Page 132 of Crazy Thing

She doesn’t look happy to see me. She’s doing a hell of a job to mask her pain. She’s showing me her red hot anger. But staring into her sad blue eyes, I can tell that she’s hurt.

I did that.

I took away the smile and the unique sparkle that Ziggy always embodies. I hate myself for it. But this is all just a horrible misunderstanding, and once she knows what’s really going on, she’ll smile again. I know it.

I flip her welcome sign to ‘closed’ and she seethes at me.

“I need to talk to you,” I plead, standing just inside the doorway.“I want you to hear me out.”

She scoffs, rolling those blue eyes at me. “It’s all about whatyouwant, huh? So damn typical.”

I shake my head. She’s going to make this hard on me, I see. “No, it’s not just about me. It’s aboutus. I love you, Ziggy.”

She falters.“It sure didn’t sound that way when you wereon the phone last night. It sounded like you’ve been lying to me this whole time.” She seems a little like a wild, skittish animal right now. One sudden move, and she’s going to flee again.

So I start talking. Quickly. “You don’t understand what you overheard last night.”

“Oh, I don’t? Well, spell it out to me in plain English. Because I heard you with my own ears. You said that you’ll do whatever you please with the waterfall and you don’t care what anyone has to say about it.”

I grunt in frustration. “I was speaking with one of those shady building inspectors from the mayor’s office, Ziggy. One of those assholes who’ve been giving me a hard time and trying to run my business out of town.” I inhale sharply. “You were right. Something shady is going on at the mayor’s office. I’ve been walking on eggshells, trying not to start a fight with the inspectors. I’ve been trying to remain on fantastic terms with them until the new waterfall deed was properly registered. Because I couldn’t give them an opening to sabotage the deal. You have to know that you and I are on the same team here. I would never betray you.”

“Why should I even believe that, Darius?!” she shouts at me.

“Because I don’t own the waterfall, Ziggy!” I shout back. “I can never sell it because it doesn’t belong to me!”

My words bounce off the windows and the walls. All the color drains from Ziggy’s face.

“Wh-what…?” she whispers.

Taking a careful step forward, I hand her the thick document that Frank and I spent the morning pulling together.

“What is this?” she asks, her eyes narrowing as she reads through the stapled set of papers.

“It’s a detailed inventory of all my assets. Everything ofany worth that I own. My bank accounts. My properties. My investment portfolios. Every last dime.”

Ziggy’s eyes bulge. She blinks rapidly like she’s struggling to make sense of what I’m saying.

“The only thing you won’t find on that document is the waterfall,” I blurt out.

Ziggy’s head snaps up, question marks in her blue irises.

“The thing is, I didn’t exactly buy the waterfall,” I go on.

Her eyeballs bulge like they’re about to fall out of her head. “What…?”

I rush to clarify. “I mean, I did. But it’s not in my name. Frank helped me set up a unique arrangement for the waterfall purchase.”

“A unique arrangement?” she asks, looking genuinely terrified of what I’ll say next.

“I decided to set up a non-profit organization, and I purchased the property under the non-profit instead of under my own name. I wanted to make sure the waterfall remained a protected landmark that belongs to the people of Starlight Falls, and a non-profit was the best way to do just that.”

That was the big secret I was keeping from Ziggy. I was hoping to surprise her with the news.To prove to her once and for all that I’m actually a good guy, someone she can trust.

Instead, I ended up achieving the opposite effect. Because Ziggy overheard my conversation with that corrupt town inspector last night and she misunderstood everything.

“So, the waterfall doesn’t belong to me,” I go on. “It’s owned by a newly created legal entity that I set up for the benefit of the town. For the people of Starlight Falls.”

“Why is this the first time I’m hearing about this?” she whispers, her voice quivering and loaded with suspicion.

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