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Lily laughed. “Of course she did. She walked in, saw the two of y’all kissing, and probably got jealous.”
Shaking my head, I replied, “No, she couldn’t have seen us kissing. When she knocked, Tucker pulled away from me.”
“You were in the kitchen?” Lily asked, her brow quirked up as though she already knew the answer.
I nodded.
“Then she saw you through the window. He never shuts the blinds.”
My stomach twisted into a knot. “Oh my gosh. That little lying bitch.”
Terri laughed. “Score one point for the ex.”
“Wait, let’s go back a few steps. What brought on the kiss?” Lily asked.
Groaning, I dropped my head back. “Oh God. It’s so complicated.”
“Why? Because you’re secretly lusting after my brother. Doesn’t seem complicated in the least bit to me.”
Terri giggled then shot up. “Wait. Last night you had a grand plan to seduce Tucker. Tell me you didn’t put it into action. I mean, I get you only have three months to get married.”
Lily gasped. “What? Married? Holy shit, what am I missing? Okay, you need to do some explaining, Charlie.”
Looking back at them both, I sighed. I could go the long version or the short. Terri had already heard all of this, so I decided to go with the short. “My grandfather had a bylaw written in for CMI. If I was to inherit the company before the age of forty, in order to take control, I have to be married. And not just to any man, but to someone with specific requirements.”
Lily’s mouth opened and she yelled, “What!”
Terri held up her hands and said, “Girl, I was just as surprised. This is not the 1950s where the women are required to have a man by their side.”
I nodded. “I said pretty much the same thing.”
“Charlie, you have to be able to do something,” Lily replied.
With a shrug, I slowly shook my head. “If I try to take it to court, it could take months, and by then someone else will be in control, and God knows what will happen to the company. Even though I’m CEO, I can’t remove the bylaw because, well, it concerns me.”
Terri leaned forward. “I find it very hard to believe your father would have allowed that to be in there. I mean, look at how he pushed you and groomed you to take over that business. The last thing he wanted was for you to be tied down to a guy.”
I thought of Mr. Ricker and my stomach turned. “He told the VP to take it out, turns out he never did. He claims they never got the time to do it, which is bullshit. I’ve been racking my brain trying to think of how to prove he lied to my father and said it was done.”
“Your dad wouldn’t have checked to make sure it had been done?” Lily asked.
“Not with Ricker. For some reason, my father trusted him implicitly. Even though I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him.”
“Okay, get back to the marriage thing. Can’t you just hire someone, marry him, and then divorce him?” Lily asked.
I laughed. “No. Dear ol’ granddaddy stated that I had four months—which, by the way, started the day my father died—to be married. The marriage cannot be arranged, and there needs to be proof of a relationship. His only downfall was when he enacted this stupid law, he only required I be married for one year.”
“That’s a weird rule to have in there,” Terri stated as she took a drink of her coffee.
“I guess because back in his day divorce was so frowned upon. But it gets better. My hubby has to have a business degree and sit as a chair on the board to … help me … run the company.”
Lily stared at me like I had dropped a bomb on her, much like Terri had last night.
“Please. For the love of all things that are good in this world, tell me you’re joking with us.” Lily scoffed.
With a shake of my head, I replied, “I wish. I’m chairman of the board and CEO for now, but if I’m not married by December, Paul Ricker gets the position.”
They both gasped, and again Mr. Pootie put in his two cents with a drawn-out meow. Clearly he was as upset over this as we all were. “Yeah, piecing it together yet, ladies?” I watched as my cat got up and headed over to his window seat, clearly tired of this conversation. So was I, to be honest.
