanted to be friends with her.” Katie twisted, trying to get a good view of her daughter’s face.

  “I guess. I don’t know. Theo says I shouldn’t have to be friends with her just because she’s popular. That a lot of the other girls probably feel like I do about her.”

  “Oh, Theo said that, huh?” Heather looked happy, truly happy, like she really had enjoyed herself at the party, despite the crackers and Amelia Grace acting like a spoiled brat.

  “So anyway, I helped Francine get all the crackers out of her hair, and we went out front for a minute. That’s when more girls came, and Theo offered rides. It was fine.”

  “Knock, knock,” Theo said, and Katie whipped her attention back to the doorway. He stood there, tall and silver and gorgeous, and Katie wanted nothing more than to kiss him. Tip up on her toes and whisper, “Thank you,” and then kiss him.

  Maybe winning all the games and stealing the show with his fancy convertible wasn’t the smartest move. But giving Heather the confidence to be her own person was worth something. Katie would like nothing more than for her to break away from Amelia Grace and start to be happy with herself just the way she was.

  But she knew better than most how hard change was, that moving away from something familiar and comfortable would make a person quite uncomfortable. And very few people chose to be uncomfortable when they could have something easier.

  “Hey.” She stood and ran her hands through her hair. “How was the party?”

  “So good.” He held up a paper bag. “I won like ten candy bars.”

  “They let you have them?”

  “All the other dads were playing.”

  “You should see him play lawn darts, Mom. He’s so good.” Heather bounced to the edge of the bed and said, “I’m going to go feed the cats. Then can I make dinner?”

  “Yeah, sure,” Katie said.

  Heather strode over to Theo and turned back to Katie. “Can Theo stay for dinner?”

  “Uh.” The word fell from Katie’s lips, and she looked to Theo. “I’m sure Theo is busy tonight.”

  “I’m not busy,” he said, a big grin appearing on his face.

  “Can he stay, Mom?” Heather asked, which only annoyed Katie. She didn’t like being put on the spot. If she said no, she’d be the bad guy.

  And she didn’t want to say no anyway. She just didn’t want to seem overeager and blurt out, “Yes, of course.”

  So she said, “I guess,” and left it at that.

  “Thanks, Mom.” Heather ran back over to her and wrapped her in a hug. “Thanks for getting someone to go with me.” She smiled up at her, and it was those moments that made all the work it took to be a mother worthwhile.

  “Did you tell Theo thank you?”

  She skipped over to Theo and wrapped her arms around him too. Heather sucked in a breath and held it, her eyes widening at the sight of her daughter hugging a man. The last time she’d done that, it was to her father on the night he was arrested.

  Flashbacks ran through Katie’s mind, images flashing one after the other. What a terrible night that had been.

  And this evening was the complete opposite of that.

  “Thank you for taking me, Theo.”

  “Anytime, sweets. I had fun.” Theo beamed at her, seemingly at ease with the hugging, even going with a term of endearment. Katie shook her head. How long had this party been? Had she lost days or weeks of her life? Maybe she’d simply consumed too much chocolate brownie ice cream.

  Heather left the room, and Katie waited until she heard the backdoor close before even breathing again.

  She realized Theo stood on the threshold of her bedroom, and he wasn’t coming any closer. She jerked into a walk and crossed the room to him. “Let’s hear your version of the party.”

  “It was fun,” he said again, stepping into the hall. He went into the living room and sat near the middle of the couch, leaving her very few choices for where to sit. Feeling bold and bit out of control—again, probably from all the sugar in that ice cream—she sank onto the sofa right next to him.

  He lifted his arm and curled it around her shoulders like he’d been doing so for the past two decades. “I don’t think any of the girls there actually like Amelia Grace,” he said. “But they all act like they do.”

  “Mm.” Katie basked in the warmth from his body. “Did you really give rides to fifth graders in your convertible?”

  He chuckled, the sound low and deep and wonderful. “Probably a bad idea, huh?”

  Katie giggled with him, snuggling a little deeper into his side. “I don’t know. Probably worth it.”

  Something banged outside, and she lifted her head as if she could see out the window from the couch, but she couldn’t.

  “What is she going to make for dinner?” he asked. “She told me she likes to cook, but are we talking like peanut butter sandwiches or like a real meal?”

  “She’ll probably do something like hamburgers or hot dogs tonight,” Katie said. “But she does cook a lot. Pancakes, pork chops, spaghetti. Stuff like that.”

  “That’s impressive.”

  “She likes it.”

  With his free hand, he reached over and took one her hands. “So…what’s the deal with her dad?”

  Katie spasmed. “What do you mean?”

  “She didn’t say a whole lot,” he said, his words rushing a bit. “But she said he was a real jerk, and when someone asked her about her real dad, she said she doesn’t see him anymore.”

  Katie inhaled slowly, infusing reason into her thoughts. “His name was—is—Ray. Ray Harrison. We were married for five years.” She gave a mirthless laugh. “I can’t seem to stay married for longer than five years.” She hadn’t realized that coincidence until that moment, and it stung her over and over again.

  Theo said nothing, just rubbed his thumb over her fingers again and again.

  “He’s in prison,” Katie said, going straight to the point. “He was stealing and distributing and addicted to prescription painkillers. Had a whole apothecary in a storage unit. Biggest drug bust of its kind in Kansas in a decade.” Her voice had slipped into robotic mode, and she hated the sound of it.

  “I filed for divorce, took Heather, and left the state. Left the mainland, actually. We’ve been here ever since.”

  “Katie,” he said softly, tenderly. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Things happen,” she said as if the loss of her marriage didn’t matter to her. But it had mattered, and she’d been devastated for a long time. Sometimes, she still had flashes of what her life could be like if Ray had just been a man who worked nine to five, came home for dinner, and went to watch Heather’s soccer games on the weekends.

  Of course, here in
Hawaii, she’d taken up cooking and painting, leaving the group sports in Kansas.

  “No,” Theo said, his mouth dipping dangerously close to her ear. “Not those kinds of things, Katie.”

  “Maybe not.”

  “Does she ever talk to him?”

  “He sends cards from time to time,” Katie said. “She seems to be doing okay, most of the time. We both are.”

  “She’s a great kid.”

  “Thank you.”

  The back door opened, and Katie sprang out of Theo’s embrace as if the person entering were her mother. “All fed?” she asked.

  “Yes, but I dropped that stupid lid again, and I can’t get it out of the bushes. They’re too prickly.” She held up her hand, which had blood on it. “I need a band aid.”

  “I got it,” Katie said, heading for the bathroom. “Be right back.” She collected the band aid but stood in front of the mirror. She looked like she could use a nap—or that she’d been lying in bed, which of course, she had been.

  She hadn’t told anyone about Ray in so long, and it felt like the oxygen had been simultaneously sucked out of the air but also infused into her lungs. Sharing the burden she carried made it lighter, and she trusted Theo explicitly.

  A small smile touched her mouth, and she reached up and traced her fingers along her bottom lip. Could she kiss Theo tonight before he left?

  The thought rooted itself in her mind and wouldn’t let go, and all she wanted to do was kiss Theo and let him know how much she liked him.

  Maybe, she told the voice in her head that wouldn’t let go of the idea. Maybe.

  Ten

  Theo basked in the family atmosphere at Katie’s house. Everything about her place felt different from his, and it wasn’t just the physical surroundings. His life was sterile, made up of numbers and accounts, parentheses and colons, code and running and phone calls.

  But this house was full of life, the smell of hamburgers grilling in the backyard and music playing from a Bluetooth speaker on top of the fridge and the island breeze coming in the open windows.

  He sure had enjoyed himself at the party, and not only because it had been quite the treat to upstage Collin Thresher, even for a moment. But he liked talking to Heather and seeing her come alive.

  Katie took forever getting a band aid, and by the time she returned, Heather had the bleeding under control with a paper towel wrapped around her finger. With the bandage in place, she opened a drawer and took out a knife. Katie seemed unalarmed by this, but Theo marveled as she cut vegetables for a salad. She ran in and out of the house, once with an oversized spatula, then with a plate with cheese slices on it, then to get the burgers when they were finished.

  His to-do list contained at least a dozen items, and he didn’t care about any of them, not right now. He’d had no idea his life had such a giant hole in it—until now. He hadn’t known what shape it was or what could fill it.

  But he knew now.

  A family.

  His heart beat irregularly, increasing when Heather said, “Okay, dinner’s ready.”

  Katie, who had taken a spot on the loveseat opposite him and closed her eyes, opened them and blinked. She stood without looking at Theo and asked, “Should I make punch?”

  “Sure,” Heather said, reaching into the fridge and pulling out ketchup, mustard, and mayo.

  Theo joined them in the kitchen, but he stayed on the side of the bar where there was no activity. “This is amazing,” he said, truly feeling the wonder of watching a ten-year-old cook while her mother dozed on the couch.

  “Do you cook, Theo?” Heather asked, almost a different person from the Barbara Walters wannabe from earlier. Her eyes held more life, and she looked so much happier, so much more carefree.

  “A little,” he said, not wanting to admit that the most action his kitchen saw was him making coffee in the morning. And the evening, if he was being honest. Sometimes the day didn’t have enough hours, and he had more work than time.

  Katie snorted and pulled a large spoon from a drawer. As she stirred the punch, she said, “He does not cook. Not even a little.”

  “Hey,” he said, glancing at Heather. For some reason, he wanted this child to like him. “I may have taken a lesson or two in the last twenty years. You don’t know.”

  “Have you?” Katie grinned at him.

  “No,” he said with a smile, a chuckle not far behind. “But I could have.”

  Katie laughed too, put the spoon in the sink, and picked up a plate. “What kind of cheese is this?”

  “Muenster,” Heather said. “It’s all we had.”

  Katie flashed her daughter a quick smile. “It’s great.”

  “Oh, Mom, I almost forgot.” Heather started with her bun, putting condiments on it. “Francine asked if I could sleep over sometime.”

  “Tonight?”

  “I don’t think so,” Heather said, shooting a glance at Theo. But he hadn’t stayed glued to her side, and he had no idea what Francine had said.

  He too picked up a plate and a hamburger bun and started preparing it, simply listening to the two of them talk about Francine, her family, and if a sleepover was a good idea.

  “Please, Mom,” Heather said, and Theo heard all the pleading undertones. She sat at the table and looked at her mom with puppy dog eyes. “You can call her mom and talk to her. She said she has this cool outdoor tree house to sleep in.”

  “I’ll think about it,” Katie said. Theo finished with his sandwich and joined them at the table.

  One bite into the burger, and he moaned. “This is great,” he said, not caring that his mouth was full of food. Everything about this situation was foreign to him. He usually ate at his desk, perhaps with Ben munching on something across from him as they talked about a client or worked through a piece of code that was giving them fits.

  But a real conversation, with real, home-cooked food? It felt like he’d blasted off to another planet.

  The conversation moved on, and he was happy to listen to Katie and Heather talk about school and homework and their schedule for the next week. He heard them make plans to go out to Lightning Point the following day, and he almost asked if he could join them.

  He’d never been out to the tip of the island where lightning seemed called to strike, and he’d always wanted to go. Not during a storm, of course, but to see the area, talk to the glassmaker who’d started putting rods in the sand so she could then collect the results.

  From what he’d heard around the island in the short time he’d been here was that it was pretty rare that anything ever came of the lightning strikes. Despite the artists efforts to get a piece of petrified lightning, the rumors were she never had.

  Still, it was a cool place, with dozens of documented lightning strikes over the years.

  Theo said nothing. If they wanted him to come, they’d invite him. And neither one of them did, so he finished his hamburger and got up to get more potato chips.

  “Where did you live before you moved here?” Heather asked him.

  “Texas,” he said. “And you guys?”

  “Kansas,” she said, shooting a look at Katie.

  “Did you like Kansas?” he asked, sensing he was on thin ice with this topic.

  “I don’t know,” Heather said. “I was really little when we left.”

  He looked at Katie, and she startled. “Oh, yeah. Um, yes. I liked Kansas. It’s…different than here.”

  “What took you to Kansas?” he asked her. They’d met at Texas A&M, fell in love, gotten married, and moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth area after that. Her parents lived in Texas, and he couldn’t imagine her ever leaving the state.

  But obviously, there was a lot he couldn’t imagine that had actually happened.

  “Work,” she said. “After I….” Worry darted through her eyes, and Theo wished he could erase it. Tell her that she could talk about their past relationship, that he was okay.

  “After we got divorced, you….” he prompted.

&n
bsp; She smiled, but it was short-lived. “I went back to school, actually. I got a nursing certificate, and then a job in Topeka. That’s what took me to Kansas.”

  He dusted his hands of potato chip crumbs. “And yet you now own and operate a cleaning business.”

  “Nursing is great,” she said. “Don’t get me wrong. But it was…exhausting. I needed a break.”

  “Everything changed when we moved here,” Heather said.

  “Heather,” Katie said sharply, drawing the girl’s attention to her. “Why don’t you go finish your art project and then get in the tub? I’ll clean up tonight.”

  “Really?” Heather grinned and bolted from the table like it had caught fire. “Thanks, Mom.” She left, and Theo watched Katie as relief and relaxation spread through her again.

  “You can tell me about Kansas,” he said softly, reaching for her hand.

  She let him take it, and gladness poured through him. He liked her so much—always had. And it was a very slippery slope from there to falling in love with her all over again.

  “After Ray got arrested and I found out what he’d really been doing to make money, I decided to abandon everything in my life.” She glanced at him, those big eyes calling to him again. “Except Heather, of course.”

  “Of course,” he murmured.

  “So I closed that chapter. Sold the house and pretty much most of what we owned. No car, no knickknacks, nothing. Well, I kept one photo album.”

  Theo very much wanted to see what was in it. If he could condense his whole life into one album, what would it have in it?

  “And we left. Left the state. Left our friends. Left the Mainland. Left the job. And we came here, and we opened a new chapter. Started over.” She squeezed his hand, and he met her eyes again. “So yeah. Everything changed when we moved here. And Heather was only five, but she’s not stupid, and we’ve talked a lot about Ray and why I decided to bring us here to start over.”

  Theo didn’t know what to say. He smiled at her and kept a tight grip on her fingers. “It must’ve been hard,” was all he could come up with.