to go from here. I hadn’t expected it to be easy, but I hadn’t thought she would give up either. I didn’t want to head into the city yet, so I headed to my brother’s house. I needed to vent. Surely he would understand. He knew what it was like to have his woman walk out on him.
I pulled into his drive and slammed the door to my car before marching up the steps. I yanked the door open and slumped down in the chair at the dining room table where they were all having dinner.
“Make yourself at home,” Eric said, taking a bite of his food.
“She left me,” I grumbled.
“Yeah, I kinda figured that, seeing how rumpled you look.”
I glanced down at myself. My tie was loosened and my shirt was unbuttoned a little. My jacket was the same one I had been wearing for over twenty-four hours. I probably smelled a little too.
“She said we were too different.”
Joe snorted and ate some food. “Of course you are. Look at the two of you. Complete opposites. You’re all high and mighty and she’s all-“
“Don’t even say it,” I snapped.
He popped another piece of meat in his mouth and slowly chewed. “I was going to say down to earth. But I’m guessing you were thinking more about the money in your account versus the money in hers.”
“It has nothing to do with that.”
“Then why did you snap at me?”
I ran my hand through my hair and sighed. “I just thought we could work it out. She didn’t even give me a chance. We were supposed to spend the weekend getting to know each other.”
“Well, you screwed that up when you went into work and left her alone,” Eric grumbled. “Probably not your best effort at keeping her.”
I glanced at Kat, noticing she wasn’t saying anything. “What do you think?”
“Me? I don’t really know her. I couldn’t say.”
“If it were you-“
“It was me. I needed time.”
“See, I still disagree on that point,” Eric said, pointing a french fry at her. “I think I should have fought harder for you.”
“That’s totally what you should do,” Andrew said, eyes wide as he nodded his head. “Grand gesture and all. That’s what she needs.”
Will slapped him upside the head. “He can’t give her a grand gesture before he even gets back in her pants.”
“Mission accomplished,” I muttered. “So, now what?”
“Wait,” Joe interrupted. “You got back in her pants and you still couldn’t convince her to stay?” I glared at him and he snorted. “Sorry, not sorry. You lost her man.”
“What?” Kat exclaimed. “That’s not true. Don’t listen to them. She just needs to see a different side to you. She needs to see that you’re still the same man she once knew. You have to woo her.”
“Yes!” Will said, snapping his fingers. “You have to show her that you’re still the same man, just with more money. Show her what she’s missing.”
“No,” Eric shook his head. “Anna’s not like that. She doesn’t care about your fancy car or your apartment.”
“That’s because she hasn’t had money for so long. Duh,” Joe shook his head. “See, when you don’t have money, it’s hard to accept that you suddenly have it. What you need is a reason to keep her around. Not all the time, but enough that she can see the benefit of your money.”
“Wait, that’s like asking me to buy her.”
“No,” Andrew shook his head. “I’m with Joe. She likes money, but she doesn’t want to admit it. You have to slowly introduce her to your money. Subtle things. You can’t just ask her to stay with you and shower her with presents. You have to do little things.”
“Yeah, but buying a twelve year old car is not one of them,” Eric pointed out.
“You bought her a twelve year old car?” Kat asked, cringing slightly.
“I thought that she would appreciate that it was in her price range!” I said, throwing my hands in the air.
“Yeah, nothing says love like a twelve year old car,” Andrew muttered.
“Okay,” I said calmly. “So, I somehow convince her to spend time with me, to get to know me without showing her my penthouse.”
“I hope you mean penthouse and not penthouse,” Joe said slowly.
“I mean my apartment, you asshat.”
He held up his hands and shrugged. “Hey, I don’t know if you rich dudes have a special language.”