Page 185 of The Billion Heirs Boxed Set

I scan the menu quickly. “I’ll have your roast turkey and avocado on a croissant.”

Amy makes a few notes. “I’ll get these right up for you ladies and I’ll be back in a minute with your drinks.”

I set my menu back in the holder.

Rainey pulls out her phone, swipes at the screen a few times. Smokers’ wrinkles line her lips, and her red lipstick is bleeding into them. I’m seeing her in a new light. She’s not a bad person. She’s just had some bad luck. She’s a nicotine addict and she’s hanging out with my father. Not a good combo.

“My dad still owns the construction business, doesn’t he?”

Rainey looks up from her phone. “Yeah. But like I said, he doesn’t get the bids he used to. Or that he claims he used to get. I’ve never seen him do great. He’s off work more than he’s on these days. He says he used to have the best reputation in Billings, but now he’s kind of known as a drunk. He has to underbid to get any work at all, and you see how we live.”

That does suck. “I’m sorry. I mean, he and I aren’t close, as you saw. But he’s still my father.”

“I love the big lug,” she says. “Sometimes I don’t know why, but I do.”

“Love doesn’t always make sense.”

My words ring true. I’ve known Miles Bridger for mere days, and I’m so in love with him my heart hurts. I miss him right now. Actually miss him. What makes sense about any of that?

“I had a great guy once,” Rainey says, a smile easing onto her lips. “We were young and in love, but I made a lot of mistakes.”

“We all do that.”

“I suppose. I just didn’t know what I had back then. He wanted to get married and go off to college together, but I was young with a tight body and a pretty face, and the thought of four more years of school sounded like a prison sentence. I didn’t want to give up my nightlife. So he went off to college and married someone else, and I partied hard and had what I thought was the time of my life. And now look at me. The best I can do is a minimum-wage job, and as soon as there’s a downturn in the economy, I get laid off. I should’ve been out there learning a skill instead of drinking and experimenting with drugs. I should have married Jeremy and gone to school.” She lets out a sad laugh. “That’s sure a downer. I’m done talking about me. What do you do?”

“I’m a detective.”

Her eyebrows rise. “Private detective? Or cop?”

“I’m a cop.”

Her eyes are wide. “No shit?”

“Yeah. Didn’t my father tell you?”

“Honey, he didn’t even tell me you existed.”

“What about my brother? Did you know he existed?”

“I knew about Joey. They had some falling out is what he said, and then of course you know he disappeared those years back.”

I gulp. “Falling out?”

“Yeah. Curt didn’t have a lot of good to say about his son. He was always angry that he didn’t go into the construction business with him, and he blamed him for losing all his money.”

“I thought he was going to work for my dad after the divorce.” I frown. “And what money?”

“You didn’t know? A couple years ago, Curt came into some money.”

I widen my eyes in total surprise because it didn’t look like the man had a dime to his name based on the house. “He did?”

“Oh yeah, I know you can’t tell from the way we live.” She read my mind. “But apparently it was somewhere in the mid six figures.”

“Did he have any of this money left by the time you met him?”

“Not really. From what I hear he went to Las Vegas and blew a big chunk of it, and the rest of it trickled away because he got less and less work and drank more and more beer.”

I wrinkle my forehead. This isn’t making any sense. “How did he come into this money? I’m not following.”