Page 83 of The One

“What did she do?” Gillian asked, getting confused.

Dean turned to look at Rick. “No. You did the right thing. We’d still be sitting there spinning our wheels if we didn’t sell. We would have lost our chance. I know that now. We made out well. Or you did,” Dean said, laughing.

“Hello,” she said again. “No one told me what your ex-wife did?”

“I was approached to sell what we had,” Dean said. He looked at Rick. “What does she know?”

“She knows it was millions,” Rick said. “I got forty percent, but we haven’t talked details.”

“And I don’t need to know those details,” she said. “It doesn’t concern me.”

“I like that she thinks that way,” Dean said. “I thought Colleen did too. Anyway. My wife encouraged me to sell. She said enough was enough. She was sick of not seeing me. I was in the house, but I wasn’t present. I put the work before her. Before our marriage. She wanted kids and I kept saying to just wait until I hit it big.”

“She didn’t wait?” she asked, seeing where this might be going now.

“No,” Dean said. “I thought she was in my corner. She’d been so supportive. But the minute the sale was final and the money was in my account she served me with divorce papers. She got half of my sixty percent and a good part of the thirty I had remaining was spent on legal fees trying to fight it all. I lost a lot more than money in all of this.”

“I’m sorry about that,” Gillian said, wondering why Rick never told her any of this. There was no reason to hide it. She would have understood and felt sorry for the guy she didn’t know, but she was still surprised Rick held it in.

Then she wondered if it had to do with what he’d said. That he felt like he had a hand in pushing for the sale and maybe caused the breakup of Dean’s marriage.

No, that marriage seemed to be doomed to begin with, but Rick could feel like he played a part in Dean losing his share of the money too.

“Life goes on,” Dean said. “I was in a bad place for a long time. I pulled away from Rick. We texted now and again, but I lost my wife, my best friend, money. The money doesn’t matter. Even the wife doesn’t at this point. It falls on me. My actions had consequences.”

“Everyone’s do,” Rick said. “We have to own them and I owned mine.”

Gillian looked at him and frowned. She was trying not to get annoyed over this, more so because she’d been so open with him about her relationship with Mike. She listened to what he had to say and he was right, but she needed it pointed out.

She was hurt that he didn’t feel he could trust her enough with what happened to him.

“Is that why you moved?” she asked, crossing her arms.

“Oh boy,” Dean said. “I hope I didn’t start something. Rick had been talking about moving back home before the sale of the company. Really, he was. He wanted to be by Robin. I think that was part of the push for me to sell too. I knew he wouldn’t be around to work as much and that was selfish on my part leaning on him for it.”

“You never said that,” Rick said.

“I felt like an ass thinking it,” Dean said. “You weren’t getting paid. You slaved as hard as me for nothing.”

“Neither of us was paid,” he said. “I knew if the company took off I’d get my share.”

“And you got it faster than if it had. It wouldn’t have,” Dean said. “I know that now. I don’t have what it takes to run a company. It’s not my strong suit.”

“So you’re not going to try again?” Rick asked, laughing.

“No,” Dean said. “I learned my lesson there. I need to be managed.”

“Not everyone can be a leader,” Rick said. “I wasn’t sure I could do it either.”

“You were born to lead,” Dean said. “I knew. Maybe going through what we did opened your eyes to it. You said you love your job.”

“I get that impression,” she said, looking at Rick. “Don’t you?”

“I do. It’s everything I didn’t think a corporate job would be.”

“Then I’m happy for you,” Dean said. “Really I am. The only thing I wished I could have done differently and I will in the future is get a prenup. Damn, that hurt worse than anything to be taken like that by someone I thought loved me.”

Rick looked at Dean while he laughed, but Gillian felt her face flush. Was Rick thinking those things? It never occurred to her either way. She’d never take anyone for anything.