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“No, definitely not. It’s nothing coercive. I just…it’s between Everett and I, and I don’t owe the public any more than that.”
Mr. Delancey exhales loudly through the phone. “There are basically two options for explaining a quick, private marriage. Uh, you can disavow, basically say it was a drunken mistake or something like that. Or you go full lovebirds and say you’ve both secretly been in love with each other for years and it was a romantic decision.”
“Neither of those seem right.”
“Well, pick your poison, Lainey. Get that to me in five minutes, so I can get it to Legal before we go to the press.”
He hangs up abruptly and that act alone puts true fear in my stomach. Mr. Delancey is never abrupt.
“You heard that?” I ask Everett.
“Yeah. Like I said before, say what you need to.”
I tap Everett’s phone against my chin and keep going back to the phrase “marriage of convenience.” It’s not like Everett needs a visa, it’s not like this is about healthcare benefits, although that’s a perfectly valid reason for a lot of people. It’s not like he needs to marry to inherit a kingdom.
Then it hits me. A valid reason that could not only work for me, but might help Everett as well. Please let this work.
“Ev, did you ever review your parent’s will?”
“No,” he says, rubbing his eyes. “I think the lawyer tried to call me, but I never wanted to know.”
“You need to get in touch with your dad’s lawyer, right now,” I say, pushing the phone against his chest. He shoots me a pinched expression of annoyance.
“What?”
“If we’re lucky, there’s a clause in there about something that only happens once you get married.”
Everett looks at me like I’ve well and truly lost my mind, but I press on.
“If there happens to be an article or clause or whatever that says you get money or an inheritance of some sort when you get married, it could be very convenient for us. I could spin it as mutually beneficial and show that you’re not a threat to the assets of the company.”
“Laina, I don’t think…I would not get your hopes up. And that logic doesn’t even sound right.”
“Can you at least try?” I ask, urgency rising in my tone.
“We didn’t have that kind of relationship,” Everett says, swinging his legs over to sit on the side of the bed. He groans and grabs at his shoulder, swearing under his breath. “Once I left, I left, and I’m pretty sure they said good riddance to the back of me. No. The answer is no.”
“What if you believed a lie?” I ask him. “You said yourself that you wanted to get more closure than you have. Maybe this will be it.”
“And maybe it won’t be.”
I pace at the foot of the bed, biting my lip, trying to really think it through before I push for this even harder.
“Ev, I understand the comfort zone of feelings. But in order to move forward in any way, we’re both going to need to kick our own butts out of our comfort zones.”
“Who’s kicking butts?” asks Ainsley, waltzing back in with a paper bag that she rattles in Everett’s face.
“Laina is kicking my butt,” he mutters, grabbing the bag and dumping it on the bed. He fiddles with attempting to unscrew the white lid off the plastic bottle before I gently take it from him and hand him back a responsible amount of painkillers. He shoots me a thankful glance and washes them down with some water.
“Do you need anything else?” he grumbles at Ainsley. She raises her eyebrows and slowly backs out of the room, closing the door behind her.
His phone rings and I can see Mr. Delancey’s name on the caller ID. Everett immediately smashes the red button, ignoring the call. It seems like a point in my favor, but I know he’ll just call again. Everett can’t stop rubbing his eyes. Poor guy has been through the wringer these last couple of days.
“I’m sorry that I’m asking you to do this on my timeline, in a way that benefits me,” I murmur quietly. “I’m sorry. I can understand you’re very upset.”
He’s quiet for so long, I worry what I’m going to hear next from him. Is he done with me? Am I too much? Is this all too much? Is this the final straw that’s going to send him packing without another word to me?
“Kittredge, you’ve never seen me very upset.”
