by Suzanne Hart
Neil ducked his head. “Exactly.”
I sighed. “Look, I have to find a fiancée.”
Neil chuckled. “Don’t we all?”
I shook my head. “No, like, in one week. I told my uncle I had one. That’s how I got the position. So, now I have to go get someone.”
“And how are you planning on doing that?”
I shrugged. “Money.”
Neil shook his head slowly, drawing circles on his fresh bottle of beer. “Okay, look. I’ve known for a while that your world is a hell of a lot different than mine, so I’m just gonna assume this is one of those things.”
“You don’t think it’s weird?”
Neil didn’t speak for a long time, before he said, “It really only matters if you think it’s weird, right?” He was making sense, and I felt relieved to hear his thought. But then I heard…
“James?”
My eyes widened at the sound of Nancy’s voice. I turned to find her standing off the edge of the living room, in the spot that separated the room from the front hallway. My heart skipped a beat at the sight of her all over again. She looked fresh in her yoga pants and t-shirt, her face completely bare of make-up. Her long hair tumbled down her shoulders and back in huge curls. Her thin body was bent over under the weight of what looked like her dance bag.
“Nancy?”
She looked right past me and at Neil, an accusing look on her face. “I need the clothes.”
Neil looked completely confused. “Clothes… ”
“F-for the costumes. You promised me some of your old stuff for the kids.”
Neil’s eyes went wide. “Oh shit, yeah.” He stood up. “Give me a second let me go grab what I have.”
8
Nancy
The last thing I expected was to see James sitting at Neil’s kitchen counter. I knew they were best friends, which meant that it was likely I would be running into them together. I knew that it was probably going to be a little weird given what happened, or almost happened, at the dance studio the night before. But still, it threw me off guard. My heart started racing all over again at the sight of James sitting there with his broad shoulders, his clean shaven face. That gaze was impossible to ignore. I wanted to jump him and run away from him at the same time. But I had to play it cool. I needed to find out what the hell they had been talking about.
I’d heard what James said and I needed an explanation.
I let my dance bag fall off of my shoulder. It hit the ground with a thud as I crossed the room to him. “So, what are you doing here?” I asked, grabbing Neil’s Heineken and taking a swig.
“I could ask you the same thing. Is breaking and entering one of your secret skills?”
I chuckled, in spite of myself, jiggling the keys I still had in my right hand. “I have special access.”
He nodded. “Right, that makes sense.”
“So? What were you up to?” I could tell James was a little nervous. His posture was a lot tighter. There was a furrow in his brow that wouldn’t quite go away.
“The Giants game.”
I nodded. “Oh right. I keep forgetting Neil pretends he likes football when you’re around.”
James chuckled at that. “Wow, harsh.”
Damn, I was on a roll.
Then he did something he shouldn’t have been doing. He wrapped his arm around my waist, freezing me in my spot. My body heated up under his touch, my blood hot, my skin covered in goosebumps. My mind went right to the night before, the sensation of his hands on my bare skin. I shuddered to think about the way his bulge felt in my hands. God I wanted him, despite what I’d just heard him say. I never stopped wanting him. It felt like I could never stop wanting him. I was so stuck. I looked at him, those green eyes glazed over in lust, that body encasing me in its grip. I didn’t know how I managed to spend any time away from him.
Just when I thought I was definitely about to melt, Neil came rushing back from the back hallway, a bin of clothes in his arms. “Okay, so I don’t know if this is going to be enough, but you know what you need,” setting the bin on his breakfast table.
We both jumped up at the interruption. I cleared my throat, hoping he didn’t see anything that would have caught his attention. The last thing I wanted was for him to start asking questions. I started sifting through the clothes.
“So, what are these for, exactly? Little girls aren’t gonna be wearing my old, torn t-shirts right?”
I chuckled at Neil’s question. “Nah, I’m gonna splatter some paint on it. It’s for the monster and forest sphinx roles.”
Neil raised an eyebrow. “I’m not even gonna pretend to understand that…”
I shrugged. “You’ll see it soon enough.”
Neil picked up his beer bottle, and then made a face.
James pointed right at me. “Nancy got to it.”
Neil rolled his eyes. “God, Nance,” he said as he rounded the table and went straight to the fridge. He pulled a fresh beer out of it. He opened it and handed it to me.
“So, what were you guys talking about when I walked in?” I asked as I sat down next to both of them at that counter.
“We don’t have to discuss that right now,” James said, meeting my gaze.
“Nance is cool, you can tell her what you told me.” Neil said.
I couldn’t let what I heard go. I needed to know if I’d heard it right. “So, you’re gonna pay some woman to pretend to be married to you.”
James’s chest rose and fell with his breath. “Not marriage, engagement.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “That concept is so strange to me.”
“Apparently, people do it,” Neil said.
“No, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I said.
“Well, Neil is right.” James said. “People do arrange things like this sometimes. And it’s just in the short term, several months max.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. It just sounded so absurd. “A few months, you said?” I asked, taking a generous swig of my beer.
He nodded.
“So, are you gonna pretend to plan the wedding, too?”
Neil burst out laughing.
James cracked a smile. “I honestly didn’t even think about that. But no, I guess not. Engagements can be indefinite, in theory… or they can be nonexistent. I’m not expecting it to come up.”
“Come up with whom? Why are you doing this?”
“I’m being considered to inherit Paris Inc. But the only way I can do that is if I have a fiancée.”
My eyebrows lifted. I had always known that James was affluent, and I knew that he was related to the owners of some huge company, but to think that he could own it himself, that was big. I couldn’t imagine someone as light-hearted as him sitting at the head of some conference table, directing a payroll that spanned millions of dollars and telling a bunch of old men what to do. “Wow. What an opportunity.”
James nodded.
There was a silent pause, all of us thinking about the gravity of this change. How it could affect James, how it could change him. “So why can’t you just be the way you are?”
James’s gaze lingered on me. I could tell he knew what I meant by that. “I can be. Just not right at this moment.”
I nodded, biting my lip. “I just don’t understand why you have to be engaged.”
“Because the board only decided on me if I have a stable companion. A wife. They think having a bachelor inherit the company would cause too many distractions, for me, and for the company.”
I shook my head. “How much?”
“What?”
“How much are you paying this woman?”
“There isn’t one yet.”
I looked at James, my eyes wide, the gears in my head churning. “How much?”
“$130,000.”
I ducked my head in disbelief. “Are you serious?” My mind went right to the studio. Was it possible that someone could do nothing for a couple of months and get the paycheck of a lifetim
e? I wondered what he might say if I offered. I wondered what that might mean for us, or for what we had. Before I could say anything else, James got up.
“Leaving so soon?” Neil asked, standing up with him.
James checked his watch. “It’s almost ten… and I have to be in the office tomorrow.”
Neil nodded. “All right man.” They did their little bro hand-shake.
James turned to me. “Bye Nancy.” He said as he wrapped his arms around me.
“Bye.” I buried my head in his neck, taking in as much of his scent as I could before he pulled away.
With that, he plucked his wallet and his phone from the counter and disappeared down the hall.
Neil waited for the sound of the door shutting before he sat down next to me and said, “All right, what the hell is going on between you two?”
I grimaced at the direct question, hiding myself in another big gulp of my beer. “I don’t know what you mean.” I didn’t want to tell Neil what had happened between James and me, or what had almost happened, or what was happening, or what was almost over. The truth was that I actually had no idea where this was going, especially now that there was a fake engagement on the table.
“Nance, come on. It’s me. Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
“Would you have a problem if something was going on?”
Neil sucked in a big breath, grimacing at this. “I don’t know what to tell you, honestly. I’ve known James for years. I’ve seen how he’s been with women. He’s my best friend… but you’re my sister.”
I furrowed my brow. “But he seems so nice. And you two are obviously friends for a reason.”
Neil nodded. “Right… I just… I’m just looking out for you, I guess.”
“I know. But I’m sure I’m fine.”
Neil cocked his head to the side. “Are you?”
I narrowed my eyes at the thought. All of a sudden, I wasn’t exactly sure. Something about us just seemed way too good to be true. Was it possible that something could just be too right? “I- … I don’t know, I guess.”
Neil shrugged. “Please Nance, just be careful.”
I didn’t know what to think. Hearing Neil say this about James completely contradicted how he had been acting so far. I mean, just last night, he dropped everything to paint a set for me. He always looked at me like I was the only girl in the room, on the planet. He made me feel so special. I guess I’d be stupid to just blindly trust it like that. “And now there's this whole fiancée thing.”
“What?”
I hadn’t realized that I said that out loud. “Yeah, I was just thinking about what you two were talking about. About the fiancée.”
He nodded. “Right…” I could see the wheels turning behind his eyes. He knew what I was going to say next, but he was completely against it.
“$130,000… I mean… That’s a lot of money. I could use that money. You know I could.” I could barely believe the words coming out of my own mouth.
Neil pushed his Heineken across the counter. “Nance…” He warned.
I looked up at him. “What?”
“You can’t be seriously considering this…” He said.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “I didn’t realize you’re such a prude.”
He huffed a breath. “You know it’s not about that.”
“Then, what is it about?”
“It’s just not a good idea.”
I pursed my lips. The more I thought about it, the more right I felt. There had to be a reason James had dropped right into my lap. I had just lost the loan of my dreams, the thing that I had been working towards. It just seemed too stupid to turn away from an opportunity like this. “You’re not Dad.”
Neil flexed his jaw. “I know who I am, Nancy. There will be other opportunities.”
I shook my head. I couldn’t believe him of all people would say this. All I could think about was the scar on my ankle. “Don’t you dare say that to me!” I hated myself for getting so emotional about all of this all over again. It had been years and yet that feeling of loss kept coming back.
“Aw Nance…” I could tell from the look on Neil’s face that he realized he had said something horribly wrong. “I’m sorry…”
“That’s all I heard.” The sounds of the screams filled my head, my own screams of pain, ringing around the hospital room. “That night. You, and mom and dad and everyone. There will be more opportunities. There will be more opportunities. I lost everything. To me, the American Ballet was everything. Do you know what the odds were? Thousands of applicants that year. Three girls. Me. There will be more opportunities. That’s never true for a dancer.”
When I looked up at Neil again, hot tears blurred the image of his worried face. “Never.”
Neil rested his hand on my shoulder. “I know, but do you really think…”
“I lost everything that night. But when you lose everything, you find new things, and you rebuild your life and yourself. This is my new everything. I don’t know how many chances people get at everything. But this is the second time, and I’ll do anything to hold on to it.”
“But what about James… and you?”
I sighed. It was the one thing I was completely unsure about. What about James and me?
9
James
I sat down in the uncomfortable office chair behind the thin, wooden desk my lawyer Mike had arranged for. I was sitting in the bottom floor of some office building downtown. Mike and I thought it was best to conduct the interviews somewhere completely unaffiliated with the investment firm or Paris Inc. It would just be easier to compartmentalize things, keep them out of the limelight that way. Because of the high risk of the operation, we couldn’t risk doing anything that might result in anyone finding out. Who knew what would happen if my uncle found out that I had lied about the whole thing. He’d take the company away, but what else?
So, in the interest of saving my ass, I had agreed to spend two whole afternoons in this dusty hole in the wall. I glanced around at the bare white walls, scarred and marked with the plethora of things that must have been hung on them over the years. The place was so small; I could reach out and touch the wall on either side of me from where I was sitting in the middle of the room behind the desk. It was completely devoid of any kind of character or mental stimulation. The walls were obviously bare, and there was only one window above my head to the right. For several reasons, I just wanted to get these interviews over with.
The door opened and Mike poked his head through before opening the door all the way and stepping in. “How are you liking the rented space?” He asked. His big frame took up the entire front part of the office. His bald head glinted in the afternoon sun.
I shrugged. “It’ll be over soon.”
Mike nodded. “Right you are.” With that, he opened his briefcase and pulled out a stack of papers. “This is for you.”
I glanced down at the stack of several NDAs. I raised an eyebrow. “And how many interviews do we have for today?”
“Six… oh and one lady who signed in at the last second… so seven in total.”
I sighed. “Then let’s get going. The sooner I start the sooner we finish.”
Mike nodded. “If you say so.” With that, he left. I only waited a couple of seconds before the first woman was ushered in. She was nice enough, stunning with big blond hair and blue eyes. She was currently studying to be an accountant and was rated most trustworthy by her coworkers during her internship at the LA Times. But her voice was grating, she had no idea what was going on in current events, and she was barely twenty-one. I let her go with a sigh.
The rest of the five women were either too old, too young, or just damn too unbelievable as companions. I needed someone that could actually pass as a woman that I have been dating for months, a woman that I was in love with and wanted to spend my life with, a woman that could fit in with my family. It couldn’t just be anyone, because I was well-aware that at this point, the wrong woman co
uld be even worse than no woman at all.
Mike came in after the sixth woman left and shut the door behind him. “So…?”
I threw my hands up.
His eyes widened, his head ducking in disbelief. “Really? None of them?”
“I don’t know. I just wasn’t satisfied with any of them. They’re not good enough.”
Mike nodded. “I get that. It’s a bit of a risk.”
I grimaced. “Exactly.” I glanced at my watch. “Didn’t you say there was one more?”
Mike nodded, but then glanced at his own watch. “Yeah, but she’s already ten minutes late.”
I sighed. “She’s already late for the first thing…”
“Already a bad sign.” Mike said.
I frowned. “You’re not wrong.” I stood up, gathering the signed agreements and handing them to Mike. I held on to the blank one, hesitating. “Okay.” Then I handed it to him. Mike was already halfway down the hallway, heading towards the lobby of the building, when I heard someone cry, “Mike Verrazano?! I’m sorry. I’m just really late.”
I stopped in my tracks.
No.
Within seconds, Nancy came flying around the corner, her brows furrowed in concentration, a frown on her face. She looked uncharacteristically serious in her pinstripe suit. Her eyes were heavily lined and her lips were covered in bright, red lipstick.
“Nancy?” I asked, not believing that it was her.
Mike stopped, turning around. “You know her?”
I blinked as she came to a stop in front of me. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Our conversation a couple of days ago left me feeling uneasy about us. Something about the way she had reacted to the idea of me pretending to be engaged to another woman cast a shadow on my mind. I didn’t know what my plans meant for us. I didn’t know what kind of chance we’d have. But something told me that doing this would strain us. “Yes.” I said.
“Yes.” she echoed.
“Nance…”
But she shook her head, still breathless. “Just hear me out.”