Page 100 of Switch

“What’s in the envelope?”

He hands it over.I fumble it open with clumsy fingers.When I do, I’m not sure what I’m seeing.

The words blur against the page, making me blink.“You’re…buying a shack?”

“Shelly’s Shake Shack.Nice alliteration, right?”

“I don’t understand.”

“It’s a gift.For you.”

Shelly’s Shake Shack.Oh hell.“It’s an ice cream stand.”

“You said it was your dream.You and Evans.”

You’re my dream.

“I can’t take this.”

“Sure you can.In case you haven’t noticed, I’m doing extremely well financially.Mostly through no real effort of my own.Marina’s parents had money, which went to her when they passed.She’d made a ton of money as an artist in her own right.Painted a mural on the building of a startup, and they paid her in stock.That startup turned out to be Trasik Global.”

“Holy fuck.”Trasik Global is a massive conglomerate, the leader in cloud computing and database solutions.“We did a case study on them in my finance class.”

“You mean your business classes, which you dropped last week?”

I wince.“Oh, fuck.I did, didn’t I?I went a little out of my head after you dumped me.”

“Yeah.I went looking into things when you didn’t show up in class.I thought you needed some space.Didn’t expect to find you’d withdrawn from all your classes.”

Fallon pushes the paper toward me.“You should go back.If you want to.I already sent Dean Sutton my resignation letter, so you can take the class from someone who’s not me.Obviously, it’s your call.The catch with the ice cream place is it took some damage after hurricane Hecate.It needs work.Shelly’s tired of rebuilding every couple of years and decided to retire.Your friend Simon also said his boyfriend could help you learn what you need to know.Apparently he helps entrepreneurs grow their businesses.”

“Baby.Even damaged, I know how much these places cost.I never wanted your money.I don’t want you ever thinking otherwise.”

His hand comes to my face.“Am I still yours?”

I wrap my fingers around his wrist.“That depends.Do you think you can trust me again?”

“We’ll get there.Just promise you’ll tell me everything from now on.”

“I promise.Anything.Everything.Whatever you want.I’d give you a kidney right now if you asked me.”It’s convenient I’m already in a hospital.

Fallon clears his throat.“There’s one other thing.I hope you’re okay with dogs, because I decided no other family was good enough for Bruiser.We’re kind of a package deal, if you think you can handle that.”

That gives me pause.Not in a bad way.I knew he’d love that dog.I’m fucking thrilled.“Whatever you want,” I say again.

“I only want you, Keeper.”

ChapterThirty-Two

Fallon

“Thanks, Mr.Monroe.”

“You’re welcome, Allison.Have a good weekend.”

When the last student finally leaves and my office hours are over, I breathe a sigh of relief.It’s food truck night downtown, something that’s become a date night tradition for PJ and me.

I’m pulling all of my things together to take home when there’s another knock.