Page 63 of Meet Jon, the Billionaire

I knew where she lived, thanks to the doxing that Jack had done. I decided that I had to do it in person. I went down to the garage and climbed behind the wheel of the Aston Martin. As I headed toward the village, I saw a florist stand and pulled across two lanes of traffic to reach it, earning me some angry honks.

I bought a huge bouquet and a teddy bear wearing an apron, and a bottle of champagne from the corner store before I got back in my car. I felt a lot better going into battle, as it were, when I had the weapons to do so.

Then again, if Amelia’s aunt was in the same mold as she was, then the presents likely wouldn’t achieve very much.

Guess it’s time to turn on that old Tiger charm.

I made sure to park down the street from the bakery. I didn’t see anyone in the actual bakery part, but I didn’t want to risk being seen. I had no idea how Amelia might react to me going to speak with her aunt. I’d already been slapped once that day.

I took the covered stairway to her apartment door and rang the bell. It made kind of a ding-thunk sound. A moment later I heard a woman’s voice.

“Amelia, is that you?”

“I’m sorry, no,” I said through the door. “My name is Jonathon Thomas. We’ve never met in person but I was hoping I could talk to you.”

A long moment of silence, then. “The door’s open. I’m not supposed to be up on my feet so come on in.”

Her tone was polite, and yet… biting. I could feel her animosity through the thin wooden door. I turned the knob and pushed it open. A modest and obviously well-lived efficiency apartment spread out before me. For New York, it was a fair amount of space, all things considered, and it had been stuffed to the gills with kitsch.

Beanie Babies, commemorative Wizard of Oz plates, pennants from the Yankees world series victories, and photos of family members completely covered the walls. I could barely even see where the light switches were at.

My eyes focused on the lady of the hour herself, Aunt Petunia. Her eyes seemed bright and cunning as a fox’s. They held a laser focus on me as I approached her, a teddy bear and huge bouquet of flowers in my hands. She sat in a large, comfy-looking recliner, with duct tape on the armrests. Her legs were up, and she wore ice packs on both knees.

“I wanted to offer you my sincerest apologies for the leak of that story.” I set the flowers down on her end table, but kept hold of the teddy bear. I guess it was a security blanket. She just kept staring at me with those eyes.

“So it was you.” Her lips twitched a sneer. “I done told my niece to never trust a man in a suit.”

She shook her head sadly. “The joke’s on you, because Amy really, really liked you. You could have had something special, but you threw it away so you could what? Make more money? Amy is worth a million corner lots.”

“On that, we are in complete agreement, Ma’am.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I’m actually here to tell you that I’m putting a plan in place that will allow my company to withdraw its bid for the corner lot.”

Aunt Petunia rolled her eyes. “Are you kidding me? The issue was never that you were after the same corner lot that we were. The issue is that you lied to my niece, and then went behind her back to try and smear the name of our bakery in the press.”

“You’re right.” I sighed. “I did both of those things, and I’m very sorry. If I could take it back, I could.”

Petunia sighed. She sipped on her glass of tea—at least I think it was tea—and then gave me a hard look. “Your apologies are about as useful as tits on a boar.”

Okay, THAT was funny, but it wasn’t that hard not to laugh. Not with the way she seemed to stare right through me.

“Um,” I said, clearing my throat anxiously. “I realize that. I’m going to do the best I can to help you recover from that leaked story.”

She grunted, her expression dripping with skepticism. “You’ll pardon me if I don’t exactly jump for joy.”

Aunt Petunia could tell that I was growing more and more frustrated. She sighed, and fixed me with that stare again.

“Just answer me one question, Mr. Thomas. Do you have real feelings for my niece, or have you just been stringing her along so you could get that corner lot?”

“I have real feelings,” I said firmly. I felt my belly bottom out as I spoke the next words. “I think I’m in love with her.”

I sat down on her sofa, the teddy bear still clutched in my arm. “I am in love with her…”

Petunia’s expression changed. Not quite to one of acceptance and certainly not joy. She seemed to be trying to penetrate my corporeal form and judge the character of my soul. For all I knew, that’s exactly what she was doing. Aunt Petunia was one formidable lady.

“In that case,” she said, “maybe I can offer you some advice.”

I perked up a bit. “I am willing to do whatever you tell me.”

“We’ll see about that. Rule number one, no more lying or sneaking around behind her back.”

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