I held her to me for a moment longer, savoring her warmth,her scent, before letting her go. “Yeah, sure. I’ll text you,” I said before quickly turning away. I didn’t look back, and by the time I’d grabbed new drinks, she was gone.
That night,I stared down at the text message on my phone.
Cleo
Hi, it’s Cleo! Not sure if you have my number saved. Wanted to reach out and see when you were free for dinner?
This was my chance. I could ask her right now what was going on between her and Thomas. I could find out the truth without letting my mind spiral. The issue was I was too far gone. I’d let myself slip into the unknown, into the dark hole in my mind I often struggled to get out of.
When my phone rang, I almost didn’t answer. I thought it might’ve been Cleo, and even though I wanted to hear her voice, it wouldn’t have been the right call. Instead, it was Liv. I hit answer immediately, bringing it up to my ear only to hear her frustration clear as day.
“God, I fucking hate men,” she grumbled. “I know arranged marriages aren’t, like, super common, but come on! I’m hot, I’m super chill?—”
“Oh yeah, totally chill,” I laughed, cutting off her spiral. “I’m guessing your latest prospect called it off?”
I would never pretend to understand the lives of the elite. She was right; arranged marriages weren’t common for us regular folk, but apparently it was nothing in the world she grew up in. And while Liv had concocted the plan herself to appease some bullshit contingency built into her inheritance, it wasproving to be more difficult to carry out than she originally thought.
“Fuck off. You know what I mean. I’m just saying it’s not like it’s a chore. I’m not even requiring fidelity in the marriage agreement. Just, you know, keep your shit on the DL or else I’ll take you to court.”
“Is that a thing?”
Even though I couldn’t see her, I somehow knew Liv shrugged. “I don’t know, but it’s what the family lawyers are for.”
“Why don’t you try dating for—and I know this is crazy—love,” I suggested.
“Absolutely not! There’s too much riding on my hypothetical marriage, Grady. You know that. I want to be CEO of Hartstrings more than I want the new Taylor Swift album, which is saying something. I can’t risk it for something as fleeting as love.” She sighed dramatically. “I really wish you could do it. I trust you, ya know? You wouldn’t completely blow things up the week before our announcement was supposed to go live.”
“Why can’t I?” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.
The past week had been shit. My life felt like it’d been turned upside down and I was just scrambling to make sense of it all. Cleo had moved on, and I was done with love. I didn’t want it if I couldn’t have her. Besides, if I married Liv, maybe I could help Mom and Dad out with the cancer treatments. They were stressed enough about how they were going to make things work around here. She didn’t have insurance and Dad’s wasn’t the best. Any money they’d saved over the years would be gone.
Liv laughed, but stopped when I didn’t join in. “Wait, you’re serious? Grady, we can’t get married. You’re still hung up on your ex, for god’s sake!”
“I’m not hung up on her,” I argued, even though we bothknew it was a lie. There would never be a day in my life I wouldn’t think of her. I just hoped I could make it to a place where it would bring happiness over pain.
Liv snorted. “Says the man who got his love story tattooed on his skin.”
“Do you want my help or not?” I asked.
“I don’t know if it would be such a good idea, Grady. I mean, we’re such good friends?—”
“Best friends, actually.”
“Right, okay. Best friends. I don’t want to make it weird between us. I mean, we’d need to act all romantic in public and shit. And it would be for a long time, too. This isn’t something that’s only going to last a year or whatever. Like, this would be a commitment.”
It was kind of terrifying, honestly, but what else was I doing? I was already living in Nashville. Liv and I spent nearly every day together as it was, and we were in the same business. Other than my previous proclivity for hooking up with strangers, everything would stay the same.
“I know, and I want to help. It would be so easy, Liv. People already think we’re a couple half the time. Sure, physical intimacy might be weird, especially in public, but I think we can sell it, don’t you? And then it can be normal at home. It’s the perfect solution.”
It was quiet on the other line which meant she was considering this. “And what do you want from it?”
“Other than to be labeled as your hot-as-fuck arm candy?” I asked, laughing. “Honestly, I just want to be able to help my mom with her cancer treatments. I think it’s going to take a lot more than my parents anticipated. I can hear their conversations through the wall sometimes…”
“Oh, Grady… You don’t have to marry me for that. I’d help them just because,” Liv said. I knew she’d do it, but it didn’t feel right.
“Yeah, but this way I can earn it.”
“Well, I’m not going to let that be it. Of course we’ll help your parents. That’s non-negotiable, but what about you? Be selfish for a minute. What do you want?”
