Chapter 1 #2
I sit up a little straighter, thinking he’d found a loophole. “What’s your idea for getting around that addendum?”
He snorts a humorless laugh. “There ain’t no gettin’ around it, girlie. You need to get yourself married.”
I swallow thickly, feeling sick to my stomach. “But I don’t have anyone to marry. You know that, Cray.” I press my hand against my chest. “Remember, I’m the lucky in life and unlucky in love girl?”
His voice turns earnest, “Don’t worry I got your back, girl. I found you a husband. A man willing to marry you on paper.”
“Why would any man marry me on paper, Cray?” I can’t get my head around what he’s saying.
A slow, proud smile spreads over his face. “He wants something I’ve got. I’m willing to trade him something that’s extremely valuable to him and worthless to me.”
By this point, my palms are sweating and I feel like I’m one more surprise away from having a panic attack, but I play along, “And what would that be, Cray? What are you trading to get some guy to marry me?”
“Not your business, punkin’. That’s between me and him.
” Cray takes another drink of his beer and then explains, “This dude is a straight shooter, an accountant with an office in town. He doesn’t have an old lady or one in sight.
There ain’t nobody gonna get pissed off if he marries you.
Hell, you don’t even have to live with him.
Just sign the damn marriage certificate and go your separate ways.
Meet up later on down the line and sign the divorce papers. It’s as easy as pie.”
While I’m sitting there with my mouth hanging open, Cray crushes his now empty beer can in one hand and tosses it into the trash can just over the porch railing.
“Now, girl. Tell me that ain’t the best solution for every fucking body involved.”
“When did you talk to him?” I ask.
“I talked to his old man earlier today. I came back from talking to that goddam stubborn lawyer and started working out a solution for you. I waited until he called me back so I could make sure before I got your hopes up.”
Got my hopes up? This man is certifiably insane if he thinks I’m eager for the commit fraud option.
“He said his son would be happy to marry you on paper and I told him that if you agree to the marriage, we’ve got ourselves a deal.”
“You don’t want to be in charge of the estate for ten years? You’d get paid for it.”
“Hell the fuck no, I don’t want to wrangle up that mess my brother built.
I don’t know jack shit about any of that.
And I’ve got my own damn shit to worry about.
Not to mention that there’s not a chance on God’s fuckin’ green earth that I’m gonna step in and take my only niece’s inheritance.
Nope, I’m not doin’ that kind of backstabbin’ shit for love or money. ”
I’ve never seen my uncle ramble before. This must be what he looks like when he’s still grieving and caught between living his own life and dealing with more than he can handle with his brother’s estate.
“Look, can’t you just accept responsibility for the estate and put it in trust?
” I ask. “Maybe a managed trust with me as the operating director. I learned about those in one of my business classes. I run the businesses, draw a salary, and finish my business degree. The estate would be protected. You still remain in control on paper.”
He shakes his head before I finish the sentence. “The will doesn’t allow for that arrangement.”
I shift forward in my chair, racking my brain to come up with alternatives to getting married because that’s just absurd.
“Then let the estate stay frozen, hire me to be the manager, and pay me like a regular employee. That’s allowed, right?”
Cray’s expression closes down. I know there’s something he’s not telling me. I lean forward and ask, “Please tell me what’s going on. Make me understand.”
A short silence spins out between us before he answers, “Vulture wrote in the addendum that if you weren’t married when he died, that the businesses and house would be liquidated and the money would be held in trust for you until you turned thirty.
I don’t think he thought you would step up and try to run everything yourself. ”
Shock roils through my gut. “What you’re saying is that my grandfather wanted to leverage me into getting married or make me impoverished?”
“Think about it for a minute, Nova. He made that change after someone burned down his club. He was likely scared someone might come after you. Seeing you fitted with a husband might have been tied to a safety concern.”
And that’s the missing piece that makes everything else click into place. “You were never going to get paid to run his businesses, were you? It would have been to make sure his house and property sold for a fair amount and that fancy lawyer of his doesn’t run off with my inheritance, right?”
I look at him for a long, hard moment. “I either have to get married on paper, as you put it or I’m destitute.
I have two more years of school. Two years and no way to pay for it.
No job I can get in this small town would be enough to pay for college.
I guess, I’ll be waiting tables at the local diner. ”
“There’s more, girl. Vulture didn’t want to take a chance that you’d get your inheritance and pour it all into the business.
What if the economy took a downturn? You’d spend every cent he left you to keep that trucking company going, right?
He didn’t want to chain you to the life he built.
He wanted you to have the resources to build the fuckin’ life that you wanted. ”
“You’re damn right I would do everything I could to preserve my grandfather’s legacy. Honoring him is what I want for myself. What’s so wrong about that?”
“Nothing. I thought you’d say that. It’s why I found you a nice man to marry. He’s from a good family who would beat his ass if he put a finger on you.”
“I don’t want an arranged marriage, Cray. It’s humiliating, wrong and might even be considered fraud.”
“It’s a gray area. How are they gonna prove you ain’t properly married?
Besides, the addendum didn’t say anything about being in love or staying married.
It just said you had to get married. If you want to save Vulture’s legacy and pay for college, you need to be practical,” he says.
“You can wait until you’re thirty or get married.
Those are the only options your grandfather left you. ”
I sit and glare at my uncle, not sure what to make of all this.
“I’m not trying to force your hand here, Nova. You know that I’ve never asked you for any fuckin’ thing in my entire life. I’m askin’ you now to at least go with me tomorrow morning and talk to this accountant. If it doesn’t feel right, then say no. Will you do that much for me?”
I come to my feet and gaze out into his yard, wondering how my life got fucked up, so fast.
“Yeah, sure, Cray. I’ll meet the guy. I’m not making any promises. As of right now, I’m saying no way in hell.”
“Sleep on it. I’ll pick you up at the trucking office in the morning around eleven and go to meet with him together.”
And that’s how my uncle wrangled me into considering an arranged marriage with a complete stranger. As I get into my vintage car and drive off, I think of what a shitty situation my uncle is putting me in.
Halfway home, I get several rapid-fire text messages from my ex.
I’m not sure he actually qualifies as an ex.
We went out a few times, enough for him to get attached.
I broke up with him when he got controlling and belligerent and he’s been texting me for months, swinging back and forth between cursing me out and love bombing me.
This dude clearly doesn’t even know what he wants.
I glance at my messages at a red light and don’t like what I see.