3. Olivia
CHAPTER 3
OLIVIA
C harlie ordered a Hoffel’s Light, which struck Olivia as a fake thing to do. Surely someone like him, someone raised with a silver spoon in their mouth, had more expensive tastes than the local light beer. She didn’t say anything, though, just ordered herself a vodka cranberry and waited for him to break the silence.
He didn’t do so right away. He squeezed a lime into his beer bottle and then pushed the lime through the neck until it dropped into the bottom. He took a long drink, then smiled winningly at Olivia. “I love this stuff,” he said. “Always get it when I’m in town.”
Okay, so maybe she’d been wrong. “How often are you in town?”
“Not as often as I’d like,” he confessed. “I should have visited my aunt more when she was alive.”
“Did the two of you have a good relationship?”
“We were closer than she was with any of my other siblings,” Charlie said. “I think she could sense from them how… opportunistic they were. They’d walk around the house looking at things like they were making plans for what they were going to do with them when she died. When they inherited everything.” He took another drink of his beer. “I think that’s why she left me the house,” he went on. “Well, I guess I think her sadistic nature was a part of it too.”
Olivia raised her eyebrows. “What’s sadistic about leaving you a beachfront estate? If that’s your idea of cruelty, I’d hate to think what your standards for someone being nice to you are.”
Charlie laughed. “I’m mostly joking,” he said. “I do think she meant to torment me a little, though. See, she never liked the fact that I was unmarried. All three of my siblings are married with children, and that’s the life she wanted for me, too.”
“But you don’t?”
“Not especially.” His grin widened. “I’m the sort who likes my freedom. A lone wolf, I guess you could call me.”
Oh, please . Olivia had probably met a dozen men who talked about themselves in those terms — as if there was something special about them because they hadn’t committed to a long-term relationship, as if it made them unique and cool. There was nothing special about it. She didn’t judge him for his life choices — God knew she wouldn’t have a leg to stand on when it came to judging people for being single. But she did judge him for this attitude of superiority.
“Okay,” she said. “So she wanted you to get married.”
“She did,” Charlie agreed. “She wanted it so badly that she made it a condition of my inheritance.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve got thirty days — well, twenty-eight days, now — to get married,” he said. “I’ve got to show a marriage license as evidence that I’m in compliance, and if I can’t do that, my siblings get a cut of the house.”
“And you don’t want them to get that.”
“I’d rather stick it to them for the way they used to walk around like they were just waiting for Aunt Marge to die,” he said. “I hate to think of them profiting on the sale of her house. They don’t need that money, and they don’t deserve it. So no, I don’t want them to get it.”
“I see.” Olivia had a bad feeling about where this was going — but surely she had to be wrong. There was no way he was about to ask her what she was imagining he would.
“Right,” he said. “Well, obviously there isn’t a hope of me finding any sort of real marriage in that time — even if I did want to.”
“Why would she ask you to do something like that?” Olivia asked. “It does seem unrealistic.”
“I think she might have hoped I had a girlfriend that I wasn’t telling her about, or at the very least, a woman I was seeing but not getting serious with,” Charlie said. “She used to ask me about that all the time — who I was seeing, why I wouldn’t introduce her to anyone. She thought I had some sort of secret life that I wasn’t willing to share.”
“And you don’t?”
“Definitely not. I haven’t been involved with any woman for more than a week at a run in years.”
“So there’s no one you could realistically propose marriage to.”
“I didn’t say that.” He fixed her with his bright blue eyes.
Olivia felt as if her stomach was turning inside out. Suddenly, she wondered whether coming out for this drink had been such a good idea after all.
There was no denying that Charlie Coldwell was a handsome man. If she had been his aunt, it probably would have surprised her to know that he wasn’t serious with any women. He looked like the kind of man who could get any girl he wanted. He had a sincere, earnest face. His eyes were wide, giving him an innocent, almost boyish look — but that blue was so penetrating that Olivia felt helpless as he held her in his gaze.
She couldn’t have gotten up and walked away from this even if she had wanted to — and she wasn’t at all convinced that that was something she wanted. It was easier to stay with him, and she couldn’t suppress her desire to know what would happen next.
“Here’s the thing,” Charlie said. “I need to show a marriage license, but it doesn’t have to be a real marriage. There’s no way for anyone to confirm things like feelings . No one can verify whether or not I’m actually in love with the woman. Which means that marrying just to get the house is an option I have.”
“You’d go that far to keep it out of your siblings’ hands?”
“Those vultures? Sure I would. It’s not like I’m planning on a real marriage any time anyway, so there’s no reason not to do this. It’s not like it does me any harm. Might as well see what I can get out of this situation, right?”
“Sure, but it depends on you finding a woman who’s willing to marry you. She doesn’t get a house in the bargain.”
“Well, unless she’s a realtor who's desperate to sell the estate, right?”
Olivia had known this was heading here. She laughed. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m not that desperate.”
“You said it would be the biggest move of your career.”
“I mean, it would be, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to do something like this ,” she said. “You can’t be genuinely suggesting that I marry you in order to sell the house.”
“You were right when you said that the family has a realtor they’ll use,” he said. “If my siblings have any say in the matter, you won’t have a shot at selling the place.”
“I don’t want it that badly!”
“Not even for the money you’d stand to make on the sale? I mean, wouldn’t it be pretty significant for you?”
“You’re saying that because I’m not rich like you, I ought to marry you in order to get a shot at selling your house?” He was lucky she was finding all this hilarious instead of offensive. That could easily have gone the other way. “I’m not doing this,” she said. “You’re just going to have to figure out something else, that’s all.”
“Just think about it,” he urged. “I mean, really. Think it through. You and I get married — I know it sounds sort of crazy, but it wouldn’t have to be forever. We’d only have to stay married for as long as it took to sell the house, get the money, and move it through the right channels so that my siblings couldn’t get it back later by claiming I’d done the whole thing as a ruse. Then we stage a breakup. Everyone will know it’s fake, probably, but how can they prove it? There’s no clause in the agreement that says I’m not allowed to end my marriage if it doesn’t work out.”
“Your aunt must have guessed that you’d try something like that,” Olivia objected.
“Well, I think she probably believed it would work out. She was a big believer in true love and all that stuff,” Charlie said. “Personally, I think that’s pretty naive. I’ve seen how marriages go in my family. My parents hardly even liked one another, and as for my siblings — well, they’re all married for status and comfort. They all chose people they thought would reflect well on them, not people they actually cared for.”
“And you don’t think you’re proposing doing the exact same thing?” Olivia asked. “Marrying for convenience instead of for love?”
“Of course I am. That’s my point,” he said. “That’s the only reason to get married, in my opinion. It’s just that I have the courage to be honest about it, that’s all.”
“Right,” Olivia said.
“So what do you think?”
“I still think you’re crazy.”
“I’ll give you twenty percent of the money we get for selling the house.”
She stared at him. “Did you say twenty percent?” That was a huge commission, more than three times what she would ordinarily have expected to get. And on a sale as big as this one…
Well, that was life-changing money.
“I want to keep it out of my siblings’ hands, like I said,” he told her. “And besides, if I get eighty percent, that’s still a hell of a lot more than I’d end up with after we had to split it four ways. I don’t mind sharing with you. You’d be helping me out. And that’s a good rate for you, isn’t it? I know that’s more than our realtor gets, and he’s on retainer.”
“It’s a good rate.” It occurred to Olivia that she could have negotiated for more. He had said she was desperate to sell the house, but it seemed to her that he was the desperate one. She probably could have asked for anything, and he would have given it to her.
But she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She couldn’t ask for more than he was already giving. She didn't know how much she would be able to get for the house, but she had an idea, and twenty percent was going to be enough that she would never have to worry about money again.
She couldn’t say no to this. Even though what he was asking her to do seemed crazy, turning it down would have been even crazier. She couldn’t do it.
“Say I agree to this,” she said. “How long do you see us staying married for?”
“Well, it depends how long it takes you to sell the house. You did say that you weren’t going to rush things, that you would take as long as you needed to in order to get the best deal.”
“Yeah, well, I said that before I knew I was locking myself into a marriage until I got the job done.” But Olivia couldn’t keep the smile off her face. Her heart was beating a mile a minute. It was insane to think that this was actually happening — that she was going to be entrusted with the sale of the Coldwell estate. She would never have dreamed that such a thing could be possible.
Or rather, she would never have dared to hope that that dream could be a reality.
The marriage seemed like a small price to pay, considering everything she stood to gain. And after all, it was only temporary. The moment the house sold, she would be out of it, and her life would be completely different. Her mother would be able to stop working two jobs. They would have all the money they needed to put Izzy through school and set her up for her future. And Olivia’s name would be made as the realtor who had done the Coldwell estate deal. She would never have trouble finding work again as long as she lived.
“All right, she told Charlie. “I’ll do it.”
“You will?”
“I think I must be losing my mind, but… yes.”
“I’ll draw up papers,” Charlie said. “You’ll have to sign a few things.”
“I figured there would be a prenup. I’m not in this for your money. I should have plenty of my own by the time we’re finished here.”
Charlie raised a glass. “I’ll drink to that,” he said.