Chapter 6
Hess
“What did you think of the engagement party?” Shanna calls from the kitchen.
“I thought it was good.” I drop down onto my leather couch and turn the TV on to SportsCenter.
“The food was yummy, but all that Mexican food makes me crave chocolate.” She pops her head out. “Don’t you have any ice cream?”
“I think I ate it all.” I know I ate it all before I left town for work, but it sounds better if I seem unsure.
“Yes, it’s all gone.”
“Put some in the grocery order. I’ll get it delivered tomorrow. My phone’s charging in the kitchen.”
“Okay, I’m also adding some strawberries.”
“Get whatever you want.” The conversation goes silent while I flip through the channels. There’s nothing good on television this late. Maybe I’ll get lucky with a movie on TBS that I’ve already seen five hundred times.
“What is this?” Shanna comes out of the kitchen, holding my phone up.
“What’s what?”
“‘I turn my back for one minute, and you cheat on me with a soon-to-be fiancée? How could you? Five and a half years of blissful marriage down the drain. I don’t know what happened.’”
It takes me a second to realize she’s reading through the texts between me and Camila. But once I do, I sit up, heart pounding in my chest. “It’s not what you think.”
“‘Like you aren’t cheating on me too. I saw the little black nightie in your luggage when we were looking for the glucagon. I know you’re not wearing that kind of lingerie for me.’”
Oh, crap.
This sounds so bad.
“‘Well, in light of your cheating. I want a divorce.’” Shanna finally stops reading and looks up. “What is this, Hess?”
I hold my hands up in front of me as if I’m worried she’s about to throw my phone at my face. “I can explain.”
“Whose number is this?”
“It’s…uh…” Dang, I’ve never been good at lying.
“Hess?”
I should probably just tell her the truth. Relationships are built on honesty, and there are only six months left before the divorce. I’m in safe territory to break the confidentiality clause and tell my serious girlfriend about the business arrangement.
“Okay, I have a wild story to tell you.”
“Whose number is this?” she claps back.
“It’s Camila’s.”
Her eyes turn into daggers. “Selena’s attractive sister?”
The fact that Camila is quite attractive will not bode well for me in this situation.
“Is she attractive?” I scratch the back of my neck. “I hadn’t noticed.”
She holds up the phone like incriminating evidence in a courtroom. “Your texts say differently.”
“Those were all jokes. I don’t even know her.”
“You joke with women you don’t know about black lingerie?”
“No,” I say, but as her lips purse in anger, I change my answer. “I mean, yes. I did, but it’s not what you think.”
“I think you’re flirting with Camila right in front of me—or worse, cheating on me with her.”
“Let’s just calm down and start from the beginning.
” I stand and grab her hand, forcing her to sit on the couch with me.
“Five and a half years ago, some guy in my biology class knew I was trying to start my company but had no money. He told me about a business proposition I couldn’t pass up.
A way to make an instant hundred thousand dollars with another hundred thousand paid out over the course of a few years.
” Shanna’s brows stay furrowed, but it looks like she’s following the story, so I keep going.
“All I had to do was marry some girl so she could get her inheritance.”
“Marry?”
“Yes, but it was strictly a business deal. I marry her, get my money, and then never see her again.”
“You didn’t do it, though, right?”
“Uh…” I blow out a heavy breath.
“You married her!” Shanna screeches.
“Yeah, but it’s no big deal. We literally got married, shook hands, and never saw each other again.”
“And this is Camila we’re talking about? You married Camila?”
“Yes, but I hadn’t spoken to her or seen her since that day five and a half years ago. In fact, she didn’t even recognize me when I saw her again. It’s just some crazy coincidence that she’s Selena’s sister.”
Shanna covers her face with her fingers as if she’s overwhelmed by the information. Can’t say I blame her.
“So let me see if I have this straight.” Her hands drop, and she looks up. “You marry a complete stranger for money, hide it from me, randomly bump into her again five and a half years later, and then jokingly send each other a few flirty texts just for the fun of it?”
“Sort of, but I didn’t want to hide it from you. I signed a confidentiality clause stating that I wouldn’t disclose the marriage to anyone. Legally, I’m not supposed to say anything.”
“So if I hadn’t found these texts, you were never going to tell me?”
“No, once the divorce was final in six months, I was going to tell you everything.”
She stands. “You’re still married?”
“I thought that was implied from the texts.”
“Oh my gosh!” Shanna starts pacing as angry words tumble out of her. “You’re supposed to get engaged to me. It's no wonder you keep pushing back an engagement. You’re married to Camila!”
“Well, it was a six-year business agreement.”
“Six years! What kind of idiot agrees to marry a complete stranger for six years?”
“That was a condition of the trust. In order to get all our money, we had to stay married for six years. And if I divorced her before the six-year mark, I’d have to pay all the money back.”
“You have plenty of money now. Why didn’t you just divorce her, pay it back, and walk away?”
“I’m where I’m at now because of the money from this fake marriage. It seemed rude not to follow through on my end of the deal just because I’m no longer desperate.”
“So you’d rather lie to the woman you love than go back on your word to Camila?”
I stand, placing my hands on Shanna’s shoulders. “I made a decision when I was twenty-two, before I even knew you. It might’ve been a dumb decision, but it helped get me where I’m at today, to a place where you and I can have an amazing life together.”
“But you lied to me.”
“That was wrong, but just so you know, I lied to everyone I love. Nobody knows about this marriage except for me and Camila.”
Her eyes darken with disbelief. “I’m sure she told someone. I bet Selena knows.”
“She hasn’t told anyone. She couldn’t risk her dad finding out that the marriage was fraudulent and revoking her inheritance.”
“Her dad?”
“Yeah, some rich guy from Scottsdale who had some kind of affair with her mom.” Shanna’s eyes narrow even more, as if she doesn’t buy what I’m saying. “Seriously! He owns an airline and is using this inheritance as a way to pay off Camila to keep her quiet.”
“I don’t know.” She wiggles out of my grasp, turning away from me. “I just can’t get over the fact that you lied to me.”
“Shanna”—I reach for her—“I love you. You know I love you.”
“I don’t know anything.”
“The whole thing is over in six months. Let’s not blow up our entire relationship when none of this will matter in a few months.”
“And what if the marriage gets out there before the six months are up? What if people start finding out?”
“They won’t. Nobody knows.”
“Now that you and Camila have the same circle of friends, it could get out there. Then what?”
I lift my shoulders. “I don’t know. I guess we’ll have to pay the money back.”
She steps back, picking up her purse. “I just need some time to figure out what I want to do.”
“Wait. Don’t leave.” But she’s already making her way to the front door. “If you leave now, you’ll just stay mad. Let’s talk through it until you feel better.”
“Why don’t you go talk through everything with your wife?” And with that, she swings open the door, walks out, and slams it behind her.
I think that went about as well as could be expected.
The first thing I did when I woke up the next morning was grab my phone to text Shanna.
Hess
I feel terrible about last night. I’m sorry that I hid things from you. Can we get together and talk? I hate leaving things like this.
But even hours later, my message was left on unread.