A week had passed since the deed had been done. I tried not to think about it, not because it hadn't been an eye-opening experience, so to speak, because it had. It wasn't just the sex, the pleasure I'd experienced during my first time, either. Even though I had expected completely the opposite, Wyatt had surprised me. I couldn't get my mind away from him. Couldn't help wishing that things were different, but… no use even thinking about it.

I cleaned tables, waited on customers, ran errands, sliding back into my patterns, helping the family, dreading my dad's upcoming trial in a couple of weeks. He didn't talk to me or my mother about it, no hints of what he and his lawyer discussed. His lawyer. More money.

I didn't have a lot of free time to overthink things, which was probably for the best. I was already confused enough as it was. Of primary concern to me is why I couldn't get Wyatt out of my head. I needed to stay busy. To work as hard as I could during the next few months, about five and a half now to be exact, before we'd need to start repaying the loan. I needed to pick up every extra shift, was even looking for that second job, but where to fit an extra job into my already busy schedule?

I felt so conflicted, wavering between putting Wyatt completely out of my head, making excuses to avoid thinking about it, to making jokes to myself about the chance I had taken, the damage it could have done. Oh, I didn't have to worry about anything too personal, like getting pregnant. He had taken care of that. But I just couldn't—

"You doing okay, Riley?"

I turned to find Sadie eyeing me with concern, her eyes studying mine, a worried frown marring her brow. "Of course, why wouldn't I be?" She gestured and I realized I was pouring sugar into the salt containers, all open and laid out on a tray in front of me on the counter.

"Dammit!" I muttered, shaking my head while Sadie emptied the contents of the containers into the trash underneath the counter.

"You know, Riley, you've got to stop thinking about him or you'll make yourself crazy."

I knew better than to even argue with Sadie about what or who I was thinking about. I gave her a shrug instead. "I can't seem to help it. I want to stop, but I…" I closed my mouth before I said something I would regret. Something like how much I wanted to see him again, how much I wish that he liked me for myself, that I liked him too, and not just because he had agreed to give me a zero-interest loan. No, I liked Wyatt Cross because of who he was. I liked the man behind the persona he projected in public. He was a lot nicer than I thought, a decent guy, one who didn't—

"You're doing it again."

I jolted back to awareness with a deep sigh. “Sorry. I just…”

“Hey, I get it," Sadie said, winking. "Your first time, and especially to have such a good experience. You're very lucky you know." She reminded. She looked over her shoulder to make sure no one could hear. "And believe me, Riley, you could do a lot worse than Wyatt Cross."

"That's just the problem," I muttered. She looked at me, a myriad of expressions crossing her face, first from confusion to understanding, to dismay.

"Oh, no, no," she hissed. "You cannot let yourself fall for him!"

"Too late," I said. I wasn't surprised that Sadie had picked up on what I was feeling. After all, we shared everything, and had since we were kids. I looked at her with a half grimace, half smile. "I can't help it."

I didn't need to say anything else. The tone of my voice conveyed at all. That tone conveyed my discouragement and for the first time in my life, I felt unsettled and unhappy, barring my father's arrest of course. I didn't mind working hard. I liked helping my family. But now, for the first time, after experiencing all the nice things that Wyatt Cross lived with on a daily basis… I didn't want that, not exactly. But was it too much to ask for enough money to make sure that I didn't have to worry about living paycheck to paycheck? Counting pennies? I wondered what it would feel like to have money. I'd never experienced anything different and—

"Well, it's over now, Riley, and I know you know that, so I won't give you any lectures. I know it's hard, but you two come from two different worlds. I'm glad that things worked out all right, I mean the loan and the agreement and everything, but you'd better nip it in the bud right now or you're only going to set yourself up for… well, you know."

I did. Heartache. Maybe even bitterness. I didn't want to become that person, the one that wanted something that somebody else had. I also had to be honest with myself. The other night with Wyatt, it had changed my perspective. I had assumed things about him that I shouldn't have, mainly because he was filthy rich. Chances were, he had assumed things about me too, because I was poor. The last thing I wanted to feel like was somebody's charity case. That's why I had offered something that was so important to me, so valuable, even though you couldn't put a monetary value on it.

"You can hold your chin high, Riley," Sadie said. "You did what you did for the sake of your family and you should be very proud. I know you can't tell your parents, but if they only knew of your sacrifice—"

"My parents can never know. Not ever." I cringed even thinking about it. My dad had asked a couple of times about the loan and I had finally managed to convince him that the bank had agreed to give us more time on the mortgage and that the loan I had managed was zero-interest for six months. I didn't want him calling to check up on the loan or anything like that. As far as I knew, the tellers, the loan officers, not even the assistant bank manager would know nothing about it. This was a deal between me and Wyatt. Which made me wonder. If my dad did check up, what would happen?

"Come on, let's get back to work. We're falling behind," she said, gesturing for me to finish filling the shakers. "Now focus. Your thoughts for the remainder of the shift are only allowed to be inside this building, not anywhere outside of it. Got it?"

I nodded and offered her a smile. "Got it. Thanks."

And yet, as I finished screwing the caps back onto the salt shakers, my thoughts once again drifted to Wyatt. Everything about this whole thing felt like a fairytale to me. Like Cinderella, without the pumpkin and the glass slipper of course. And, of course, the fact that he didn't love me, that he wasn't a prince charming, and that I didn't even think I would ever see him again. But I did wonder. I imagined myself living in that gorgeous, mansion of his, never having to worry about money ever again.

"You're an idiot," I muttered. I had better things to do than daydream or wish for the impossible. My life was definitely not a rags to riches story and it never would be.