I blinked. Seriously? It took all my effort to press my lips together against a barrage of words.
Claire sighed. “You can say something, Ashleigh.”
Oh, saying something wouldn’t be the problem. Not saying the wrong thing, though, seemed like a monumental task in the face of that…rationale. *cough* Absurdity. *cough*
“Okay, first off, congratulations on the almost-engagement. Second, why in the world do you call him Ken Abrams? He’s going to be your father-in-law one day. You aren’t going to call him by his full name once you and Noah marry, are you?Third, how could anyone in their right mind think that having you in their family would ever be a liability or detrimental to their reputation? You could give Mother Teresa a run for her money—if, you know, you moved to India and helped girls out of prostitution.”
The sound of glasses clinking together preceded the slosh of running water. “Ken Abrams is a huge name in the televangelist community. When you refer to Billy Graham, Rob Bell, or Joel Osteen, you use their full names. That’s just how it is. Ken Abrams is Ken Abrams. He’s on four different channels. That’s no small thing. And he doesn’t necessarily think I’m a detriment. He’s just never met me or our family. That’s what this is about. Why I’m calling.”
I settled my legs in a pretzel shape and leaned forward, the need to brace for the next words my sister would speak a reflex…like ducking when a ball flew at your face.
“Now don’t freak out, but I need a favor.”
You tell someone not to freak out, what do they do? They freak out! I licked my lips and pushed my shoulders back. Drew in a deep breath and slowly let it out. This was my sister. There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her. “What do you need?”
“Well, you see, Ken Abrams may not have ever met us, but he does know things. Noah’s been talking about me…about our family…which is natural, of course, since we want to get married and everything.” She gave a nervous giggle. “Remember that time, I think I was about ten, when you convinced Rachel and her two sisters to dress up with us at Halloween and we all went as the March sisters from Little Women? I’m not sure Ken Abrams was impressed that we celebrated Halloween, but he didn’t really say anything while Noah and I were video chatting with him and his wife, Annie, but anyway…”
Oh no. It never boded well when Claire got to rambling. I gathered a flannel flamingo into my fist and waited for the blow to hit. This favor was going to cost me.
Big time.
Claire took a deep breath. “He knows Mom and Dad work for the State Department and are in Bahrain right now and won’t be able to make it home for this little meet and greet.”
Meet and greet. My fist unclenched, and I smoothed out the poor flamingo with a silent apology. Claire wanted me to meet Noah’s parents as a sort of family representative and assure them everything was on the up-and-up and we would in no way taint their sparkling reputation. I might have to choke down some things I wanted to say to the man at the moment, but for my sister, I could keep my mouth shut and paint on a smile. This wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.
“You see,” Claire continued, her voice fidgety, “Ken Abrams knows that your last name is Darmody.”
Was that a wince at the end? “So?”
“And mine is McDaniels.” She said it like that should clear everything up.
“Oh, so that’s why we never stand together in alphabetical lines. Sorry, but I’m not following the relevance here.”
“He thinks you’re married.”
That’s all? “Okay…” Still didn’t see the point. “Why didn’t Noah tell him I’m divorced?”
“Ashleigh, it’s Ken Abrams…”
“Oh, Ken Abrams! Why didn’t anyone tell me we were talking about Ken Abrams?” I was seriously getting annoyed by the man’s full name and the bit of awe used when my sister said it.
“You know how some people view divorce. The verses they quote from the Bible. Noah and I don’t want anything that could even remotely stand in the way of his father’s blessing.” Her voice took on that gooey quality it had whenever she talked about Noah. “We love each other too much. That’s why…” She cleared her throat. “That’s why we need you to pretend you’re married. Just for five days,” she rushed on. “You can do that, right? For us? For me?”
I started to laugh. At first it came out as a small chuckle, but it quickly escalated until I was doubled over, my stomach muscles aching from the full-body hilarity of what my sister proposed. “Claire.” I wiped at liquid that had squeezed its way out of my eye as I tried to catch my breath and stop my giggles. “It’s not like I’m Mr. Rochester and have a spouse hidden up in my attic.”
“No, but you did have one hiding in the closet for a while.”
That wiped away the last vestige of mirth clinging to me. “Claire!” I couldn’t believe she’d said that. Totally inappropriate and, honestly, a little hurtful.
“I’m sorry. I love you. And I love Parker. I don’t really understand him, but I love him. He’d do this for me if I asked, right? Pretend you guys were still married?”
I sighed and rubbed my forehead. “You’re right. He does love you. He still considers you his little sister. But I don’t think whether or not he’d do it is the question you should ask yourself. Instead, you should be asking if you even should pose a question like that to him.”
“What do you mean?”
I stood up and made my way to the pantry, grabbing a bag of Pull and Peel Twizzlers. The corner had already been snipped open, so I shoved in two fingers and yanked a candy out. My addiction for the things had come after my marriage to Parker. Man, had I loved that guy. We’d been academy sweethearts and kept ourselves on the expected trajectory—marrying the summer after graduation. It wasn’t long after that he’d confessed to me, heart ripping from guilt and shame, just how broken he thought he was.
Turned out he’d been struggling a long time with his sexuality. He’d tried to ignore it. Knew what his friends and family would say and do if they ever found out. So he married me. He loved me, though maybe not like a groom usually loves his wife. But marriage didn’t solve his problems. Instead, the thought of him using and hurting me caused him even more shame.
