Page 101

I didn’t ask how ithappened—I would have guessed car accident, at that age—but he toldme, anyway. “He had cancer.”
“He was sick for a longtime, then?” Why did my brain think that would somehow make iteasier to lose a parent?
“He was, but he wasn’tdoing anything about it. He waited until he was in too much pain,”Matt said grimly. “One day, he went to the doctor and then he nevercame home. Two weeks between his diagnosis and hisdeath.”
“I’m so sorry.” I didn’tknow what else to say.
“To be clear here, I don’tlook at my father’s death as the worst thing that could havehappened to me.” He winced. “That makes me sound awful.”
“No, it…”I wasn’t sure whether or not I should say the rest of mythought.To hell with it.“It makes him sound awful.”
“He was. He was a shitty,worthless person.” Matt shifted his gaze off at nothing inparticular. His jaw was tight. “He loved my mom. It devastated herwhen he died, but still… Who spends four months in agonizing painand doesn’t mention it or do anything about it until it’s thatlate?”
“People who can’t afford togo to the doctor?”
“And my father could. Hecould have afforded an entire round-the-clock team of doctors. Buthe felt it would interfere with work.” Matt shook his head with abitter smile. “He chased dollar signs straight into hisgrave.”
My brain stacked up allsorts of responses. I could have told him that his father wasprobably in denial, afraid to face his own mortality. That maybethe man probably had known he was dying and worked himself to deathfaster out of a fear that it wouldn’t be enough to see his familythrough after he was gone. But all of that was stuff Matt wouldhave probably thought of, or heard, before.
“Is that why you have thisplace?” I asked, nudging my toes against his under the water. “Yourecognize the value of relaxation?”
He laughed. “No, I havethis place because I’m a pervert who inherited a hospitalityempire.”
“So...your dad…” My browfurrowed as I pieced things together. “Your dad worked himself todeath running a business that’s all about making other peoplerelax?”
“That is an accuratesummation, yes.” Matt nudged my toes back. “And that’s why I trynot to work too hard. I know I get described as this lazy playboy,but I do get the things done that need to be done. But I don’t worknonstop, like a lot of billionaires my age.”
“There aren’t ‘a lot’ ofbillionaires your age,” I said wryly. “There are too manybillionaires, but definitely not ‘a lot’ of them.”
“Put away the guillotine,Robespierre. I’m just saying, I look at some of these guys whodidn’t inherit an already thriving empire and I see how they’reawake twenty hours a day, constantly looking over their shouldersbecause they think if they slip up once, everything is gone. I’mnot willing to be like that. I don’t need to grow my family’swealth. They’re already wealthy. Even if we lost every singleAshe-branded property, we would still be wealthy for generations.Why die at forty-one to make my nonexistent kidsricher?”
“Fair enough.” And far lessdespicable, when couched in those terms. “No kids,then?”
He shook his head. “Nope.Don’t plan on any either.”
“So, the Ashe dynasty endswith you?”
“No, my sister has kids.”He gave me a smile that was far less haunted than before. “Thelegacy is safe. I’ll hand my shares off to them.”
“If I had a glass, I wouldtoast to that.” Maybe we should have brought something to drink. Itmight have prevented us from falling into such a darksubject.
“What about you?” he asked.“What deep thinking have you done that has shaped your feelingsabout your inevitable death?”
My jaw dropped.“Uh…I…”
“I’m fucking with you.” Hegrinned. “I would rather know…the top five things that make youhappy.”
“Um…likesex stuff?” That’s what we were there for. Even if Ihadoverdoneit.
He shook his head. “No. Ingeneral.”
“Okay…” It would have beeneasy to throw out generic answers like getting surprise flowers orseeing a baby smile. But if I couldn’t be honest with Matt, whocould I be honest with? “In no particular order…” I realized thatthey were all a little bit mean. “Wait, you’re not going to judgeme, right?”
He narrowed his eyessuspiciously. “I can’t promise that. I don’t know what you’re goingto say.”
“I’m going to be honest.And you’re going to kick me out of this tub.” I took a deep breath.“I love to watch people try to do cool skateboard tricks and thentotally eat it.”
A laugh exploded from him.