Page 130 of Faking it For Summer
“It’s Rex.”
“Oh shit. What has he done now?”
“He’s run the business into the ground. He’s overleveraged the company. We owe hundreds of thousands to different creditors. We’ve lost several contracts. We need your help.”
“What are you talking about, Grandma?”
Mia’s looking at me with a curious expression.
“Please, you need to come now, Luke.”
“Grandma, I can’t. I’m in the middle of something.”
“We just got notice that we have forty-eight hours to come up with six hundred seventy-five thousand dollars, or we’re going to lose one of the stores, and your great-grandfather started that store. You’re the only one who can help.”
“Why can’t Rex take care of it? He’s the CEO. Dad put him in charge.”
“Please, Luke. I need you to come now.”
“Okay,” I say. “I’ll be there in an hour.”
“Thank you. I love you, grandson.”
“I love you, Grandma.”
I hang up, guilt filling me as I stare at Mia.
“You’ve got to go,” she says softly. “Is everything okay?”
“I don’t know,” I say. “There seems like there’s some sort of family crisis, and maybe the family’s about to lose the business.”
Her eyes widen. “What? What’s going on?”
“I guess Rex has not been doing as good a job as he’s been letting on.”
“Of course not.” She rolls her eyes. “He fucking sucks.”
“Well, Grandma said that they owe over half a million dollars, and they might be about to lose the business. I don’t really understand what’s going on. I haven’t been involved in such a long time, but she wants me to help.”
“Then you should go.”
“I don’t want to go, Mia. I don’t want you to think that I’m choosing anything over you.”
“It’s your family. It’s okay.”
“You are my family, Mia. You’re the most important person to me in my life, and I don’t want to leave when you’ve just expressed to me that you think business comes first in my eyes—and it doesn’t.”
“You’re helping family, Luke, and I would never resent you for that. I don’t even resent the fact that you care so much about business. I have always wanted to be number one in someone’s life. I’ve always wanted to feel seen and noticed, and maybe that’s selfish of me. Maybe it’s unrealistic, but that’s what I want, and that’s what I need. And I love you, and I want you to be happy.”
“I’m only going to be happy if I’m with you, Mia. I love you. This is not just a summer romance for me. This is forever.”
“I love you, too, but I’d rather not go any further with us than risk losing myself in you and losing myself in this relationship and then getting heartbroken and losing everything. I love you enough to let go,” she says softly.
“What do you mean, you love me enough to let go?”
“I’m scared, Luke. What if we don’t make it? What if we fuck things up? We’ve never been in a situation like this before, and I just don’t know.”
“Trust me, Mia. Trust me that I will always put you first, that I will always be there for you. I don’t have to go to my grandma’s right now. I will talk through anything you want to talk through. I will do anything you want to do. I will?—”
