Page 38 of Married to Lies

I looked down at the little pebbled lines of the steering wheel, tracing them while I tried to control my breathing. “The date was amazing until...” Until I saw the spark fade from her eyes as she realized what I was asking of her. “Until I told her.”

“Did she slap you?” Bryce asked. “She seems like she has it in her.”

Despite myself, a dry chuckle scraped out my throat. “She said she’d think about it.”

“That’s good,” Bryce encouraged. “The best you could ask for, really. It would be odd if she said yes right away.”

I frowned, finally letting my hands fall to my lap. “There’s no winning here.”

If she agreed to marry me, it still wouldn’t feel like a victory. Not when I wanted so much more than a marriage of convenience with her. No matter how crazy it sounded to say, I wanted something real.

I wanted to take her to mini golf and wine and dine her at the best restaurants in Dallas. I could show her the best time in the owner’s suite at a Dallas Diamonds game. The thought of her meeting my mom brought a genuine smile to my face. Mom would love her. My brother, Tyrone, would be jealous as hell. Even Pop would soften for her; I just knew it.

But Simon had taken that all away, leaving me only a handful of months to walk down the aisle.

Bryce said, “You don’t know that. Arranged marriages have the same success rate as love matches.”

“You sound like Simon now,” I muttered.

“Those are fighting words,” he retorted.

I shook my head, lips twitching, but they quickly fell. “Avoiding a divorce wasn’t supposed to be the goal. Not with her.”

The silence between us felt heavy instead of comfortable. After a long sigh, Bryce spoke. “All I can say is don’t give up hope yet. See what she says.”

“And what do I do until then? Sit around and wait?” Just the thought of it made my skin crawl.

“You remember when we were trying to get venture capital to launch MyHome, before Simon invested?” Bryce asked.

I nodded, cringing at the memory. We’d taken calls and meetings all over the country and pitched, only to be told “We’ll get back to you soon.” “This is worse,” I said to Bryce.

“I know, but that was pretty bad too. We couldn’t just sit on our hands while we waited for someone to change our lives. It would have driven us crazy. We had to do something to keep us occupied while we waited for answers.”

My jaw clenched, knowing he was right but not liking it at all.

“Go to the office and get some work done today,” he said. “Tomorrow, go see your mom and dad and let them distract you for Christmas Eve and Christmas. Coretta could talk anyone’s ear off.”

I softened a bit at the mention of my mom. He was right.

“You could come over here and help with the baby too. That would keep you plenty busy,” Bryce teased.

“If you need help, I’m there,” I said.

“You’re always welcome to come by,” Bryce said. Then he added, “I think this part is supposed to be hard. You’re not doing anything wrong.”

“I think that’s true for both of us,” I muttered. “Thanks, Bryce.”

“You got it, Q. If you need me, just call, okay?”

Shaking my head, I put the car back in drive and went to The Tower like Bryce suggested. There was always more work to be done, and I could certainly use the distraction.

But when I got up to the office and sat at my desk, my eyes landed on the picture Rei had examined just the day before. My family and I smiled back at me, joy frozen in our eyes. And just like when I was a kid trying to overcome my stutter, I practiced the conversation with the photo.

“Hey, Mom,” I muttered. I walked over to the frame, picked it up, and covered up Pops’s and Tyrone’s faces. We never talked about “girl stuff.” Pops said Mom was better at that.

“Our date was amazing...” I said to the photo, but what more was there to say? I set the picture back down, but my finger brushed something on the frame...

I turned it over and examined the small black cylinder.