“Babe, after the wedding, we’ll move into your condo and rent mine out. It will pay my mom’s car loan!” He was certain he could play me. But my counter-offer pulled the rug right out from under him…

phone so quickly he knocked over the soy sauce.

For three seconds, neither of us spoke.

Then he laughed too loudly.

“Mom worries about security. You know how she is.”

I smiled.

Not because I believed him.

Because men like Ethan relaxed when they assumed a woman was too emotional to notice numbers.

I lifted my glass.

“Actually, your idea makes sense.”

His face brightened.

“Really?”

“Absolutely,” I said. “In fact, I have a counter-offer.”

He leaned forward eagerly.

I let the silence stretch.

“Tomorrow night,” I said. “Your mother