Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
I realized far too late that when someone proposed, it was best to have their number.
The last thing I wanted to do was go back downtown to his office, but I had no other way to contact him, save for having Sebastian do it. I’d asked, but he’d gone green in the face at intervening between me and his boss at all, so I quickly rescinded the question before he could force himself to say yes.
After Calvin had finished harassing me, I headed to Levi’s office. I parked, snuck in behind someone else heading into the elevator, and was stopped by his assistant outside his office.
“Hi,” I said. “I’m a ... close friend of Levi’s. Can I talk to him?”
“Sorry,” the receptionist said with an apologetic expression, “he’s in meetings until one.”
“Oh, uh, can I wait?”
She raised her eyebrows and looked at her watch. “It’s only nine.”
“I don’t mind. I have nothing better to do.”
She blinked but then put a kind smile on her face. “Then, yes. You can wait. Do you need water or anything?”
“No, thanks.”
I walked over to a seat and made myself comfortable, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to focus on reading for a good while. Instead, I took out my phone and typed a message to V.
About to do something wild. Really in character for me.
V
How wild is wild?
I chewed on my lip. V and I didn’t talk about our personal lives ever since he dodged questions on it. I didn’t want to push too hard and run him off.
Very. I can’t even tell you because it’ll open up a million questions.
Now I really need to know.
I’m just solving some problems in my life. The only issue is that I have time to kill, and I’m panicking. Any advice?
Stay calm and levelheaded.
You do know who you’re talking to, right?
I do, but whatever opportunity you have happened for a reason. You earned it.
More like my asshole brother earned it, but it was close enough. I leaned my head back, trying to take calming breaths. It was too bad I was shit at it. My leg bounced nervously, and I knew I needed a distraction. So I replied to V.
Now I just need to wait. Who I need to talk to is busy until one, and I’m waiting outside of his office. Hopefully, I’ll be able to read the time away.
I got my Kindle out and forced my eyes to look at the pages. My focus was terrible, but I was able to find a rhythm for a few minutes.
But then a door opened and I looked up.
Levi’s eyes found me instantly. I looked down at my Kindle and saw that only a few minutes had passed.
“Oh!” his receptionist said. “Need a bathroom break during all of these meetings?”
His eyes were only on me. “Amy,” he said. “What are you doing here?”
“I was hoping we could talk about yesterday, but you’re busy for a bit. We can talk about it when you’re done with your meetings.”
“They’re canceled.” His voice was firm, and I swore they echoed through the office.
His receptionist’s jaw dropped. “But it’s with the president of operations. He doesn’t cancel.”
“He did this time. I’m suddenly free.”
“ What? ” His assistant sounded floored, but Levi wasn’t paying attention to her.
His eyes were only on me. “Come on, Amy. Let’s go talk in my office.”
His assistant looked between the two of us like she was getting the hottest gossip of her life, and I knew most of the office would hear about this in minutes.
“Did your meetings really get canceled?” I asked as the door closed.
“What, do you think something else happened?”
“Your assistant seemed pretty shocked.”
“If you’re meaning to insinuate that I saw a message that you were waiting and then ditched everything, you’d definitely be wrong.”
“Oh, would I?”
“You would. I canceled like a gentleman.”
“ You did it? Why?”
“I can’t keep someone important waiting.” He gestured to the extra chair in his office and I slowly sat, brain fizzling from what I was witnessing.
I’d never found this man more attractive.
“You’re really good at words, did you know that?”
“I passed English with flying colors.”
“I bet you did,” I muttered.
“What can I do for you, Amy?”
Correction: He could get more attractive, and he just did, but I pushed past it.
“I-I have something to talk to you about.”
One eyebrow raised. “Yes?”
“Some things have come up ... and I’d like to accept your proposal.”
“What came up?” he asked.
“Does it matter?”
“If I’m going to be your husband, then it does.”
If I’m going to be your husband. The thought filled me with an energy I couldn’t name. Was it nervousness? Or pleasure at hearing that I was going to be someone’s something ?
“Nice line,” I said. “Did you steal that from a romance book?”
“I might have taken some inspiration. But that was all me. Are you gonna tell me what happened now?”
“It’s nothing big. Just my brother being an ass. He bought one of the houses on my street and plans to tear it down.”
“When did this happen?”
“Today. It was one of the main reasons I decided to do this. Maybe you should thank him.”
His face darkened. “I will not be doing that. Where do you live again?”
I told him my address and the crease between his brows deepened. “I’m pretty sure about half of the homes there are registered as historical.”
“The people who don’t mind the historical society are registered. Some either didn’t have the money or didn’t want to have the oversight.”
“Was it condemned?”
“No. This is purely a revenge decision on my brother’s end. It’s so sad. The house is in good shape and a family could totally live there.”
Levi’s lips pursed and he glanced at me before looking back down at his laptop.
“Have some work to do? I can come back.”
“No, stay. This will just take a second.”
I didn’t say anything as he quickly typed something, but I did feel worse for showing up unannounced.
“All done?” I asked when he finally closed his laptop.
“For now, yes. You have my undivided attention.”
“Good, because we need to talk about how to fake a marriage, which is a sentence I never thought would come out of my mouth.”
Levi smiled and then leaned back in his chair. “You know what they say about lies: every good one has a nugget of truth to them.”
“And what’s our nugget of truth? It’s not like you love me or anything.”
“Right,” he said after an awkward moment of silence. “I meant that we would go through with it like a normal marriage. We start with a ring and have a wedding. Do all the things normal couples would do.”
“Not all of the things,” I reminded. “But yes. That makes sense. You pick out a cheap ring and then we elope. Problem solved.”
“The problem is not solved. I have a few things I want to do differently.”
“If you’re going to suggest something weird, like the Romanian tradition of kidnapping the bride for ransom, I’m gonna have to pass.”
He laughed. “Nothing like that.”
“Then what changes do you want?”
“We’re not picking out a cheap ring or eloping. If we’re doing this, then we’re doing it right. And my wife gets exactly what she wants.”
My wife.
The word was so shocking, all I could do was say, “O-okay.”
Oh, fuck. Apparently, being called his wife made any arguments flee my brain. This was not good for my resolve not to get caught up in this man.
Don’t trust him. He’ll only let you down.
I could hear Gram’s voice in my mind and I steeled myself. I could have fun looking at rings and not trust him.
Easy enough.
“Good,” he said as he got up and put on his jacket. “We can get started now. Let’s go ring shopping.”
“What, now?” I asked. “Don’t you have work to do?”
“I told you my meetings were canceled.”
“But I’m sure you have other things on your list.”
“Not anything more important than you.”
I only had a second to ponder what the fuck was going on before Levi opened the door and I scrambled to follow him. I could tell his employees had eyes on us, and I couldn’t bear to look at any of them.
“This is ... Am I dreaming right now?”
“You’re not.”
“Then what the fuck is happening?”
“Go big or go home,” he said as we got into the elevator. “And I don’t think I want to be home right now.”
He was on a mission, all of my questioning falling on deaf ears. I followed until we got to the parking garage. Then I broke out into a run to get between him and his car so he would fucking listen to me.
“Levi.” I put a hand on his chest. I tried to ignore the way my heart sputtered when his eyes met mine. “You don’t have to do this.”
“I want to.”
“That . . . What ?”
“I know you’re not used to people doing things for you, but you seem to like conviction. So get in the car.”
The shock of him knowing me way too well almost made me listen.
“First of all, I don’t follow orders.”
“Should I tack a ‘please’ on at the end?”
I ignored him. “And second of all, have you lost your mind? This is a fake marriage. You don’t have to buy me a ring or do anything other than show up to say some vows.”
“It needs to be real for everyone else,” he said. “Now, are you gonna keep asking questions or are you getting in the car?”
He leaned close and I froze. What was he about to do? Kiss me?
And then the door to his car opened.
“For the record, I’m getting in the car only because it’s the natural next step of this conversation. Not because you told me to.”
“Whatever makes you feel better.”
What would make me feel better was some distance between us, though, when I was in the car, I was still baffled beyond measure.
We pulled out into the streets of downtown Nashville, and I marveled at the big buildings that had popped up over the last decade. It was better than thinking about how close Levi had been only a few minutes ago.
As a local, I didn’t spend much time in downtown. None of us did. The most interesting things, other than the Ryman and concert venues, were all outside of it. Downtown Nashville didn’t even have a bookstore, for crying out loud.
And as time went on, the look of the city scenery changed. More high-rises had been built to accommodate the new growth, and slowly, the city I knew had disappeared.
I had mixed feelings about it. On one hand, I was happy people were seeing Nashville for what it was, but on the other, I wished I could see the old skyline in person one last time.
“Your employees must hate driving in,” I muttered.
“Some don’t mind it,” he replied. “A lot live in the nearby area, though. The ones in the suburbs can work remotely if they ask.”
“Really? Most places prefer for their employees to be in the office these days.”
“Luckily, you won’t have to worry about that in your role. That’s one hundred percent remote.”
“What? Being your fake wife?”
He smiled. “Exactly.”
I blew out a breath.
“By the way, you’ll need to get used to referring to yourself as my wife . Not my fake one. We have to make sure it looks real.”
“And what does that entail?”
“Spending time together.”
“You could ignore me.”
“I won’t do that.”
“So this means I have to deal with you all the time? Great.” I rolled my eyes, wondering if sarcasm would get me out of this odd dream I’d found myself in.
“You’ll adjust.”
I bit my lip. That was exactly what I was afraid of.
We rode in silence the rest of the way to the jewelry store. I expected to go to a big chain and get the cheapest sparkly thing we could find.
But when we pulled up to a jeweler in the fanciest part of town, I realized I’d miscalculated.
“Levi?” I asked slowly. “Why are we here?”
“To find a ring.”
“What about something middle of the line? Fancy, but not so fancy that I’d have to sell my soul to get it.”
“You keep forgetting that money buys things.”
“Money that I don’t have. So for me, it would be either selling my soul or my body.”
With a laugh, he got out of the car and once again opened the door for me.
“I have functioning arms, you know.”
“And yet I’ll still open the door for you.”
Damn it. That was such a good line that I didn’t have anything to say back.
He was too good at this.
The rings inside were worth more than Gram’s and my life savings, if I had to guess.
They didn’t have a price, but the number of glittery diamonds told me they couldn’t be cheap.
I was careful to avoid any vases that I could knock over and put me in a lifetime of debt.
Some of the diamonds were so big one could skate on them and were attached to a white-gold ring. It hurt if I looked at them for too long.
I didn’t realize Levi had been talking to an employee until both of them were looking at me expectantly.
“I’m sorry, what did you say?” I asked.
“What’s your style, hun?” the saleswoman asked.
That was a loaded question. My style was fickle, brought in by either the season or whatever mood I was in. Sometimes, I had a floral phase that lasted for weeks. Other times, I lived in leggings and T-shirts until the inspiration to dress nicer hit me.
I was pretty sure a wedding ring was supposed to encompass all of that, but I had no idea how. The only wedding ring I liked had been Gram’s. It was a golden band with a marquise diamond. Simple but elegant.
I didn’t have any other leads.
“Do you have anything that’s gold?”
She blinked. “Most of this is gold.”
“I mean the gold kind.”
“Yellow gold?” Levi asked.
“Yeah, that. I’m not in the habit of letting people spend thousands on me, so I’m figuring things out as I go here.”
“That’s okay,” she said with a smile, but a glance at Levi made me wonder if she was thinking how the hell I landed a guy like him. “We have a few different styles in yellow gold. Classic, vintage?—”
“That one, vintage.” It was the only thing that felt right.
She took us to a different corner of the store. Looking at these rings was a totally different experience. Some were yellow-gold bands with diamonds. Some had different-colored gemstones and intricate patterns. My eyes lingered on each one. Any of these could come home with me and I’d be happy.
“What’s the cheapest one?” I asked.
“No,” Levi said, shaking his head. “We’re not going for the cheapest. Which one do you like ?”
“I like all of them. Seriously, it doesn’t have to be fancy or anything.”
He gave me a flat look. “Then I’ll pick one for you to try. I saw something in the Woodland collection. It’s an emerald-and-diamond set.”
I opened my mouth to tell him I liked the vintage but closed it when I remembered that this wasn’t real. As long as I could tolerate the ring, I could wear it while being married. Still, I longingly looked back down at the vintage and Levi pointed out the one he liked. I wished one stood out to me more.
“Okay, here it is!” The saleswoman sounded more excited than I felt as she pulled it out. “I think this one is gorgeous.”
I pressed my lips together and told myself to stay positive as my eyes finally fell on what she was handing me.
And immediately, my jaw dropped. There were two rings, one with a large round emerald and a halo of gold and diamonds that made it look almost like a flower. The second one was an intricate weave of gold vines with tiny matching emeralds mixed within.
“Holy shit,” I said, placing it on my ring finger, noticing how it brightened up the skin of my hand.
This was the one. It would have been the one even if I’d been getting married for real.
“Since when were you good at picking out rings?” I asked.
Levi laughed. “Since it was you I was picking it out for.”
My eyes widened. There was no way he could know me that well, but then the saleswoman clapped her hands together and cooed, “ Aw. ” And I knew this wasn’t for me. It was practice for our fake marriage.
“You know what they say,” I replied as I gazed at the beautiful ring on my hand, “the bigger the rock, the shorter the marriage.”
“That’s average sized at best, and I don’t think that will be a problem for us.”
Of course it wouldn’t. This was fake, after all. I tried to remind myself of that, even as he stepped closer and put an arm around me.
I turned to the saleswoman, trying to play off the comment. “He’s a good one.”
“You two are just so cute,” she said. “I live for moments like these.”
“It’s safe to say that’s the one,” Levi replied.
I put on a smile, but my thoughts were getting away from me. Would I find one as good as this when I really got married? Could I convince Levi to somehow give it to me so I could reuse it if I finally found someone?
These thoughts bounced around my head until the saleswoman rung us up. When I saw how many digits were on the screen, my stomach sank.
“Levi,” I said lowly, grabbing his arm. “Are you sure about this?”
He turned to me with a smile. “Surer than anything else.”
After the ring was sent off for resizing, I desperately needed to be somewhere that wasn’t fancy, which was how we ended up at Prince’s Hot Chicken.
I loved bringing people here. I loved to suffer with spicy food, and it usually broke any barriers whatever person I was with had. This time, though, I just craved the familiar burn.
We were at a different location on the south side of Nashville. I’d been to them all, and each of them had the same flavorful chicken I’d come to know and love. I remembered when I brought Lily to the original location, and she’d been horrified when she saw how spicy my chicken was.
In the boom of Nashville’s housing market, I was happy to see that Prince’s grew in the same way everything else had. This location was more spacious and even had live music on the weekends.
“I’ll have the extra-hot breast quarter.”
I was sure the woman at the front had heard people fly too close to the sun with their hot chicken. “We don’t do refunds if it’s too hot.”
“It’s fine. I know what I’m getting into.”
“I’ll do the same,” Levi added.
“Oh, that’s—” I tried to warn him, but he put his card down before I could say anything else.
Oh well. It was his funeral, after all. I knew about his little competitive streak, but seeing it was totally different.
Hopefully, he learned his lesson.
“You do realize that they’re serious about the no refund thing, right?” I asked.
“Do I look like I care about the price of one meal?”
I shrugged. “Some rich people are penny-pinchers. Though after how much money you blew on a ring for a fake marriage, I shouldn’t be surprised.”
“Took the words right out of my mouth.”
“Still, when they say it’s hot, they mean it.”
“I like spicy food.”
“Hot chicken is on another level.”
“I’m sure I’ll survive.”
“I’m just saying. Most people start with the mild and work their way up.”
“Is that what you did?”
“No, I jumped straight into the hot and regretted everything. It’s taken years to get where I am now. Years and tears.”
“If you cry while you eat this, I won’t judge.”
“If you cry while you eat this, I definitely will judge.”
He laughed as we filled our drinks. We sat in the corner.
“All right, so we have a ring,” I said lowly. “All we need is a dress and to go to the courthouse.”
“We’re not going to the courthouse,” he said. “I said we weren’t eloping earlier and I meant it. We’re having a wedding.”
“ Why? ”
“My family would kill me if they knew I went to the courthouse. They’ve been waiting for me to finally settle down for years.”
My eyebrows raised. “So you do have more reasons to do this.”
“Maybe I do.” He shrugged. “I love my family, but they can be overbearing, especially when I’ve not been serious about anyone.”
“And why haven’t you?”
“I haven’t met the right person yet.” He looked at me and I shook my head.
“It’s not me. You’re way too normal for me. And you have a revenge streak.”
“ You have a revenge streak.”
“Exactly. We can’t both have one or else the world might end.”
He shook his head but didn’t argue. “The world would also end if my mom or stepmom found out I didn’t invite them to the wedding.”
“Invite them to the courthouse.”
“That’s even worse. They’re gonna want pictures and food and a whole party.”
“This little scheme is getting more and more expensive.”
“You’ll see why I’m not worried about it when you have access to my bank account.”
My cheeks flamed. “Levi, you can’t just say things like that.”
“Why not?”
“B-because you could get robbed.”
“No one’s around.”
“And it’s gauche to talk about money. Even I know that.”
“Not when you’re about to be my wife. Besides, you wanted the money, right? It’s why you’re doing this.”
“Well, yes, but it’s temporary. I just need a break from working, and then when we divorce, I’ll get back to it.”
“You’ll have enough money to not worry about it.”
Would I? Once my health came into play, I would eat through any money way too quickly without insurance. The medicine I was on was ridiculously expensive. I’d tried the cheaper ones, but didn’t have luck.
There was a limit to how much money a man would give someone pretending to be his wife.
“Speaking of things not to worry about, do you have health insurance? And as your wife, can I get on it?”
“Of course you can. We can add you after the wedding.”
“And how long does that take?”
“Usually not long, but there’s some paperwork to file, and the person that usually handles it is out on maternity leave, so maybe a few weeks. Do you need it for anything?”
A spike of anxiety made me sit up straighter. I didn’t talk about my debilitating migraines with anyone. They were a thing I dealt with alone, and I highly doubted that Levi would want to marry me if he knew how sick I could get.
I would have to hope that I would get on his plan fast enough to get as much of my usual medicine as I could, and then when I was on my own, it would work out.
“I fall sometimes. I’d hate to have a broken leg from being clumsy and not have insurance.”
He slowly nodded, but his eyes lingered as if he were trying to figure out the truth.
“Don’t worry about it,” I added with a laugh.
“I think this is one place where I’m also not good at taking orders. Why did you ask?”
Great. Now, I had to lie. “Maybe I’m a high fall risk. My house is old, and sometimes I find out about issues by falling through the floorboards.”
“Really?”
“It was one time. I was fine, but I had to get the subfloors replaced, and it was not cheap.” I shuddered. I was still paying off that particular credit card. “Owning an old house is expensive. And my gram did as much as she could, but things aren’t perfect there.”
“I’m telling you, you won’t have to work after this.”
“And I’m telling you that I have to.” I played with my hands under the table as his eyes narrowed at me. But I wouldn’t break. Not about this. I could still hear the way Mom, Dad, and Calvin always made my pain feel so insignificant. Like I was a burden no one would ever want to bear.
“We’ll revisit this later. The food is coming.”
And thank God for that. I smiled, thanked the waitstaff who brought it to us, and then turned my focus to my pain-inducing chicken.
I loved this place so much, but they were so inconsistent with the spice of the chicken that it was akin to gambling when picking out the same heat level. I liked to joke that whoever was in the kitchen hated everyone whenever they added extra spice to the dish. Today’s chef must have had a vendetta against humanity.
I coughed when I took the first bite, yet it was still delicious. A lot of the hot chicken places in Nashville went for pain only, but Prince’s always had delicious flavor behind the heat, and that’s what made me come back for more.
“I’m fine,” I muttered to Levi. “Just let me die.”
“Do you want me to avenge you?”
“Yes. Make an entire movie franchise out of it. And make sure no one knows that I technically asked for this.”
He laughed and ate a fry.
I’d love to say that my mouth eventually got numb to the heat, but it didn’t. It only grew as I ate, and by the time I was halfway through, I was chugging water. Nothing could make me more hydrated than hot chicken.
I glanced at Levi, hoping he was in the same amount of pain that I was.
“What the—is it even affecting you?” I asked.
“It’s hot, but not the hottest I’ve had.”
I gaped at him. “ How? ”
Levi smiled. “My stepmom is from Thailand and makes traditional dishes. Not everything is spicy, but she adds it. One time I told her to make the hottest thing she could and she almost killed me.”
“So you and your stepmom get along?”
“It was rough in the beginning, but now I love her to death. Her cooking has made me numb to a lot of other things, though.”
“That’s unfair. I wanted you to cry.”
“You’re crying enough for both of us.”
I flipped him off and took another bite of chicken. He was right. Tears streamed down my face, and it was an insult that he wasn’t crying with me.
I thought he would rub it in. Instead, he let out a quiet chuckle and took another bite.
“Back to the wedding?—”
“I’m surprised you can even think of marrying me when I’m like this.”
“You’re still pretty even when you’ve obviously gotten chicken way too spicy and you’re tearing up about it. At least you’re having fun.”
“I am having fun, damn it.” I leaned my head on the table and suffered with the pain in my mouth. When it had subsided slightly, I looked up to find him still smiling at me. “No one will know about this. This will stay between you and me. Or I’ll commit mariticide.”
His eyebrows rose. “Mariticide, huh? You must really not like me to go there.”
“Sometimes, like when you prove you can eat hot chicken without being bothered, I do hate you.”
“Fair enough. But we have to get married first for you to do that. And we still need to plan the wedding.”
I groaned. “I don’t even know what’s next .”
“The dress.”
“What, your family won’t be impressed by me showing up in a white T-shirt?”
“Absolutely not, and I’m half tempted to go with you, or else you’ll pick the cheapest thing on the rack.”
“This may be fake, but I do believe in superstition. You’re not seeing me before the wedding. I’ll take Lily. Technically, she’s picked out two wedding dresses, so she’s basically a pro, and I’m sure she’d love not to be in the hot seat for once.”
“Sebastian’s wife, right?”
“Yep.”
“I hear good things about her. Sebastian talks about her all the time.”
“He better,” I said.
Levi leaned forward. “Do you want me to talk about you all the time?”
“Only say the good things.”
“Not that you bit off more than you can chew in hot chicken?”
“Oh, I can chew it. I just cry a little.”
“I suppose that’s true. But about the dress, you should have ...”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out his credit card. He slid it across the table to me.
“What? Why?”
“For your dress and anything else you want.”
“You’re just handing me a credit card?”
“Yes.”
“And I can do what I want with it?”
“Yes. Flowers. Chocolates. Anything.”
My first thought was books. So many books.
Then I wondered if I could get my medicine with this. But I knew that it would be far too expensive. The pills alone were a few thousand dollars without insurance, and that didn’t include the specialist visit—something I was overdue for—and that was just as pricey without insurance.
No. There was no way I was using his credit card for that. I would wait to be on insurance and pay for it myself.
“Do you have another idea for the card?” Levi asked, and I shook myself out of my thoughts.
“Some, but they’re all fun. You might regret this.”
“I don’t think I will.”
His phone rang and he pulled it from his pocket with a frown.
“Work calls, huh?” I asked.
“It’s fine. I can?—”
“No,” I said firmly. “We’ve gotten through a lot of marriage talk today. Take me back to the office and I’ll head home.”
“I have time.”
“And I know you’re lying. Seriously, go do your job.”
Levi’s phone rang again, earning another glare from him.
But I didn’t feel like I could monopolize him anymore. He’d already done way too much as far as fake fiancés went. I was fine to head home and scream about this in private.
“Fine,” he said. “I suppose I should reschedule those meetings.”
“You didn’t even reschedule them? What kind of CEO are you?”
“The one who wants to spend time with his fiancée. Which we could do more of.”
“I’ve stolen you enough for the day.” I took the last bite of hot chicken and stood. “Let’s get back to your office.”
Levi frowned again and said something under his breath. I turned with a raised eyebrow. “Sorry, just planning for the future. But if you insist we head out, then let’s go.”
He ran to the bathroom before we headed out.
The drive was short. For once, traffic didn’t slow us down, and I was ready to be alone in my car. Levi’s phone continued to go off, though he forwent answering anything while in the car with me. Instead, we talked about wedding plans.
He pulled into the spot next to my car.
I got out, planning to go right to my own.
“Amy, wait.”
I stilled and turned to him. “What’s up?”
He walked over to me with one hand lifted.
“You still have hot-chicken hands.”
“I washed them. I was ...” He trailed off and I tilted my head.
“You were what?”
“I just wanted to?—”
“Levi!” a voice called. “Funny seeing you here! I need to talk to you about who I’m?—”
I turned to see Sally walking toward us. When her eyes met mine, she stopped in her tracks.
“Amy Willard?” she asked. Her gaze darted between us. Levi was close—too close, even.
I took a healthy step back. “H-hello.”
“Levi, are you trying to steal one of my candidates?”
Silence stretched out between the three of us, and I looked up at the man I was marrying, silently asking how he was going to play this.
“I’m afraid she can’t be hired,” he said, and his arm came to rest around my shoulders. “She’s gonna be my wife. We just picked out a ring.”
Sally’s jaw dropped, and I had to resist the urge to let the same thing happen to mine. “You two are together? Getting married ?”
“Yes,” I said. “Suprise?”
I looked at Levi with wide eyes, hoping he’d take the lead on this one. I had no idea what story we were going to go with, and I’d spent most of our lunch freaking out about how nice he was being that I didn’t think to ask about our story as a fake couple.
“We’ve been together in secret for a while,” he said. “And known each other since we were in high school. She didn’t tell me that she needed a job, and I had to inform her that I would be happy to take care of anything she needs.”
“I-I’m secretive about money sometimes,” I said. “And I did hear your company was good.”
“You’re not working for me.”
“Luckily, we talked it all out last night and at lunch today. That’s when we decided we were ready to take the next step.”
“I see,” Sally said slowly, but then her face brightened. “She’s who you spend your nights with. I don’t know how you kept a straight face when I was telling you about your boyfriend!”
“He doesn’t spend every night with me,” I rushed to say.
“No, I do. She’s just shy about it.”
What was he doing? I was trying to give him an out. Why did we need to say he was that dedicated to me? He could still continue doing his other stuff on the side.
I pushed down the angry pang in my chest at the mere thought of anything else he could be doing. This was a fake marriage. I didn’t need to get defensive about a man who was marrying me for revenge.
“Well, I, for one, am happy for you, but also sad because you would have fit in great here.”
“I still could—” I began, but I was cut off by Levi.
“She still thinks I’m not going to take care of her. Isn’t that hilarious?”
Sally smiled. “Very funny. Don’t worry about anything, Amy. You’ve just hit the jackpot of men. Oh, we should have a party!”
“No need,” I said immediately. “I’m not good about parties.”
Levi’s eyes cut to me, and for once, I knew exactly how he knew this little fact about me.
“Are you sure? We love to celebrate things.”
“I’m not good with all of the attention.”
“Come to the wedding, then,” he said. “We can all celebrate.”
I smiled, but it was tight. If people he knew came, then it was going to be a slog of listening to congratulations for him and not for me. I was used to it, being Calvin’s sister and all, but I wanted to make it through our fake vows and get this over with, not prolong it.
“I’ll invite a few of the ladies at the office and we’ll take enough pictures for everyone.”
That would have to do.
But then Sally turned to me. “But trust me, you’re not getting off easy. Prepare for questions at the holiday parties later this year.”
Perfect. I doubted we would even last that long. “I’ll be ready,” I lied, forcing a bright smile on my face.
But Levi’s gaze was still on me, and judging by the intense look in his eyes, I had a feeling that I was not , in fact, ready for this at all.
V
Did everything work out the way you wanted it to?
Surprisingly, yes. I didn’t get to read very much, though. Not that I could focus on it anyway. I did go to the bookstore though and grabbed every book I’d been wanting. *picture*
Is your shelf big enough for all of those?
Good point. My next order of business is a shelf.
I’m glad you could finally get the ones you wanted. You’ve had a long list that I was tempted to get for you anyway.
That was WAY too long for any book club member to buy. Don’t worry about it. I’m just glad I can display them finally. Things are looking up for once.
Good. As they should.
You deserve all the luck.
I think you’re right, but life doesn’t agree. But we should probably put up personal talk and actually read. Book club rules, you know?
Understood. What’s next?
I suggested one of the new ones I’d just bought and waited for his opinion on it. While he typed, I went back up to our conversation.
That was the closest we’d gotten to talking about our personal lives. Or the closest I’d gotten. Over the years, I’d learned a few things about him purely from things going on in his life, but I was silent on my own. He knew who I was, but over time, I wondered when he would ask about Calvin and make it about him.
So far, my brother had never come up.
And bringing the same person who outshined me in conversation with V was not something I wanted to do.
But still, I wondered if I should have told him that I was getting married.
Would it change anything?
V and I only read books together, never even discussing the option to meet. But I would be lying if I said I didn’t consider what he looked like. If I didn’t consider the idea of more ...
I didn’t know much about him, and he didn’t know much about me. Hell, he could have been married years ago and I would’ve been none the wiser.
But should I be?
The thought followed me until I went to bed that night, and as I thought back to how long we’d been talking, I wondered if the guy I’d been looking for had been on Discord all along.
And if I was making a mistake not looking into more with him.