The Marriage Contract

by Natasha L. Black

  My arm was draped over Chloe, who was curled into me in the bed. We’d ended up there together again, as we had the last few nights. There had been no sex, but we had ended up cuddling as we fell asleep. It was nice, nicer than I wanted to admit, perhaps, and I slept better than I had in a long, long time. I couldn’t ever remember even waking up with my arm draped over someone. I was usually highly protective of my space when I was in bed.

  Yet there I was, having to gently lift my arm off Chloe in order to reach back and turn off the alarm on the phone. Just as I moved, she stirred. I tried not to move too much, and she seemed to fall back asleep, curled up with my other arm under her. Now I had to find a way to get that out and not wake her up.

  I didn’t know how I felt about us literally sleeping together each night, and what it meant for us in our fake relationship, but I did know I didn’t want it to stop. I found it extremely comfortable to be wrapped up around her, or on one occasion, to wake up with her arm around me. I felt more secure, safer, and slept much deeper.

  Slowly backing up on the bed, trying to scoot my arm out from under her, she stirred again and turned toward me. At first, she looked confused and then blinked a couple of times, realization dawning on her face. She rubbed her eyes and pushed hair back away from them.

  “Good morning,” she said, yawning.

  “Morning,” I said. “Didn’t mean to wake you up.”

  “It’s fine. It’s getting late in the morning anyway.”

  “Yeah.” I turned onto my back rather quickly, shuffling out of the bed. “I’ll be right back,” I said.

  Keeping my hips turned a little, I headed away from the bed. When I got into the bathroom, the scene was comical. My cock was hard and straight, pushing the front of my sweatpants out. If she didn’t notice it, it would be a miracle. I turned on the faucet and gave myself a moment to try and relax to get it to go away, then finished up in the bathroom.

  By the time I came out, Chloe was in the kitchen brewing up coffee for the both of us. I smiled at her as I padded in behind her and put a pan on the stove. I made breakfast for us as she poured the coffee, and we sat down to eat across from one another.

  “So, we both have the day off,” I said. “Is there anything you’d like to do? Any plans?”

  “Actually, I do have plans. Hannah also has the day off. Jordan is trying out a couple other people to see if they fit, and I offered to watch the baby so she could have a day for herself.”

  “Oh, that’s cool,” I said, somewhat disappointed. A large part of me had hoped that our mutual day off would have been spent at the apartment, watching bad movies and eventually making the intentional mistake of tumbling into bed again. Perhaps with less clothing on.

  “You could come with me,” she said, and I noticed a lilt of hope in her voice. “I was thinking I could take Claire down to the park at the bottom of their apartment complex and play for a bit and then tuck in for a movie or something.”

  “That sounds fun, actually,” I said. “What’s Hannah going to be up to?”

  “She said she still has some stuff down at her old place in Astoria. She’s getting that stuff put into a Pod so they can move it to their new house, but I don’t know if she was actually planning on doing that today or not. I have the feeling she’s just going to go to the spa and do nothing all day.”

  “Well, what time do you have to be over there?” I asked.

  “She said three would be best, but I was thinking about going over right after I eat.”

  “So, now?” I asked.

  “Now-ish,” she said. “Do you still want to come?”

  “Sure. I need to spend more time around my niece. She needs to know critical, important stuff that Jordan won’t teach her.”

  “Like what?” Chloe asked.

  “Like what character to use in Mario Kart, how to build functional model rockets, how to perfectly cook steak. Granted, that last one might take a bit before she’s ready.”

  “But teaching a baby how to build a functional rocket is fine?” she asked, laughing.

  “I don’t see why not. Kids love exploding things.”

  “Exploding?” she cried.

  “Well, I mean, the explosion is really small. We would start out with Mentos and Coke,” I said.

  We decided to drive to their apartment rather than walk, even though it was a nice day. Having the car in case of emergencies was important, and a host of those emergencies and the plan for how to handle them was posted on the wall by the refrigerator. Hannah had thought of everything it seemed like. Everything from sniffles that could be a cold to terrorist attacks were listed with a plan and numbers to call. Just in case.

  “Alright,” Hannah said, picking up her baby and kissing her cute, rosy cheeks. “Mama will be back a little bit after dark, but Auntie Chloe and Uncle Matt are going to be here. You will be just fine.”

  Hannah left, and it was just us and Claire, who was happily fiddling with something on the carpet. I crawled down with her and lifted her up much to her delight. She cooed and laughed and giggled as we played, and eventually I heard another sound that was awfully familiar, paired with a smell that left no doubt.

  “Uh-oh,” I said. “Looks like someone has a full tank.”

  “Oh,” Chloe said. “I’ll take care of it.”

  I turned to look at her critically.

  “Have you ever changed a baby before?” I asked.

  “No…”

  “That’s what I thought,” I said. “Well, grab the diaper bag. I’ll walk you through it. I’ve done this a bunch.”

  It was an upside to most of my brothers being parents. As much as I had never really seen myself as a father, I was never uncomfortable taking care of kids either. Hell, I was a big kid. I knew that about myself. Changing diapers didn’t intimidate me when my brothers started having kids, and after a crash course with Amanda and Ava, I felt like I had a really good grasp on at least that aspect of parenthood.

  The guest room was still in a state of flux, but Jordan had turned a corner of their bedroom into a nursery anyway. I laid Claire on the changing table.

  “First things first, a warning. No matter what color it is, it’s fine. Unless it’s bloodred, but it won’t be. I can tell you it’s either going to be green or orange.”

  “Orange?” she asked.

  “Just wait.”

  Sure enough, when the diaper was open, Chloe recoiled at the sight and smell.

  “Oh God, it is orange!” she exclaimed while she laughed and put one wrist under her nose.

  I guided her through wiping the baby down and getting her clean and then getting a new diaper on her. Claire kicked a bunch, and Chloe was worried about being too rough with her, but she did well. Once Claire was all clean and in a fresh diaper, the old one put in the diaper can, I picked her up and brought her back into the living room with me.

  She was beginning to get a little fussy, and Chloe seemed to intuitively know what was happening. She went into the kitchen, popped some popcorn, and grabbed a couple of root beers and a bottle of milk from the fridge. After warming the milk up on the stove, she brought the whole collection over.

  “I figured we could all have a snack and watch a movie, what do you think?” she asked.

  “Sounds like a plan,” I said. “Though, I don’t think our normal show will work.”

  “Well, yeah, the number of severed heads and full-frontal nudity not usually recommended for under one-year-olds,” she joked.

  “So, what then? Disney?”

  We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out, marathoning the show, making jokes about the special effects or the silly accents and with me pausing it occasionally to quickly explain lore to her. I knew it was just coming out of me like a giant, excited nerd, but she never made me feel stupid for it. I had gone through that before. The wide eyes and slow nod of someone who really wants you to stop talking but is being polite. Chloe wasn’t like that. Either she was genuinely interested in the show or gen
uinely enjoying how much I loved it. Maybe both.

  As we watched the show, the baby slowly drifted off to sleep, curled up in my arms at first and then cuddling with Chloe. Watching her hold a sleeping baby and the smile that stretched across her lips as she looked into her eyes, it was mesmerizing.

  My mind started to drift as I thought about how our fake marriage would work. As we continued the charade, how deep would we get. Eventually, we would have to either split up or…

  I didn’t want to think about that. Either one, really. I didn’t want to give too much thought to the idea of a future with Chloe. But at the same time, I didn’t want to let myself think about being without her either. As she sat there holding her cousin’s baby, all I could think about was how good she would look holding one of her own.

  One of our own.

  No. I had to let that go. As good a team as we were, we were a team. Not a couple.

  20

  Chloe

  It had been a week since Matt went with me to Hannah and Jordan’s, and as a thank-you, Hannah invited us out to dinner. We had spent the entire week talking about it, and somehow, we had stumbled into the idea of him proposing during the meal. At first, it was a joke, something we casually mentioned would be funny, but as the week wore on, we talked about it more and more. Now it wasn’t just talk. It was a plan.

  We hadn’t gotten a ring, but Matt seemed prepared to explain that away, too. Everything looked like it was going to go perfectly, and we had talked through it so I knew what to expect. I was still nervous about how well I would be able to act the part, though. Hannah knew me as well as a sister would, and I was afraid she would be able to tell something was wrong. Something was fake.

  Shutting off the light in the bathroom, I walked into the bedroom and waited for Matt to turn around. He was standing with his back to me, adjusting his tie in the mirror above the dresser. Even from the back, the man looked good in a suit. When he turned, he looked even better, and for a moment we just stared at each other.

  “You look—” I began.

  “Incredible,” he said.

  “Thanks. You look amazing. Are you almost ready?”

  “I’m good. I just can’t get over you. Wow.”

  I smiled and smoothed the dress down over my hips. It was one of the few things I’d brought from home when I left. I wasn’t particularly fond of most of the styles of dresses socialites wore, but this one seemed to fit me perfectly. It gave me just the right push in certain areas and was tight and hugged in others that it was sexy, but still didn’t reveal much. It was the illusion of being revealing, that was what was important.

  The heels that matched it, while I loved them, were not ones I was looking forward to walking much in, though.

  “Well, let’s get going, soon-to-be-fiancé,” I said.

  Matt laughed. “Let’s knock ’em dead.”

  We left, getting in his car to drive to the restaurant on the other side of Portland. It was a fancy spot that Hannah found and wanted to try for forever. Jordan so rarely took days off, though, that they hadn’t been yet, and with the bar actually closed for the night, Hannah wanted us to come celebrate with them. Their house had closed, and while they had already celebrated with drinks at the bar for everyone, dinner was in order, too.

  The restaurant was amazing, swanky for anything I had seen outside of LA, and we were ushered to a dark, candlelit booth in the center of the restaurant. Waiters and sommeliers peppered us with expensive wines and tiny dishes before the main course. The food was spectacular, and I found myself appreciating it in a way I never had before.

  Matt encouraged me to try things, though. Every time we ate, he suggested something new, something he had that he would give me some of or would talk about a place that did the same meal but in a different way. I loved listening to him talk about food and how fascinated he was by it. How he saw it as an art. How he never looked down on a chef or a cook who was trying. That was what he always said. As long as they tried.

  “Can I interest anyone in one of our fine desserts?” the waiter said as I placed the fork down from the last bit of the dish I could possibly fit.

  “I don’t think so,” I said.

  “Oh, come on,” Matt said. “Would you share something with me?”

  This was it. That was the cue. I saw his eye flicker to the waiter and then back to me.

  “Like what?” I said, following our script.

  “How about the pumpkin-apple cobbler. It says they make their own ice cream that they put on top. What do you say?” he asked.

  “Okay.”

  Matt smiled at me, and I could see that the wheels were turning. He was excited, and so was I, even if I knew it was all an act. Jordan and Hannah didn’t seem to be onto us and ordered their own cobbler. The next few minutes seemed to stretch on forever as we waited for the dessert to come out of the back. I knew it was just me that felt that way, but it might have been an actual, literal eternity for all I knew. When I saw the waiters approaching our table, I was as much relieved as I was excited.

  “Miss,” the waiter said and placed the cobbler plate in front of me. Sure enough, there was a scoop of what looked like homemade vanilla bean ice cream on top. But also, on top of that, was a ring. It glittered in the candlelight, and I heard Hannah gasp.

  “What?” Jordan muttered.

  I turned to look at Matt and was surprised that I didn’t need to tell my eyes to do anything. They were supplying tears all on their own. It confused me, but I had to ignore that for right then. I had a script to get through.

  “Oh my God, are you serious?”

  Matt stood up, tossing his napkin on the table. People from a few tables around us stopped what they were doing and turned to watch us as he knelt down on one knee. I could hear an audible gasp from both Hannah and a woman at a table behind me.

  “Chloe,” Matt said, looking up at me. “I know this is fast, and I know it’s probably insane. But you make me insane. Everything about you makes me insane. You are the most gorgeous, intelligent, hilarious, sarcastic, wonderful woman I have ever met. Would you please do me the favor of being my wife? Will you marry me?”

  “Yes,” I said breathlessly. He stood, and we embraced to the loud sounds of cheering from the crowd around us. Our lips locked in a kiss, and for a moment, just a moment, I forgot it was an act. Everything else disappeared except his lips and the smell of his cologne and the ring on my finger.

  “Oh my God!” Hannah said as we broke our kiss. She was standing and had apparently taken a bunch of pictures with her phone. I laughed when I saw her and felt tears streaming down my cheeks.

  There were people from all over the restaurant coming over to congratulate us, but I gave Hannah a hug first. She kissed me on the cheek, and I smiled at her so wide I thought my cheeks would crack in half. I couldn’t help it. I was caught up in the moment, or at least that’s what I was telling myself. Caught up in the moment and the romance of the situation.

  Matt and I kissed again, and he squeezed me tight into him. I could feel the bulge in his pants, and an image of him ripping my dress off me flashed through my mind. I had to do everything I could to suppress it and turn back to Jordan and Hannah. Jordan was standing and waiting to shake Matt’s hand, and when we sat back down, the waiter came by.

  “Congratulations,” he said. “As a gift, the chef would like to extend you the offer of coming back to visit us again after your vows. If you would present this at the beginning of your meal, he would like to treat you to a celebratory dinner.”

  He handed me a card with the name of the restaurant on the front and a scribbled name on the back in blue ink. I thanked him, and he bowed deeply before walking away.

  Everyone was being so nice, and a part of me felt terrible. I tried to hide it, but it was there, hiding in the background of my mind. It was all a sham. We were fooling them. All this happiness was for nothing, because in a few months…

  Matt stopped me from going any further with that thought
when he scooted close, his phone in his hand. I saw him pulling up his contact list and going through the names. His hand was shaking, and I silently marveled at how good an actor he was. It was truly impressive how talented he was at this, and how much he didn’t want to hear his mother’s nagging about not being married anymore because of it.

  “I’m so happy for you guys,” Hannah said. “A little confused maybe, but happy.”

  “Confused?” Matt asked.

  “You have to remember for as new as you two are to each other, this situation is even newer to us,” Jordan said. “We’re still getting used to the idea of you two dating. Now you’re engaged.”

  “Well, get used to it,” Matt said, “because it won’t last long.”

  “Excuse me?” Hannah asked.

  “Yeah, excuse me?” I asked.

  “I decided we should do it your way,” he said, then turned to Hannah and Jordan. “She explained that since her parents don’t want anything to do with her, and Hannah is her only family, that she didn’t want a big wedding.”

  “When did you talk about that?” Hannah said, seemingly catching him in a lie.

  “It was hypothetical,” he said. “We were watching a bridezilla show. She mentioned how since she moved here, if she ever got married, she would want something quick and with little fanfare. Is that still how you feel, babe?”

  “Yeah,” I said, feeling like I stuttered over the word at first.

  “How quick?” Hannah asked.

  “As soon as possible,” I said, finally catching back up. “I just don’t want to spend another day I don’t have to not being married to Matt.”

  “Oh, hold on, it’s Mom,” Matt said. “I texted her to tell her to call me. She had to be first. Mom?”

  He was holding the phone up to his ear. I smiled at Hannah, and she smiled back, but I could see she was hesitant. I didn’t think they had anything figured out, but they might think we were being too impulsive.