Page 6 of The Bet
Luckily, she still had her other two jobs, one as a virtual assistant to a guy rolling out online courses, and the other taking care of ad campaigns for a mom and pop home business. It was steady money, and good money, and better than working at a fast-food place, or a bar. Plus, she could do it in her own hours, once her college work was done.
Needing to fill the gap in income, she’d called Savannah on the off chance and it turned out that luck had been in her favor.
She picked up her cell phone and handbag. “Am I doing the right thing, Cara? Do I need the money that bad?”
“You need the money that bad.”
She swallowed, and let out an angry breath. Being broke was a crap state of affairs, and studying for her Media and Communications degree wasn’t the thing to do, not from the small town she came from.
But federal grants, juggling the three jobs—two now that she’d left the Shoemoneys—careful spending, and eating noodles and bread more than was probably good for her, meant she had her best shot at making something of her life.
She needed to get that degree, then land a great job at a hotshot company, and she was going to do it all by herself. She wasn’t going to take a cent from her parents, not that they had much in the way of financial aid to give her. Studying was her way of breaking away and going to the city, and standing a chance of getting a corporate job. She was going to dazzle New York with her smarts and her drive—the kind of drive her father had once had. Seeing him broke, and so low, with his dream in tatters was more than enough ammunition for her to pursue her dreams and make a good life for herself, and, in due course, help her family. She would make her parents proud, and show her father that it was going to be alright. The poor man had suffered enough, the family had suffered enough.
“Iz.” Cara came up to her. “Don’t beat yourself up about what happened. It wasn’t your fault. I don’t think Tobias Stone is anything like that perv.”
She shrugged. “Maybe you’re right.”
“If you’re not sure, use the week of the wedding to decide. Tell Savanah you’re not sure and you’re worried it might impact your studies, but personally, I don’t think you need to worry much about Tobias Stone. If there’s anyone you should worry about, it’s his brother. He’s hot stuff. A player, and ohmigod, he’s a looker. Both of them are, but he’s still—”
“Seeing someone, remember? And I’m really not interested.”
“Okay. I’m just warning you. Go and sign your contract.”
“That’s what I’ve decided.”
A private jet to an island in the South Pacific—she knew because she’d looked it up on the world map, and an invitation to the wedding of the year?
She would be insane not to do it.
~ ~ ~
Savannah, she had learned, was like her, a girl from a small town. Not a city girl by any means.
How had she ended up falling for a billionaire?
“Don’t you find it crazy?” Izzy asked. They were sitting in the huge living room of Tobias’s Upper East Side apartment, a place, Savannah had told her, they would soon be leaving because Tobias was having their new home completely refurbished, and the extensive building work was still underway.
“I find the media circus crazy. Kay keeps me grounded, tells me not to read any blogs or comments, or the papers. She says she’ll have a look for me.”
Thatcousin, Kay. Izzy had met her that one time at the party. “It’s good of her to look out for you like that.”
“But at times, when she can’t hold back, she’ll tell me some nasty piece of gossip she read about, of Tobias having an affair because he’d been photographed with someone. It’s ridiculous what people can print.”
“People can be nasty.”
“Yes they can,” Savannah agreed. “I can see why, though. Tobias was a catch, and then I turned up and caught him, so to speak, and now that we’re getting married, I’ve ruined the fantasy for some of these women.”
“You’re a catch too,” Izzy retorted.
Savannah laughed.
“Youare,” she insisted, hating the way some women played themselves down. “You seem down to earth, and probably nothing like the vipers he comes across.”
According to Cara the man had been a workaholic, and had suffered tragedy years ago.
“Hey, Jacob.” She greeted the young boy as he walked in.
“Hey, Izzy.” He gave her a wide smile. “We’re going to have fun, you and me,” he announced.
