Chapter 27 Bryce
My stomach sank. “What conditions?” I asked Jada. She didn’t look happy or scheming, just resolved.
“You’re getting something out of this marriage as soon as we say ‘I do.’ I only get something if we break up,” she said.
Her words were a punch to the gut. All this talk about business contracts... it made me realize this was a bad one for both of us. “What would you like?” I asked her, guarding my heart. Simon’s words rang through my mind: No one gets married expecting nothing out of the deal.
“I researched your position,” she said. “You travel, a lot, and it would be odd if we didn’t go together at least sometimes.”
I nodded, not seeing the issue.
“It wouldn’t be fair to the daycare to have an inconsistent employee. I want a guaranteed position at MyHome while we’re married that I can do while accommodating your schedule. I don’t care if I’m an assistant or mopping floors.”
“Done,” he said. “Although my money would be our money while we’re married. You wouldn’t need to work at all.”
She blanched at the idea. “No.” An awkward silence hung in the air before she continued, “I would like to be on the company health plan, for the duration of our engagement and beyond.”
My eyebrows drew together. It was such a simple request, but the way she presented it made me concerned, especially after her sick spell in the car. “Are you okay, Jada?”
Her gaze stayed on the table, but her voice shook as she spoke. “I’m negotiating the terms of a marriage with a man who doesn’t love me. How do you think I am?”
Point taken. “What other conditions do you have?”
“My grandma is never to find out that this marriage is fake.”
“Of course,” I agreed instantly.
Then, she took a deep breath. “I don’t want half of what you own. We both know that isn’t fair, and I don’t want you pretending to love me to keep your belongings.”
“Jada, I—”
She held up her hand, stopping me. “You can pay me a settlement if you want. Whatever you think is fair; I don’t care.
But I do want it in writing that my grandma’s bills are paid and any child born while we’re married is to be fully taken care of through college.
Financially, emotionally, medically. They should want for nothing. ”
The thoughts in my mind scattered like the pieces of a glass dropped on the ground.
Jada thought it would be possible for us to have a child together?
She was worried that I wouldn’t provide for my own child?
She didn’t want my money?
Her grandma needed help?
Refusing half my money seemed a wild request to make.
None of it made sense, so I started with the most farfetched portion of her list. “Why is that even in question?” I asked. “Of course I’d provide for my children.”
She lifted her chin. “Far too many men have children and leave the responsibility with the mother. Men get away with it every day with far fewer resources than you have at your disposal.”
That’s all it took to have me including that line in a memo to my lawyer requesting an amendment.
It was the easiest clause I’d ever agreed to, because I was going to be the kind of man she could count on.
I prided myself on that. I always wanted to be a good guy, and I surrounded myself with the best men out there.
None of us would let the others get away with something like that.
“I’m okay with all of that,” I told her, feeling a strange mix of hopeful and sad. “Anything else?”
“Just one more thing,” she said.
So far, her requests had been easy to accommodate. But the way she set her shoulders, I feared this one might not be so simple to agree to. I arched an eyebrow, waiting for her to continue.
She took a breath, flattened her hands on the table. “If we’re going to do this, I’d rather get it over with before I have a chance to second-guess myself.”
I studied her, realizing she was just as uneasy with this situation as I was. “You don’t have to do this,” I reminded her.
But she shook her head. “I want to.”
It was a small comfort. Finally, I replied, “How is three months from last week?” That’s what the other founders and I had agreed to.
A nervous look flitted across her features. “That’s too long.”
I understood where she was coming from—three months gave us plenty of time to come to our good senses. So I asked her, “When do you suggest?”
“Next week?” She let out a half-hearted chuckle. But I couldn’t tell if she was joking.
Her hand shook on the table, and I reached for it on instinct.
Her skin was cold underneath mine. “I know it doesn’t seem like it, but marriage is important to me.
It doesn't just affect you and me. It affects everyone around us—your grandma, my dad, my siblings, my nieces and nephews, our friends. I want them to get a chance to meet you and fall for you too.”
Her gaze snapped to mine. “You’ve fallen for me?”
I rolled my lips, deciding that I was going to be one hundred percent honest with Jada. I didn’t want a marriage built on more secrets and lies. “I started falling the moment I saw you—I’m still waiting for that crash landing.”
She studied me a moment, then finally said, “I’m not sure how I feel.”
“Then why are you agreeing?” I asked, slightly wounded. I knew it was too soon for love. But I hated the idea of marrying someone who couldn’t grow to love me. “Is it your grandma?”
“One thing about me,” she said, “I’ll do anything for the people I care about.”
She and I had that in common.
“So you’re in?” I asked. “If I agree to help your grandma?”
She nodded. “And my other conditions.”
“Then we should get a calendar and map out a plan. I want my family to believe us too.”
“Okay,” she rasped quietly, almost in disbelief.
Me too, Jada. Me too.
I got up and went to my desk, pushing the intercom button. “Maya, please come in with my calendar—and Jada’s drinks.”
When the intercom wasn’t connected anymore, I asked, “Still planning to throw one at me?”
“Jury’s out on that one,” she said, only a hint of a smile on her lips.
At least it wasn’t a given.
Just moments later, Maya came into the office. She had a massive paper calendar tucked under her arm, along with two cups in her hands. She set both drinks in front of Jada and then put the calendar on the table.
That’s when I noticed she also had a black leather pencil case tucked under her arm.
It had blended in with her blazer. When she unzipped it, she dumped an array of colored pens on the calendar and snatched up a red one.
“I’ll mark Xs through Bryce’s already booked days for the next three months,” she began.
“Two months,” Jada said. Then she looked at me. “Please, meet me in the middle.”
Maya looked at her for a moment like she was trying to figure out the urgency, then to me for confirmation.
I gave a short nod, and Maya continued. “For the next two months.” She compared my calendar on her phone to the calendar before us.
There was the weekend I had to go to DC to speak with Congress about AI.
Then more Xs for meetings with potential partners, our IPO advisor, my brother Hayes’s birthday.
Jada marked off one weekend too, explaining she was covering a friend’s shifts. Then she circled this Friday in blue ink. “We should have dinner with Glamma so she can see us as a couple.”
The thought of dinner with her sassy grandmother had me smiling. Especially since I never got to know my own grandparents. “Absolutely,” I said, but then my gut clenched with guilt at the thought of hiding this from her grandma.
I promised myself right then and there that I would do everything I could to make this marriage real.
Maya circled several weekdays in pink, saying, “These would be great days for you two to go on public outings. They align with events Bryce will already be attending or free evenings he has.”
Once Maya finished, I said, “That leaves us three weekends.” I picked up a random pen—green—and circled three weekends.
“One for us to take a weekend away and get to know each other well enough that people will actually believe we’re in love.
” I circled another weekend. “One for you to meet my family in Cottonwood Falls.” I looked up to notice Maya giving me a small smile.
Then, I circled a date just shy of two months from today. One week after the company gala.
“What’s that one for?” Jada asked.
I met her gaze, my throat feeling tight. “That’s our wedding day.”