Chapter 84

Growing up, my family was middle-class but not extravagant by any means. Mom was a nurse and Dad worked for the state in the Comptroller's Office. We never lacked for food or clothing and lived in a comfortable house, but there was always more we could have had.

I got some grants and scholarships and I worked a job (sometimes two) in college. Even with the financial aid I got, I still had some student loan payments and a little bit of credit card debt. Yet I never felt like I got the short end of the financial stick because I knew that I only had a couple of years to pay off everything I owed and that everything I had, I earned.

McKayla was another story altogether.

My jaw dropped when she showed me what she was worth. After graduation, McKayla's parents—who were well to do to begin with—had given her a sizeable amount of money to start up her own business. She invested some of the money in stocks and some in real estate. She had flipped a couple of houses and this one was paid off. Plus she did well for herself as a businesswoman.

"I'd be a piss-poor financial planner if I couldn't make myself any money," she told me once. "Clients want the people who tell them what to do with their money to be rich, too."

She wasn't simply rich. She was loaded. She had zero debt. A little over a year ago, she had paid almost a half million dollars for her house and in the real estate market at the beach, it had skyrocketed in value since. Her 401(k) plan had over a hundred thousand bucks in it already. And she wasn't even 30 yet.

What she showed me that night wasn't just her bank account. She was driven to succeed. I think the money was of secondary importance to her because she never flmomed her wealth to me or any of her friends. She didn't dress in the high-end clothes (although she did have a thing for shoes) and seemed comfortable to be around people who lived from paycheck to paycheck like me, Allyson and Bretlynn. At the same time, she wasn't patronising to other people and treated everyone as if they were wealthier than she was.

I saw a new side to her. On each of the statements, my name was next to hers. Without my knowledge or my asking, she had made me a partner in all of her business dealings. We talked a lot about our future together. We daydreamed about where we would be in five and ten years. I looked forward to growing old, wearing matching clothes and driving around the country in an RV with her.

She seemed so ready for the baby. So ready to jump feet first into the deep end that was our relationship.

Which is why it broke my heart when she left.