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She laughs, tugging at the hem of her shirt. “There has to be some other deal we can make.”
“There isn’t. You’re not the only stubborn person in this room.”
“Why are you doing this? You know I’ll be miserable if you force me to be your wife. I’ll just divorce you the first opportunity I get.”
“That’d be fine with me.”
She hesitates, eyebrows raised, and a pang of excitement runs down into my chest. “Seriously?” she asks.
We’re negotiating now.
“Seriously,” I say, moving toward her. “I wouldn’t force you to stay my wife forever if you really hated it. I’m gambling that you’d decide to stay on your own.”
“And if I didn’t?”
“I’ll happily let you leave. Only I ask you stay with me for at least a year.”
Her lips tug down, eyebrows knitted, like she’s thinking hard about something.
She’s picturing us together.
What a life by my side would feel like.
But she doesn’t have any clue how much I can give her.
How deeply I’d worship her every move. How I’d gladly crawl on my hands and knees to make her happy.
She has to take the plunge to find out.
“A year’s too long,” she finally says. “Three months.”
“That’s too short. Eight months.”
“Can’t do it.” She moves away, shaking her head.
“Eight months isn’t all that long in the grand scheme of a life. Be my wife for less than a year, and in the end, you can walk away with your donut shop intact.”
She keeps her back turned to me. “I can’t.”
Frustration starts to sing in my blood but I keep it in check. This isn’t the time for my famous temper to rear its ugly head.
“We’re at an impasse then.” Silence follows. She still won’t look at me. I want to know what she’s thinking, but that’s the curse. I can never hear her thoughts. “What are you naming this place?”
She half turns, surprised. “Excuse me?”
“The shop. Did you pick a name yet?”
“No,” she says, sounding distant, like she’s only half in the room. “We’re debating.”
“I say you call it Holiest of Holies.”
She rolls her eyes. “Oh, god.”
“Exactly. Donuts so good, it’s a religious experience.”
“Terrible.”
“How about just Treat Yourself.”
