Chapter 10 #2
“Barely.” Before I could ask him to elaborate, he asked, “What about your parents? They moved to Florida, right?”
“Yeah, thankfully, or I wouldn’t be here right now.”
His brows lifted as if he hadn’t been expecting that.
Though I wasn’t surprised he didn’t know just how volatile our relationship was.
No one did. My parents were very careful about that—had to keep up appearances, so they’d made sure to berate me only in the privacy of our own home.
To everyone else in town, they were the perfect couple, the perfect parents, and we were the perfect family.
“You wouldn’t have moved back to Starlight Cove if they were still here?”
“Definitely not.”
“So, you’re not close.”
I laughed. “Um…no.”
“I sense a story there.”
Before I could answer, our waitress showed up with our entrees. After placing our meals in front of us, she asked, “Can I get you anything else right now?”
Ford glanced at me with a raised brow, and after I shook my head, he said, “We’re good. Thanks.”
“I’ll check on you in a bit,” she said before leaving us alone once again.
She’d barely walked three steps when he gave me an expectant look, obviously wanting to continue our conversation.
I twirled some of my pasta, gathering a bite, and shrugged. “There’s no story. I’m not the daughter they wanted, and they have no problem reminding me of that every chance they get.”
Ford’s face clouded over with what looked an awful lot like anger. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“What, becoming a doctor isn’t good enough for them?”
“Not really. They’re more of the mentality that Dr. Dicknose is.”
Ford coughed, sputtering on the bite he’d just taken. After drinking some water, he asked, “Doctor what ?”
“You heard me.” I picked up my wineglass, smirking at him over the rim. “You didn’t think I could work with him every day and not have a derogatory nickname for him, did you?”
“I didn’t really think about it, but it fits.” Ford speared a bite of his seafood lasagna. “And what’s their mentality?”
Thank God I was on my second drink of the night so I could affect a nonchalance I definitely didn’t feel. Lifting my shoulder in a shrug, I said, “That I need to have a husband to be of value, and since they’re certain I won’t find anyone who wants to be with me, I’m basically worthless.”
Ford’s mouth dropped open as he stared at me. “What the fuck ?”
“Yeah.”
“And you chose to work with him? Why?”
“Because I was promised a chance at purchasing the clinic. That’s something that would take another decade at least in a bigger town.
When I got the call asking if I’d be interested in taking a position here with that as an opportunity, it felt like it was meant to be.
” I blew a breath out slowly, shaking my head.
“But if this awful month has shown me anything, it’s that he has absolutely no intention of selling it to me unless I suddenly show up married one morning. ”
“What a complete shithead. Addison always told me that guy was an asshole.” He pressed his lips in a tight line, his jaw flexing.
I’d never seen Ford anything but cool as a cucumber, but this was getting under his skin, no doubt realizing just what his sister had been putting up with at the hands of the doctor.
“You know what? I think this calls for a little street justice.”
A grin kicked up the corner of my lips. “I have been tempted to slash his tires on more than one occasion.”
“Now I see why you’ve needed the extra late-night emotional support coffees the past couple weeks. It makes the run-in with my ex look like child’s play.”
“Your ex?”
“Chelsea Dread. You remember her?”
It was hard to forget a bitch like that.
I didn’t like to fall into the catty female stereotype and preferred to support women and lift them up rather than tear them down, but that sentiment didn’t extend to Chelsea.
She’d been the epitome of a mean girl in high school, and she’d made my life a living hell every chance she got.
All because Ford and I had always seemed to be paired together in any classes we shared—an extra-special little punishment that’d lasted nearly all four years.
Why she’d been jealous of me when she’d been his girlfriend, I had no idea. Little did she know, we’d spent the entire time at each other’s throats, and I’d had to stop myself from strangling him just to shut him up.
“I may have a vague recollection…” I said.
“Yeah, well, just be glad it’s only that. She cornered me in the grocery store a couple weeks ago. She’s getting married and doesn’t think I can handle it because I’m apparently still hung up on her.”
“Are you?”
He laughed. “Fuck no. Which pisses her off, I’m sure. But I had to make sure she knew that, so somehow I got myself wrangled into attending her wedding with my girlfriend .”
“You have a girlfriend?” I couldn’t keep the surprise out of my voice.
“No,” Ford scoffed. “So you can see my problem. Now I just need to find someone who pities me enough to go.”
A flash of him attending this wedding with someone else made the bottom drop out of my stomach, and I had no idea why.
“Oh please,” I said. “You haven’t had a single pity date in your entire life. Women are lining up for a chance to go out with you—hell, you had three of us willing to pay for it—so it shouldn’t be hard.”
“Actually, I was planning to sweet-talk my auction date into it, and, well…” He lifted his brows and gestured to me. “Besides, a one-off date is going to do fuck all to prove I don’t give a shit about who she’s marrying. I dodged a bullet with that one. What I need is a relationship.”
Around a bite of my scampi, I said, “Sounds like what we both need is a spouse.”
Ford was quiet for a long moment, and when I finally glanced at him, his eyes were calculating. He braced a forearm on the table and leaned toward me. “You said you’ve thought about slashing Don’s tires, but you need to think bigger, kitten. How about instead of that, you take his practice?”
I breathed out a short laugh. “Well, that’s not gonna happen unless I get a husband, and I don’t see any of those around.”
“Uh, hello?”
I tipped my head to the side, brows drawn. “Hi?”
“ I need a semi-permanent date for this wedding. You need a husband. We should take care of our problem together and just get married.”
If I’d been drinking when those words came out of his mouth, no doubt I would have spewed it across the table. I stared at him, openmouthed. “You’re kidding me.”
“Not even a little. If you’re really serious about this, you’ve gotta commit to the bit.”
I breathed out a laugh. “Commit in the form of marriage… That’s what you’re suggesting?”
He lifted a single shoulder. “If that’s what it takes.”
“Marriage…to me .” I gestured to myself just to be clear.
“Why not? Might as well get the first divorce out of the way.”
“And you don’t think Dr. Dicknose is going to get suspicious that we’ve had a rivalry for years, and, as far as he knows, I hate everything about you, yet we’re suddenly in love enough to get married?”
“As far as he knows, you paid two grand to go out on a date with me. And I think you’re underestimating the power of my sex appeal.”
“I need you not to be a pig right now.”
His eyes danced as he chuckled, the sound low and smooth, sending a shiver through me. “I’m not trying to be. You’re giving him way too much credit. He’s the exact kind of douchebag who’d think this is all his doing. You finally took his advice…put on some lipstick…and nailed down a husband.”
“You’re seriously serious.”
“I seriously am.” He lifted a brow, his voice taking on a taunting lilt. “But this is out of your weekly schedule, so it might be too spontaneous for you to consider. And I get it. You’re probably worried you’d fall in love with me if we went through with this.”
I scoffed. “I would not fall in love with you.”
He raised a brow. “Then what’s the problem?”
The problem was, this was deceitful. It was taking the easy way out—although God knew being married to Ford, real or not, wouldn’t be easy.
But fuck, I’d been struggling along the “right” path, the harder path, my entire life, watching as others skated by and got ahead while I worked myself to the bone and came up short.
It’d happened in high school with my AP classes and being booted for valedictorian because Ford had snuck by with an easier course load.
It’d happened numerous times in med school when I’d thoroughly busted my ass doing things exactly as they were supposed to be done, while others took the shortcut.
Hell, it happened when I had agreed to come back and help Dr. Dicknose to right this sinking ship instead of standing in the shadows and waiting for it to implode before sweeping in and playing the savior.
And look where those had gotten me… Angry, resentful, and no closer to achieving my parents’ love or respect.
So why the hell wasn’t I taking those shortcuts too?
Would it really be so bad to be married to Ford for a brief stint of time when it would end with me realizing my lifelong dream of owning my own clinic? When I could finally prove to my parents—prove to everyone—who didn’t think I’d make anything of myself that I had?
“So, what?” I asked. “You’d marry me so I could buy the practice? And I’d just have to go with you to Chelsea’s wedding? That’s it?”
“Well, we’ll have to be a devoted couple for a while to pull this off. How long do you think it would take to convince him?”
“I would like to say it wouldn’t take anything to convince him because he told me this was his stipulation, but I’ve known him long enough to know that he’s not going to roll over that easily.”
“Think you can get it done in a couple months?”
“Maybe? Probably…”
Ford pulled out the napkin from under his drink. “Got a pen?”
I dug around in my purse and handed one over to him. He immediately started writing on the napkin, then he pulled out his phone and thumbed to something before writing a date.
He turned the makeshift contract around to face me, pressing his finger just over the date. “You’ve got eight weeks to convince him to sell it to you as a married woman.”
“And then what?”
“Then we get a divorce or an annulment and go about the rest of our lives. Easy peasy.”
Somehow, I didn’t think it would be quite so easy peasy . But…my knee-jerk reaction wasn’t a no. I stared down at the napkin, where Ford had written “no take backs” and signed his name below it, leaving space for mine.
I didn’t know if it was the culmination of my time here in Starlight Cove, or listening to Dr. Dicknose berate me day in and day out, or the fact that I was two drinks in, or that Ford was turning out to be someone other than who I’d thought he was, but I found myself agreeing before I could stop myself. For once, taking the easy way out.
I grabbed the pen from him and signed my name below his. “I’m in. Let’s get married.”