Toronto Collection Volume 3 (Toronto Series #10-13)

by Heather Wardell

"Complete with details of when you want it? I don't like the pressure."

  "But you'll give a stranger five thousand dollars."

  A nearby man said, "I'm a stranger," grinning at me, and his companion slapped his arm then clapped her hand over his mouth and rolled her eyes at me before dragging him away.

  "Keep your voice down! I hardly need more people hitting me up for money."

  "Which I was not doing. I never have."

  But he had been, and I knew it, and I had finally had enough of his hints. "Tell me, how did the lawsuit get filed without your signature?"

  He froze. "What do you mean?"

  "Exactly what I said. You were the one with the claim on me, such as it was. It couldn't have even gotten started without you. But if you didn't sign it, if you weren't hitting me up for money, how did it happen?"

  "I told you, that was all Liz's idea."

  "But you went along with it."

  He set his jaw. "You know what? Fine. Yeah, I did. You had fifty million, and I thought I deserved a share. It wouldn't have hurt you to lose some. Not like you'd be broke after. Like John."

  The sneer in his voice on that name made me want to punch him even more than hearing him admit he felt entitled to my money did, but I managed to control myself. "Leave him out of this. It's nothing to do with him anyhow."

  "He's always around," he said, words pouring from him like a dam had finally broken. "Every time I see you, he's right there getting in the way. Him and that kid."

  "They weren't here today," I said, before realizing I didn't have to defend myself. "And it's not about them. It's about you. You think you deserve some of my money? Really?"

  "Of course. I deserve half."

  The 'duh' tone in his voice shocked me silent, and he went on. "You promised. We both did. We'd share anything we won."

  "When we were together! I never said I'd do it forever."

  "But we didn't say we wouldn't either." He rubbed his forehead. "Whatever. Look, now we are together, and we can have the life we always wanted. We'll move somewhere nice, get a private estate, away from all the people who have their hands out. We can even get married if you want."

  I stared at him, trying to get my head around this. "Which people?"

  "Everyone. Everyone you know. They're all money-hungry."

  "They're not. I can't do this. Shane, we're too different now. You see things differently than I do. To you absolutely everyone is after my money, but I see all the people who still like me for me."

  He rolled his eyes. "Then you need glasses. Because all of them have taken money from you. Even Claudia. Even John and Zack."

  "There is a difference," I said slowly, trying to keep my fury at his words under control, "between expecting money from me and accepting it when I offer. A huge difference. And if you can't see that then we're even more different than I've been starting to think."

  "Yeah. You're gullible and I'm not."

  "I'm not gullible enough to believe Liz forced you into the lawsuit," I said. He flushed and I went on. "Besides, there's another problem. See, if we move away, there'll still be one person with his hand out. And I'll never escape you. So we aren't going anywhere. You are. Out of my life again." Only this time that was the only thing I wanted instead of the worst thing that could have happened to me. I didn't know whether he'd changed or I had, but the life I'd thought I'd wanted wasn't right for me any more.

  He shook his head. "Fine. Whatever." He turned to go, then stopped and turned back. I braced myself for another appeal, but when he said sheepishly, "Can I still come to your party?" I almost fell over.

  "Pardon? You still want to come to my party? The one I'm throwing for my friends?" I'd started working on it after the Portugal trip, inviting everyone who truly mattered to me, and I had big plans to show them how much I appreciated them. Shane no longer belonged with that group.

  "It sounds awesome," he mumbled. "And I've never been in a restaurant that's closed."

  "Then hang out at a McDonald's after closing time," I threw back, angrier than I'd been through the whole conversation. "You've admitted you think you deserve half my money, you've accused everyone else I know of being a mooch, and now you think I should let you come to my party celebrating all the wonderful people in my life? Not a chance. Get lost."

  He walked away.

  I stood on the sidewalk, feeling strangely torn. I knew I'd been right sending him away. Our relationship, such as it was, was definitely over.

  But I had promised him the money back when our relationship had been the only thing that mattered to me.

  Was it wrong not to live up to that promise?

  Chapter Forty-Two

  After a great lunch with Mia, with whom I was becoming good friends, I was approaching my once-again-current office building to talk to Kerr about an assignment in Hong Kong at the end of the summer when my phone buzzed with a text.

  "Hey, can I bring a friend to your party? Dad says I have to ask first."

  I stopped walking and considered my plans for the event, then reluctantly sent back, "I'm sorry, buddy, but no. Not this time. It wouldn't work out. I hope that's okay. Call of Duty tonight?"

  The phone buzzed again as I pulled open the door, and with relief I read, "No problem. And yes. Prepare for slaughter."

  "Your slaughter," I sent back, then slipped the phone back into my purse. As it dropped into the depths, I looked through the office's windows and saw Lena standing holding her own phone, and a connection clicked into place.

  When Lena had had my new phone numbers, they'd been shared. When she hadn't, they hadn't.

  Coincidence? Or was she my saboteur all along?

  I pulled out the phone again and found the temporary number application my friend at the phone kiosk had given me. Once it had generated a new number for me, I scribbled the digits onto a scrap of paper so I wouldn't have to try to remember them then took a deep breath and walked into the office.

  Lena looked up at my arrival. "Angela! The blonde hair is neat on you."

  "Thanks," I said, studying her face. She looked thoroughly innocent.

  Too innocent?

  Only one way to find out.

  There was nobody else in the main room with us, so I grabbed my chance. "Hey, I had to change my phone number again. Since I'll be working here, you might as well have it."

  "Oh, sure," she said, sounding cheerful. Maybe a bit too excited? "What is it?"

  I handed it over. "Just wrote it down for you."

  "You're so thoughtful," she cooed. "Were you getting calls and stuff on the old number?"

  "Yeah, all the time." I shook my head. "I hope this one lasts a little longer. I've given this one out to everyone I know so I really hope I don't have to do it again right away."

  "Me too." She slipped the paper into her purse.

  She should have recorded it then passed it around the office, but I didn't want her to do that anyhow so I said, "I sent it to everyone I know this morning. I think you're the last one to get it."

  "Awesome. Anyhow, Kerr is ready for you, I think. Want me to go check?"

  I smiled. "No, I'm fine. I'm sure you're busy."

  "You know it." She dropped into her chair and pulled her keyboard toward her. "It never stops. Always something else to get done."

  She had clearly added one more thing to her list. I didn't get the immediate barrage I'd expected, but ten minutes after I left Kerr's office the phone again lit up with calls and messages from begging strangers, all contacting the number I had given only to Lena.

  I considered going back to confront her but decided not to. What would be the point?

  Instead, I shut down the temporary number then did what I'd promised I'd do and went to the mall's phone kiosk.

  "I don't know if you remember me," I said to my nerdy buddy there. "I kept getting my number given out and you gave me the application to make the temporary ones?"

  He squinted, then his face cleared. "You had red hair then."

 
"Yup. Anyhow, today, I figured out who was doing it, thanks to you and that program."

  "Awesome. Who?"

  His expression said he wanted it to be a rival government seeking to overthrow Canada or something else equally exciting, but unfortunately I couldn't make up a story fast enough so I just said, "Former coworker. I gave her that number and right away the calls started."

  His face fell, then he brightened. "Okay, but how'd she do it? Twitter? Reddit? 4Chan?"

  Not wanting to display my ignorance of the last two things, I said, "I don't know."

  "You didn't search?" He grabbed his keyboard. "What was the number?"

  I found it in the application's history, and he searched it. "Here you go," he said after a second. "It's on some get rich quick sites. Her post says people owe her five percent of whatever they get from you." He looked up at me with renewed interest. "You loaded or something? It says you won the lottery."

  Seeing a chance to make up for disappointing him earlier, I locked eyes with him and shook my head as slowly and meaningfully as I could.

  "Deep," he breathed. "Okay. I won't tell. I'm glad you figured it out. Don't want the mission to be affected."

  I had no idea what he thought I was up to, but he seemed pleased with it so I was too.

  I left, after another meaningful moment of eye contact, and wandered through the mall thinking. My understanding of karma had always included the idea that you got back what you deserved based on your actions. But Lena's unkind actions weren't receiving any unkind response. Unless I changed my mind I'd be letting her get away with it, and certainly nobody else would be punishing her either.

  I didn't like it, but it also wasn't my problem. Lena's choices made her who she was, just as mine both now and in the past had made me who I was, and we would both end up living the consequences of our individual choices.

  Again my broken promise to Shane nagged at me, and again I pushed it aside. He didn't have a right to my money, and that was all there was to it.

  Or so I told myself, every time it nagged at me for the rest of the day.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Shane was fifteen minutes late for the meeting I'd requested. I was starting to think he wouldn't show up, and trying to decide whether that would be ironic or just hilarious, when he finally arrived.

  He didn't smile when he spotted me, but I wasn't surprised since we'd hardly parted as friends. When he reached my table in the corner of the coffee shop he said, "Need anything?"

  I shook my head and pointed to my still half-full cup. I had actually bought it in the drive-through so I could anonymously buy for the next car, and the glow from that still made me happy even though being there with him made me uncomfortable. "I'm good."

  He nodded and joined the line at the cash register, and while I waited I thought about what I was going to do and struggled to make sure I really did want to do it. There'd be no going back.

  I was still struggling when he returned and sat across from me. "So."

  "So," I agreed.

  "I didn't think I'd be hearing from you again."

  "I didn't think you would either," I confessed. "But..."

  I couldn't go on. Was I sure about this?

  His eyes narrowed. "But what?"

  But I had given my word. That's what it came down to. I did not want to be the kind of person who didn't live by her word. I reached into my purse and pulled out an envelope, which I laid before him. "But this."

  He frowned but tore open the envelope, then sat staring at its contents.

  I didn't speak, because I wasn't sure what to say, and after a few moments he said, without looking at me, "Is this some kind of joke? You mocking me?"

  "Nope. It's real."

  He stared at the check for another long pause then raised his eyes to meet mine. His were full of confusion. "Why?"

  "Because I promised."

  Without looking at it, he drew the check a little closer to himself. "But that was years ago."

  A fact which Tiff and Tyler had tried desperately to impress upon me yesterday when we'd met to put together my final financial plan. They'd been talking about dividing the remaining forty-one million dollars of my principal into various-sized sums to go into various investments, and eventually I had taken a deep breath and told them that after days of thought I had decided to give Shane the half he'd tried to sue me for so the remaining principal was actually only sixteen million.

  Saying 'only' in such a sentence had made me smile but neither of them had seen the humor in it. Tyler had let me know he didn't approve but had emphasized that I was the client and it was of course my decision. Tiff had responded as if I'd been Zack, scolding me for being silly and over-sentimental and finally saying, "You know Shane wouldn't even consider doing this for you if the situation were reversed. You do know that, right?"

  I thought she was probably correct, but it didn't matter. I would do it, and that was all that mattered.

  "Yeah," I said to Shane, "I know it was years ago."

  He leaned back in his chair, his fingers still resting on the check as if he were afraid I was going to take it away from him. "How the hell can you give away--" He glanced at our neighbors at the next table, not too far from us, and finished his sentence more quietly. "--so much money? Doesn't it hurt?"

  It did, actually. I had left Tiff's office utterly unsure whether I was doing the right thing and had spent ages at home looking at the check I'd written and wondering whether I could really hand it over. I'd grown accustomed to being so rich.

  But sitting there with him, seeing the check before him, I felt myself relaxing into what I'd done. Shane and I had been happy together when we'd been together the first time, and I did appreciate those years with him. Thanking him for them by giving him the money felt right.

  Even more, though, I was silently thanking him for helping me see how much better my life was now. No, I wasn't remotely on the path I'd expected to be on back when we'd been together, but I did love my life. And I had loved it before winning the money. I just hadn't noticed how good it was for me because I'd been too busy looking back. Now I was looking forward, and I'd partly come to that because of being forced to compare my life now with what I'd had with Shane.

  "It's not like I'm broke," I said, not wanting to stay with him any longer. "I'll be fine. Have fun with it."

  I pushed back my chair, and he reached out and caught my hand. "Angela, I should have married you. You don't know how often I thought that. I really should have. I would have been so much better off with you."

  But then I wouldn't have won the lottery. I wouldn't have been able to help the people at the Saint Angela's shelter or Mia's friend Leonora or Claudia. I wouldn't even have known Claudia, since I'd started working at the magazine after breaking up with Shane. I might never have started caring for the bonsai that brought me such joy, since Shane had never been a fan of houseplants.

  And I wouldn't have met John.

  My life would have been exactly the way I'd thought I wanted it to be.

  I couldn't imagine anything worse.

  With no doubt in my mind or heart, I said, "That ship has more than sailed. Take care, Shane."

  He didn't release my hand, but his eyes dropped to the check. "I can't believe you actually did this. It'll solve all of my problems."

  Funny, I'd assumed the same thing back before I won. "I hope so. Good luck."

  I eased my hand out of his grasp and he looked up at me. "I won't see you again, will I?"

  I shook my head. "I think we're too different now."

  His eyes flicked down toward the check again but he dragged them back up to my face. "Yeah, I guess so."

  I saw him admit to himself that he would never have given me the money had the situation been reversed. Tiff had been right.

  But I had done what felt right to me, and though I now had 'only' sixteen million in principal and an apartment building to my name I knew I had made the best choice for me even though it hurt to gi
ve up the money.

  "Bye, Shane," I said softly, pushing myself to my feet.

  "Bye," he murmured. "Take care. You're something else, Angela."

  I left without replying. I had been something else, but now I was back to being me.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  I took a deep breath, then got to my feet and tapped my knife against my wine glass. Everyone stopped eating and drinking and chatting and turned to me expectantly. My heart raced, but I glanced down at my notes and saw "Say hello" right at the top because I'd known my mind might go blank, so I smiled around the softly lit restaurant and said, "Hello, everybody."

  Various versions of "Hi, Angela," came back to me.

  "How's the food so far?"

  Smiles and applause, and Zack made himself burp with a huge grin on his face. John slapped his son's arm and grimaced at me, struggling to hold back a grin of his own, and I shook my head and smiled at him then turned my attention back to the group.

  I had prepared everything the best I could for this night. Kerr's nodding acquaintance with the owner of the fancy restaurant to which we'd gone for lunch had given me the idea to book that entire restaurant for my party. We hadn't been able to find a date for that, but the man owned another restaurant and that one worked out. I hadn't dealt with him other than to sign the contract, but his chef and wife Mary had been fantastic. Though she was six months pregnant, she had been available whenever I needed her and together we had put together a delicious menu. For an after-dinner surprise I had managed to book the popular comedian Tabitha Nelson, and of course I had another surprise of my own.

  Nearly time to reveal that surprise, and to see how everyone handled it.

  I cleared my throat. "Well, I'm glad you're enjoying the food. And I'm so glad you were all able to be here tonight. It's been an... interesting six months, and it would have been far more difficult for me without you."

  Some people would have laughed at the idea that becoming a multi-millionaire could be difficult, but as I looked around the room I didn't see that thought cross even one face. No, these people were solidly on my side, which was why I had wanted them all here.