“Counter suing was my grandpa's favorite tactic. They sue you. You sue them back for twice the amount they’re suing you for.”
“This is exactly what I am talking about,” Ashley hypothesizes. “It is so infrequent that the small guy wins. At least now, I’m not the one dangling a thread of hope to someone I know has none.”
I grin. “And you think I’m included on your bad corporate monster list?”
“Yes,” Ashley agrees immediately.
“Why exactly do you think I’m only interested in screwing people over?”
“You sell computer software, right?”
I look at her curiously. “Yeah.”
“I’ve seen the profit margins. I know how much the company rips people off.”
“Not anymore if I have my way,” I say. “That’s the big change that I’ve brought in that the board disapproves of. I convinced my grandpa that people want this software, but they want it at affordable prices. I showed him a business model where we could sell the same product for half of the price and still make as much profit because it will become more widely available to the average consumer.”
Ashley raises an eyebrow at this.
I smile and feel almost proud that I’ve impressed her. I shake my head slightly. What the actual fuck? Since when did I start caring what Ashley thinks of me?
“That’s actually pretty admirable.” She smiles, a twinkle in her eyes again. “And I’m just going to gloss over the part where you’re still making the same amount of money.”
“Ah, but look at it this way,” I remark. “If the profits had taken a hit, then my grandpa never would have agreed to this. And even if he had, what do you think would have happened? Layoffs, that’s what would have happened. And believe it or not, I don’t want to be responsible for half our staff losing their jobs. No matter what you think, I’m not a monster who doesn’t give a shit about anyone but myself.”
“I never said that,” Ashley shoots back defensively.
“You didn’t have to.”
“Maybe we both misjudged each other a little bit,” Ashley concedes.
“Yeah, I think maybe we did.”
“Why do you think your grandfather put this marriage to me clause into his will?”
I have pretty much given up on trying to figure out what my grandpa’s motives were with this one. I think I’m just going to stick with the notion he set me a final challenge, one he didn’t think I’d rise to. I wonder if he’s regretting that now, because the more I get to know Ashley, the more I don’t think this is going to be so unbearable.
“Earth to Finn,” Ashley mocks, pulling me out of my head.
“Sorry. The truth is, I don’t really know. He wasn’t the sentimental old fool that my mother thinks he was. Even to the very end, he was the sharpest pencil in the box. He must have known I would try to buy my way out of it, maybe he just wanted to give some money to a good cause in his will without looking like a sap.”
“Well, in that case, I have an idea if you’re not busy this afternoon.”
I think about the pile of paperwork on my desk, the ton of calls I still have to make to close a deal I’m working on. I really am busy this afternoon, but I’m also incredibly and irresistibly intrigued as to what her idea is. “I could spare a few hours.”
“Great.” She smiles. “Let’s go then. I thought maybe you’d want to see where some of your money is going to go.”
“Sure,” I agree as I drop some money on the table and we get up. “Where are we going? Back to your office?”
“Nope.”
She’s wearing a smile that tells me I’m not going to like what comes next.
“I’m going down to the soup kitchen to hand out meals to some homeless kids. We can always use an extra pair of hands.”
This isn't what I thought I was signing up for, but I don’t want to see disappointment cloud Ashley’s face. Suddenly, I want Ashley to like me. I have never particularly cared one way or the other if people like me or not, and I wouldn’t have given a shit if someone like Ashley judged me, but now, I don’t know what’s happened, but yeah, I really want to make her happy.
“Lead the way,” I say, and to my surprise, I’m actually looking forward to being the extra hands next to Ashley in the soup kitchen.
7
Finn
By the time Ashley and I leave the soup kitchen, I have had my eyes well and truly opened. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I knew we had homeless people in the city, but honestly, I’ve never really stopped to think about their plight in any great detail. For the most part, I think they brought it on themselves by choosing not to work.