Ruby Red 3 - A Romance for All Time (Complete)

Chapter 20

The rows and rows of black digits before her were starting to blur. Ali needed to take a break.

Picking up her phone, she scrolled through her contacts, looking for a distraction. Sam would have been her first choice but he was currently on a flight home.

He'd tried to rationalize staying longer, but Ali shot all his arguments down. At least this time they had a plan. Sam would come back in two weeks. It would give him enough time to move things around at the Harrington Foundation. Talk with Leif about his role in his campaign. He would stay longer next time. A test for working remotely. A trial run for their potential new living arrangements.

A pang of guilt stabbed at her heart. Sam was rearranging his life. All for her.

"You did it for me, without hesitation," he'd argued. "Picked up and moved to New York. This is a compromise."

She reminded him she'd had little to lose. Whereas he had a lot.

"Let's try. See if we can make it work."

Ali needed it to work.

Her thumb scrolled by Emily's name and without hesitation she texted her friend to see if she could talk. The two women had a lot in common these days, planning weddings, dealing with moving their lives. But also, Emily Montgomery was a lawyer and Ali could use a sounding board right now. One not connected to Stinson Studios.

All morning she'd been trying to get a handle on the financials. Spencer had all but come out and said something was going on. It was time to put on her accountant's hat.

Her mother had encouraged Ali to take English literature in college. Complying with her wishes, Ali loaded up her schedule with writing and reading courses. When she needed to fill an empty spot, she took an economics course on a whim. It had shocked Ali to discover she liked it.

Growing up she had somehow picked up her mother's devil may care attitude to finances, money and numbers in general. But here she uncovered the beauty in the symmetry of a balance sheet, the in and out, the rightness of math. It was solid, stable. Like filling in a puzzle to get a bigger picture.

During her marriage, Jack insisted on controlling their finances. It embarrassed her now to think how easily she had let him, turning a blind eye. All to avoid confrontation. When she so much as questioned anything about money, he flew into a rage demanding to know if she was not satisfied with every possession he gave her. Eventually, for the sake of peace, she stopped asking.

When her money mysteriously disappeared last year, it had taken a while but she sat down and did the work. Sorting out the situation, tracking where every penny came and went. She never stopped. Today she was completely in control of her money. And she liked it.

She wanted that same control with the family business.

A melodic tone drew her attention to her phone. Emily hadn't texted back, calling instead.

"Hey, you," Ali answered. "I didn't disturb anything did I?"

"Nope. You're actually saving me. Finn's trying to get me to take a nap. Insists I need to rest. He barely lets me lift a finger."

"A man that wants to take care of you. Sounds like quite the predicament."

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I love him for it. He's just a bit overprotective right now."

"It's understandable, given what you two have been through."

"I guess. Maybe I'm being too hard on him." There was a slight pause. "Ali. How's your father?"