“Do not worry about it,” Nate said firmly. “I know exactly who I’m going to call, and it’s someone who could really use a break from his job.”
“Okay,” Stella said dubiously.
Nate’s eyes softened as he looked at her. “Hey,” he said quietly. “This is not going to be a problem for much longer. We’re going to take care of Todd, and your house is going to be safe for you again. And we can go to Chicago, see how you like it, and then go somewhere else if you don’t.”
“But your business,” Stella protested.
Nate leaned in and kissed her softly. Sweetly. It was warm and loving and it made her want to melt. “We will figure it out,” he promised.
And somehow, despite her history of totally failing to figure things out, Stella believed him.
***
Nate
Nate had no idea what they were going to do.
On the surface, the future didn’t seem like an insurmountable problem at all. Stella liked to travel, had picked up and moved dozens of times throughout her life, and had as much as confessed that she didn’t really enjoy working at the diner here, but was doing it for money for Eva’s college.
Nate wanted nothing more than to go to her and say, seriously and without any hesitation, I will pay for Eva’s college. I will support you. Quit your job right now, and we can travel the world together.
And he could. He wasn’t a billionaire or anything, but he ran one of the top security companies of its size in the Chicago area. If he’d wanted to expand, become a big business, he probably could have become a billionaire.
He didn’t. He couldn’t stand the idea of losing the personal touch, being totally out of the loop about what was happening on the day-to-day.
But he had plenty of money. Most of it was securely invested, based on his buddy Carlos’ recommendations. Carlos had gone into the business world after getting out of the Marines, determined to never have to want for anything, and had made a killing.
Nate hadn’t wanted a killing. But he had wanted to be totally covered for retirement—which he hoped was still a long, long way away—and for any crises that might come up, plus a comfortable cushion for living large, if he ever decided to do so.
Carlos had laughed at that idea. Nate had never been much for luxuries. But he’d given Nate solid advice, and now Nate had more money than he really knew what to do with.
He donated some of it to charity, and otherwise ignored it. But using it to pay for Eva’s education—bright, thoughtful Eva, who Nate could already see was so like and so unlike her mother at the same time—well, that would be worth it.
He just didn’t know how Stella was going to react. Carlos had talked to him, once, about how money could be used for control.
“People think, oh yeah, free money, that sounds awesome,” he’d said. “They think, I totally want a sugar daddy or a sugar momma. Rich parents. But when someone gives you money, even if they don’t want to attach a string—that string is there. And it’s not going to go away.”
Nate didn’t want Stella to feel that string.
He was going to have to figure out exactly the right way to offer. But meanwhile...he was calling Carlos.
“Nate,” Carlos answered, sounding pleasantly surprised. “What’s happening?”
“I was wondering if you wanted to take a break from work and come help me on a job,” Nate said.
Carlos made an explosive noise. “Would I. I will be on the next plane, my friend. Where am I going?”
“That was fast.” Nate had expected to be put off by claims of responsibility to his job. High-level businessmen like Carlos usually couldn’t just take off from work without notice, no matter how much they—or, at least, Carlos—seemed to want to.
“I’ll tell you about it when I get there. Where to?”
“Glacier National Park,” Nate said, and waited.
Sure enough, he could almost hear Carlos’ eyebrows go up. “What are you doing working a job in Cal’s hometown? Is he in trouble?”
“No, nothing to do with him—I haven’t even seen him since I got here, actually.” Nate was going to have to look Cal up once the Todd situation was taken care of. Cal had married his mate Lillian only a few months ago, and their old Gunnery Sergeant would surely have some solid mate-related advice to impart.
“No,” Nate continued, “this is Ken’s new sister-in-law. She’s in trouble.”