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“Did Grace tell you about my sister?”
Her expression softened. “The one who died in the car accident? I’m so sorry about that.”
“Thank you... I didn’t really know her, though. I only managed to locate her about a year ago.”
“You didn’t know each other?”
He tried to keep the bitter note out of his voice. “I knew about her. My grandmother raised us until she passed away. I was nine and my sister was three. There were no relatives to take care of us, so w
e went into the foster system.” He studied his fingers. “My sister got adopted, but nobody wanted a rebellious nine-year-old boy. So I stayed in foster homes, and she had parents that moved her across the country.”
“I’m sorry.” She placed her hand on his arm. “And you only reconnected a year ago?”
He shrugged. “It was too late to change the past, although I wish I’d done things differently now. I resented her. I was jealous and hurt no one wanted me. I’m not proud of it, but I didn’t even try to find her until last year. It wasn’t that hard to do.”
“Okay, I get it. But what does this have to do with anything?”
“When my sister and her husband died, they had two kids. I’ve been looking into the option of adopting them. I was told his parents were going to raise the kids, which might’ve been great. But today I found out they only want to take the little girl, who’s two. The boy wasn’t their son’s kid. My sister had him when she was seventeen. That’s when her adoptive parents disowned her.”
“So what would happen to the boy?”
“He’s nine, just like I was. So nobody would take him.”
“So you want to get married so you can adopt him?”
“No, I could adopt him without being married. I want to adopt both of them. I want him to grow up with his sister. And my lawyer told me there’s no way I’d win custody of the little girl over the grandparents if I’m not married.”
“Have you even met these kids?”
He shrugged. “Twice. Once when I met my sister, and once at the funeral. But when I make a commitment, I give everything. Trust me, I’ll love them with my whole heart.” He leaned forward and took her hand between his. “You wouldn’t have to do anything. I’ll do all the parenting. You’d have your own bedroom. And in exchange for doing this for me, I’ll pay your way to medical school.”
“Josh, you don’t know what you’re saying. That’s a lot of money.” She frowned and pulled her hand away. “And why don’t you marry someone else? I know of at least five nurses and two doctors who’d marry you tomorrow if you asked them.”
“But I’m not interested in anyone else.”
“So what? You’re not interested in me, either.”
“But we’re good friends. I think we could get along well as roommates. And you wouldn’t be trying to turn it into something real.”
Olivia shook her head. “Okay, Josh. There’s a big elephant in the room we haven’t talked about.” She chuckled. “Actually, I think she’s in the bathroom. What about Charlie?”
“What about her? We haven’t even communicated in two years. It’s not like I’m still in love with her. I probably never was in love with her. If you ask her, she’ll tell you the same thing. She told me in no uncertain terms I wasn’t in love with her.”
Olivia didn’t try to hide her skepticism. “Have you considered since she’s moved to New York, you two might get back together? Why couldn’t you marry Charlie instead of me?”
“Do you honestly think after two years of shutting me out of her life completely, she’d agree to marry me by the first of February?”
“No, probably not.” She drummed her fingers on the table. “Josh, I still don’t think I can do this. And there’s a guy I kind of like.”
He groaned. “Fine. You were my best hope, but I’m going to marry someone by February. Which one of those nurses would you recommend?”
“Josh, that wasn’t a serious suggestion. You can’t really marry someone you don’t even know. And I hate to tell you, but this proposal you’re making isn’t very flattering. I mean, I love you like a brother, so it would be creepy if you acted romantically interested. But if you presented an offer like this to any other woman, she’d probably be offended.”
He dropped his head into his hands and spoke in a muffled voice. “Why do women have to be so difficult? It’s simply a business proposition. How can it be offensive?”
“Josh, I don’t know how you managed to be with so many girls without learning anything about them.”
“I didn’t need to learn anything about them. They just threw themselves at me... Until I met Charlie.”
