Page 108 of For the Boys
“Yes, please,” Amelia said. “I’m dying to know what’s in here.”
Berkley was too. Not because she was excited, but because she had a bad feeling she knew who had sent them.
Berkley’s suspicions were confirmed when she pulled the ribbon free and lifted the lid.
On top was a pass for entrance into the 2022 National Hockey League All-Star Game. Next to the pass was an envelope, which Berkley opened to find a plane ticket—first class—for round-trip airfare between Detroit and Las Vegas, where the ASG was taking place. Beneath the ticket was a jersey with the logo for the Eastern Conference team on it.
When Lexie, who was seated across from Berkley, lifted hers out of the box, Berkley saw Brent’s name and number on the back.
“I’m going to kill him,” she said through clenched teeth, draining half her glass of rosé before the waiter even finished filling her friends’ glasses.
“Okay but can you do it after we spend next weekend in Vegas?” Amelia said.
“For real,” Lexie said. “I could use some sunshine and drinks by an outdoor pool right about now.”
“You’re not seriously planning on going, are you?” Berkley asked, incredulous.
“You don’t want to?” Kimber asked, face falling.
Berkley looked around at her friends, bright-eyed at the prospect of escaping Detroit for a few days. A free vacation had just fallen into their laps, and Berkley was scolding them for wanting to take it.
Her friends had always struggled to understand Berkley’s relationship with money. When she and Logan were little, still practically in diapers, her parents had decided to start their own company, a full-service residential contracting and real estate firm. At the time, both had been working for bosses they hated, her dad as a construction manager and her mother as a junior real estate agent. One would never know it now, but there had been several difficult years during which they’d struggled to pay bills while getting the business off the ground. By the time Jessica had arrived, the bad days were behind them, but Berkley and Logan remembered. Now the Daniels were certainly well off, but her parents had raised her and her siblings to work their asses off for everything they wanted in life.
Thanks to her upbringing, Berkley had never been a frivolous spender. She’d received numerous scholarships for undergrad and had also worked all through college to cover the rest, always saving a hefty portion of her earnings. Some of that money, of course, went to bills and other college-related expenses, like Michigan State Thursday-night staples such as Rama and Rick’s. The remainder went to saving for law school.
Berkley had decided not to work while studying to become an attorney, choosing instead to devote all of her time and energy to honing her craft. Her parents’ successful business afforded her with a trust fund, but she wasn’t allowed to fully access it until she turned thirty. She was awarded with a yearly stipend while in law school to cover tuition and other expenses, but that was it.
Money had never just been handed to her free and clear. She, Logan, and Jessica had all worked various jobs for Daniels Contracting and Real Estate growing up, as a stipulation of their trusts.
In short, Berkley Daniels did not accept handouts.
And accepting an all-expenses paid vacation to Vegas when she had done nothing to earn it? That didn’t sit right with her.
“It’s not that I don’t want to go,” she finally told her friends. “A few relaxing days in the sun is something I desperately need right now.”
“Even after all the sex you got last weekend?” Lexie said.
Berkley shot her a glare but ignored the comment. “But I can’t just sit here and act like I’m okay with this.” She flung out her hand, gesturing at their gifts spread across the table.
“Well, I’m not going if you’re not,” Lexie said, crossing her arms over her chest.
Berkley smiled at her, her ride-or-die friend, the one who would always have her back, no matter what. Lexie was the only one who knew what had happened with Parker in the cab, besides Mitch, and Berkley would forever be grateful that they had been there to take care of her in the aftermath.
Berkley watched Kimber glance meaningfully at Amelia. Amelia gave her a nearly imperceptible nod, and Berkley turned to look quizzically at Kimber. “Kimber? What’s going on?”
“Well…” Kimber said. “I’m moving back to California.”
Lexie sat back abruptly in her seat as though she’d been slapped. Berkley stared blankly at the table, processing.
“Why?” Lexie asked.
“I got my dream job,” Kimber said, and immediately Berkley understood. She figured by the way Lexie’s shoulders sank that she did as well.
For as long as Berkley had known Kimber—which was the better part of a decade now—she had wanted to work with children who were fighting cancer. For Kimber, relocating was only worth it if she finally got to be doing what she felt she was meant to. This job was a big deal, and it had been a long time coming.
“When do you leave?” Berkley asked.
“I start March seventh.”
