I set a plate in front of Olive, piled high with meat, potatoes, and carrots smothered in gravy. I’ve had enough lunches with Olive to know that she can really eat. I put my plate in front of the chair next to hers and sit down.
“To be fair, Della and her husband offered to set me up a couple of times over the last few years and I refused. I don’t date… well, I didn’t date, anyway.” She’s still way too far away, so I hook my foot around the leg of her chair and pull her closer.
Olive gives me a huge smile. “Is that what this is? Are we dating?”
I’m not sure how to answer that. “Dating seems to imply that this is a trial run. ‘Dating’ doesn’t seem permanent enough of a word.” I stroke my fingertips down the column of her neck, watching the heat flare in her eyes.
Olive blushes. “This is new for me too, but I get it. I haven’t dated anyone in a very long time.”
“I like that I’m the exception and you’re not just dating me for my money and awesome house,” I joke.
Olive throws her head back and laughs. “Bitch please, I’m independently wealthy.”
“Oh yeah? I didn’t realize the baking business was so lucrative.”
“Oh it definitely isn’t. I mean, the bakery is in the black, and financially stable but I had help buying it. My Grandpa left my siblings and I trust funds before he died. I don’t like to tell people. They tend to write off all the hard work I put into school and running my bakery.”
I’m surprised. I guess I might have the same expectations as other people when it comes to trust fund kids. “At the risk of sounding like a dick, I wouldn’t have expected someone who works as hard as you do to have money like that. And your siblings all work full time too?”
Far from looking offended, Olive gives me a proud smile. “Julia is in school full time finishing her nursing degree but the rest of us work. Grandpa had a great work ethic. Gran too.”
“Don’t get me wrong, we had a huge hand up. We all had separate educational trusts. Our full trusts were released to us when we turned 23 on the condition that we used our trusts to further our educations. We have a lot of freedom to pursue the careers we want without having to worry about failing and ending up broke.”
“My brothers both got degrees in engineering but love cars so they used some of their trust to start an auto repair shop. Lilah has a degree in marketing with a minor in event planning. She barely touches her trust though. I think she feels icky about them.”
I give her a confused look. “Why?”
Scrunching up my face, I warn Brooks, “It’s not a very nice story.”
I stroke my hand up and down her arm, trying to reassure her. “I want to hear it. I want to know everything about you, even the not so nice stuff.”
Breaking off a piece of bread and swirling it around her plate, she sighs. “Ok. You asked for it. Keep in mind, most of this I’ve picked up from Gran but I’ve had to pull it out of her piece by piece.”
“The trust funds are the reason our dad left us. Mom married him fresh out of high school. She was young and crazy in love and overlooked some of his less desirable traits. Like the drinking and how interested he was in Grandpa’s money.”
“Grandpa inherited a couple hundred thousand dollars from his Grandfather. He invested in properties all over California just in time for the housing boom. He built a small empire in the 60s and 70s before changing track and investing in a couple of Silicon Valley start-ups. It paid off big time.”
Olive is quiet for a second. “This part sucks,” she says as she fiddles with her fork.
“We can talk about it another time if you’d rather,” I tell her.
She shakes her head. “No, it’s better to just tell you now.”