The Belated Billionaire

by Elana Johnson

  Yeah, right. She didn’t think that was possible, especially when Claire said, “So, you really did like this guy, right?” She looked up from Katie’s phone, where she’d obviously been reading the messages.

  Katie swiped the phone out of Claire’s hand and said, “Hey,” wanting to deny her interest in the TeddyF on her app.

  In the end, her shoulders slumped. “Yeah,” she sighed out. “I really like him. But Claire, it’s insane. Like, absolutely insane. You won’t believe who he is.”

  Claire paused in wiping down the counter, obviously hearing the emotion in Katie’s voice.

  “Why?” she asked. “Who is he?”

  “My ex—”

  “Okay,” Heather said. “I only have two pages of math and then I have to read for thirty minutes.”

  “Okay,” Katie said brightly, noting that Claire was still frozen in place. “Which do you want to do first?”

  “Read.” She dropped her math workbook on the counter and kept her library book in her hand. “Can I read on the couch?”

  “As long as you stay out of Claire’s way.” Katie stood, taking her phone with her. “She has floors to do today.”

  And yet Claire still didn’t move. Katie moved around the island and opened the fridge like she wanted something more to drink.

  “Your ex-what?” Claire asked, her mouth barely moving.

  “Husband,” Katie whispered, reaching for the orange juice “The one who’s not in prison.”

  Claire made a squeaking noise, and Katie felt about the same way.

  She spent a glorious autumn weekend with her daughter, mostly on the beach and then in the backyard, which she kept meticulous and as green as possible. She loved the way she could prune a bush or tree and shape it into what she wanted. She loved the simple way nature took over if it was allowed, and she loved the way her daughter put out bowls and bowls of food and water for the homeless cats in the neighborhood.

  But Monday came, as it always did, and Katie dropped Heather at school before heading over to Clean Sweep. She posted the schedule for the next two weeks, something she wouldn’t have to do physically if she had an app her employees could check.

  She made a mental note to ask Theo if the app could have two sides—one for customers and one for employees, so her maids could get a notification when a new job came in. Then, knowing that her mental note-taking system had started failing about a decade ago, she pulled out her phone and typed out a quick question in a blank email.

  There was no rule saying that this lunch couldn’t be a business lunch. In fact, if she thought about it like that, her stomach didn’t do a strange, twisting dance that made her feel like throwing up.

  Her GBS bleeped, the sound it made when a recommendation was made, and she swiped it open to see that the app was leading her and Theo to lunch at Manni’s taco stand on the beach. Fair enough. She loved fish tacos, and a lunch date was generally more casual than dinner.

  She tapped the thumbs up icon and retreated to her office. She’d texted everyone working today what their schedule was, and she also had a job that day, cleaning a widow’s house that sat up on the hill.

  Then, it was on to lunch.

  Katie was exceptionally good at compartmentalizing, and she put the lunch in the tidy little box where it belonged. Until then, she could only imagine what Theo would be wearing when he showed up to lunch.

  Four

  Theo kept one hand in his pocket as he strolled along the beachwalk from his condo building to the taco stand, which sat on the other side of East Bay. He’d dined there more times than he could count, and he hadn’t been surprised that his app had suggested it for a midweek lunch date.

  Businessmen, moms, and more ate at Manni’s for lunch, and he scanned the crowd for Katie’s beautiful face. A breeze blew in off the bay, ruffling his hair and the tails of his jacket. He panicked for a bit, thinking perhaps he should’ve left the jacket at the office.

  But it was a sport jacket, thrown on over a T-shirt. It was casual, as Ben had said. Not that Theo had asked his best friend and business partner for his advice, but Ben was younger, and hip, and cool, and Theo didn’t want to look like he was trying too hard.

  Was the jacket trying too hard?

  Before he could decide if he should fling it off as if it were a rabid octopus and toss it in the nearest bank of shrubs, Katie broke through the crowd and caught his eye. Her face lit up, and it took her a few moments to navigate through the people on the boardwalk to arrive at his side. And she’d already seen the jacket, so he’d have to keep it for now.

  “Look at you,” she said, reaching out and trailing her fingers down the lapel of his jacket. She didn’t even touch his body, but the strongest current of electricity zipped through him as if she’d hooked him to a live wire.

  He decided to play up the casualness of his outfit, because she was wearing a pair of jean cutoffs and a tank top the color of peaches. He was starting to notice the fruit in everything about her, and he turned in a slow circle, his arms out. “You like this, don’t you?”

  She laughed, and it could’ve been the carefree laugh of the twenty-two-year-old he’d first fallen in love with. He faced her again, and she wore laughter and happiness on her face. “I can’t lie. I do like this. It doesn’t make sense.” She scanned him from head to toe and back. “I mean, the jeans with the white stitching. You know those are totally out, right? And the T-shirt. Did you buy it that faded?” She flipped the hem of it, her fingers getting very close to skin that time.

  Theo felt too hot in the jacket, even though they still stood in the shade, and he felt like a moron for spending so much on a T-shirt that was so faded. “Should we get in line?” he asked, indicating the four lines that ran up to the converted mobile home that was now a taco stand.

  “Sure.” She hugged herself and stepped off the wooden walkway and onto the sand. “What do you like here?” She twisted back to him. “You have eaten here, haven’t you?”

  “Oh, sure,” he said. “I live and work just down the beach.”

  “Oh, yeah? Where?”

  “I have a condo on the Ohana block.”

  “Oh, North tower or South tower?”

  He stepped beside her as they joined the line. “South,” he said, deciding to withhold that it faced the beach and had an entire wall of windows.

  “And where’s your office?”

  “Um, in a condo on the Ohana block.”

  She scoffed, somehow turning it into a giggle. “So you work from home.”

  “Sort of.”

  She turned toward him and shaded her eyes. “Sort of?”

  Theo looked at her through his sunglasses, wondering if the mirrored lenses really kept his eyes concealed. And he wanted to be honest with her, so he said, “I own two condos in the South tower, and I live in one and work out of the other.”

  She blinked, clearly not expecting him to say that. “You have two condos in the South tower.”

  “Mm-hm, that’s right.” He inched forward, suddenly wishing the sand would suddenly suck him down into a sinkhole.

  A full minute went by before she said, “So you’re rich.”

  That was putting it mildly, but Theo didn’t need to blurt out how many zeroes currently resided in his bank account. “I do okay,” he said.

  “Hey, Theo.”

  He turned toward the male voice and saw Jasper Rosequist stepping off the beachwalk. He looked like he belonged on the beach, complete with the windswept hair and billionaire swagger.

  “Jasper.” He shook the man’s hand as he joined them in line. “This is Katie….” Theo’s mind blanked. He couldn’t just say “H.” The woman had a real last name.

  “Harrison,” Katie said. “My last name is Harrison.” She shook Jasper’s hand too before giving Theo a pointed stare.

  “Oh, this is Jasper Rosequist,” he said. “He works with—” He cut off his voice, realizing that if he introduced his friend as a diamond mogul, then Katie would know tha
t he did more than okay.

  “Diamonds,” Jasper said, giving Theo a curious look too. “I work in the diamond business.”

  “Oh, that’s great.” Katie took a step forward. “You do okay, my left foot.” She elbowed him, which caused him to recoil though her touch didn’t hurt. “You’re rich.”

  “So one of my businesses finally took off,” he said.

  “What? Third time’s the charm?” she asked as if Jasper wasn’t standing right there.

  Theo didn’t really care. Jasper knew a lot about him anyway. He was the one who’d invited Theo to the Nine-0 Club, and then spent a lot of time chatting about the consumer market, supply and demand, and what someone might pay for a certain product or service.

  “I think Software Solutions was my sixth try, actually,” he said. And he didn’t think it. He knew it.

  Another step forward, and Katie hadn’t fled yet. Now with Jasper with them, was this even a date?

  “So what did you do this weekend?” he asked her, and Jasper pulled in a breath.

  “Hey, I have to go,” he said, bolting as fast as he’d joined them. A few seconds later, Theo’s phone buzzed against his thigh, but he ignored it.

  “Heather loves the beach,” Katie said. “So we spent a lot of time there. And I like to garden, so she tended to her cats while I worked in the backyard.”

  “Her cats?” Theo wasn’t exactly a feline-lover.

  “Oh, we don’t own any of them,” Katie said, reaching back to tighten her ponytail. “She puts out food and water for the strays. I’m sure the neighbors hate us.” She gave a light laugh, and Theo joined in.

  “I’m sure they do.” Someone edged past him with a full tray, bumping him closer to Katie. He entered her personal space, very aware of the scent of oranges and something antiseptic-like.

  “Sorry,” he said, not at all sorry to be this close to her. He put his hand on her waist to keep himself from tipping over, and when he could settle back onto his feet, he slipped his hand into hers.

  She didn’t yank her fingers away or say anything. She did tip her head back and look at him, questions swimming in her eyes. Theo had no idea how to answer them, and it was their turn to step forward and order anyway.

  “What do you want?” he asked.

  “What do you think I want?”

  He gazed at her for a moment, wondering if he messed up if that would be it for them. This was their second date, and if he survived this, he’d be well on his way to a third—which would be the most he’d been out with the same woman in a while.

  Turning back to the cashier, he said, “We’ll have two orders of fish tacos.”

  “Guacamole?”

  “Yes, on both.”

  “Drinks?”

  “A large water bottle for me, and she’ll have the peach lemonade.” He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket, feeling the offensive white stitching on his jeans, and paid for their lunch. Once they had their cardboard containers of fish tacos, he said, “So why don’t you tell me what you’d like in an app for Clean Sweep.”

  “You remember the name of my cleaning company?”

  He pretended to search for a spot to sit and chin-nodded to her left. “Over there.” They sat at the end of a picnic table that already had another couple at the other end, and he tried to find a reason he could remember the name of her cleaning company.

  “I looked you up online.”

  She froze halfway through unwrapping her straw. “You did not.”

  “No judgment,” he said. “I just wanted to see what I was working with. You think I’d come to our meeting unprepared?”

  She finished unwrapping the straw and plunked it in her lemonade, her eyes never leaving his. She possessed fire and grit, and he liked that about her. He always had. “Is that what this is? A meeting?”

  “I asked you if you wanted help with an app. You said yes.”

  Katie ignored her food completely and leaned her elbows on the table. “Then you held my hand.”

  “I didn’t hear any complaining.” Theo wanted to suck the words back into his throat the moment he said them. “That’s not what….” He sighed. “Look, I’ll just say it. I haven’t been on a third date with a woman in a long time, and I’d really like to get there with you.”

  “You told me that already,” she said, finally training those captivating eyes somewhere but on him. “And if this is a meeting, then you’re still at one with me.”

  “Fine,” he said, not wanting to talk about it anymore. He’d much prefer the technical talk of what she wanted for her app. “I assume you came prepared for the meeting too.”

  “Why would you assume that?”

  “Because I know you.” Theo looked up from his tacos, surprise coursing through him. Their eyes met, and that tether that had always bound them to each other connected and tightened.

  She swiped over the screen of her phone and said, “I may have made a few notes.”

  He chuckled and took a big bite, remembering that he’d also gotten a text while standing in line. He pulled out his phone and checked it to see Jasper’s name. You’re on a date! I’m so sorry. Talk later.

  Theo navigated away from the text quickly and went to his app store. He could talk features for hours, and he told himself he’d only allow a few minutes. Let her ask her questions and go over her notes.

  “So I’m wondering if there’s a way I can communicate with my maids,” she said. “And the customer can too, and they can see it all on the back end.”

  “Of course,” he said. “That’s a more sophisticated app, but definitely something we can do for you.”

  She nodded slowly as she chewed, and he showed her an app he’d developed for a client that did similar things to what she wanted. It was for a plumbing business, but the customer side showed people which times and dates were available, and they scheduled.

  On the backside, all the plumbers attached to the app could see the request come in and one of them would take it and add it to their schedule. “And the boss—that would be you—can communicate with them too, with things like messages, calendar items, even setting meeting times and attaching files.”

  She’d finished her tacos several minutes ago, but Theo still had two of his. He pushed the button to turn off his phone and he picked up his food. “Questions? You look….” Something. He wasn’t sure if she was worried or upset or what.

  “I don’t think I can afford an app like that.”

  “I can redo your website too. Integrate it.” He took a huge bite of his now cold tacos. Didn’t matter. The mango salsa was still fruity and spicy, and the fish flaky and delicious.

  “My website really is a mess, isn’t it?”

  He shook his head as he finished chewing and swallowing. “I’d actually call it a disaster.” He chuckled, glad when her laughter joined in with his. “I wasn’t even sure where to go. But we can fix all of that. And requests that come through the website will sync with the app. You seem good with the technology, and there’s no reason not to use it.”

  “Except the price tag. You’ve never said how much this all costs.”

  Theo studied her, trying to find the right words. The ones that wouldn’t drive her away, that wouldn’t freak her out.

  He came up with, “This one’s on me.”

  She shook her head, the high ponytail swinging violently. “Oh, no. That’s not happening.”

  “Fine.” Theo should’ve known she wouldn’t take charity. She’d never been particularly good at letting someone help her. It probably made her a great single mom. “The integrated service is one dollar.”

  She scoffed. “I’m calling your office for a quote.”

  “Go right ahead.”

  As she swiped to find the number, he sent a quick text to Ben.

  She lifted the phone to her ear, a triumphant look on her face. “Yes, hello. I’m just wondering if you can give me a quote real quick? Great….yes, I’d like a website remake, and something that integrates into t
he app.”

  Her eyes would not let go of his, and Theo was enjoying himself entirely too much. She said, “Yes…no…business applications, yes…backend, huh? Yes, that too.”

  He smiled at her, and she looked away. But her almost shrieked, “One dollar?” brought her attention back to him.

  He shrugged and stacked their garbage to take it to the trashcan. When he returned to the table, she said, “You’re a sneaky one, Theo. I was not expecting that.”

  Theo slung his arm around her shoulders. “Let me do this for you.” He didn’t mean for his voice to come out with quite so much tenderness and emotion in it. Surely Katie heard it.

  He definitely heard her when she said, “Okay,” and his heart grew wings and began to flap around excitedly in his chest.

  They parted on the beachwalk, her heading west while he went east back to his condo, without a plan for their next date. But no matter what, he’d be seeing her again, and that knowledge propelled him back to the office.

  “Now,” he said as he sat down at his command center—three monitors on his L-shaped desk. “I just need to know why she let me help her.”

  Because if there was one thing Katie was and always had been, it was fiercely independent. So what was really going on with the owner of the seemingly successful Clean Sweep?

  Theo intended to find out on their next date.

  Five

  Katie waited in the driveway of Gertrude Chu, her annoyance rising with every passing minute. Mrs. Chu was constantly running late, and she wouldn’t allow Katie into the house to clean without her there.

  But Katie didn’t have time to waste today. She’d called Mrs. Chu and been assured in broken English that the older woman was on her way home. Twenty minutes had passed, and Katie didn’t know anywhere on the island that took that long to get to, besides the cattle ranch way out on the western curve. And surely Mrs. Chu wouldn’t have business out there.

  Yet she hadn’t arrived at home yet. Katie’s patience dwindled to almost nothing, and she sent a text to her next client to explain she’d be a little late. The ripple effects from losing a half an hour waiting on a job were disastrous. She’d be later picking Heather up from the after-school club she attended, which meant she’d have to pay an additional fee.