***
His house smelled like basil and garlic as he met me at the front door.
“Hey, you.” He leaned in to kiss me.
I turned and gave him the cheek. There was no one here to impress. He didn’t need to make nice with me.
“Are you okay?”
I waved the pre-nup at him. “Are you crazy?”
“What’s wrong?” He closed the door behind me and followed me down the hall.
“Have you read this?”
He nodded.
“What were you thinking?”
“I was thinking it was a fair pre-nup.”
“Aaron, you’ve written in a million dollars for every year of marriage up to ten years when we then do a fifty-fifty split.”
“Yeah. That’s fair.”
“First of all, you must have a shit-load of money. And second of all, while I realize we don’t have to stay married that long, we haven’t really discussed the exit clause. It’s too much money. It’s too real.”
“Calm down, Piper. First of all, if I wrote a flimsy pre-nup it would look suspicious. It has to look real. And secondly, if you stayed married to me an extra year, I’d be happy to give you the money so it’s no big deal.”
“That’s crazy.”
“Not to me. Wine?”
This whole thing was getting crazy. “Listen, we need to have a boundary discussion.”
He handed me the wine and was sure to have his fingers brush mine. “Boundaries. Right let’s talk boundaries again. I love talking boundaries with you, Piper.”
“Look, this is all fake, right? You’re marrying me for partner track and I’m marrying you to stay in America. I get that we have to make it look real, but you don’t need to be kissing me all the time and making nice when no one’s looking.”
“So you would rather I’m unpleasant when no one’s looking, Piper?”
“That’s not what I mean and you know it.” God he was exasperating.
He stirred whatever was bubbling on the pot in the stove. “Here’s the thing you don’t seem to fathom, Piper. I really like you. If I wasn’t about to marry you, I’d ask you out. I’ve tried to tell you that and show you that all week, but for some reason, you don’t seem to believe me. You’re pretty, you’re smart, you’re funny, you work hard, and you’re kind. You look very sexy in my shirt, just my shirt, and in every little dress or sparkly top you put on. Why do so many of your clothes have no back, by the way? I’ve been meaning to ask you that.”
I didn’t answer. I was processing. That was some pretty flattering stuff.
“We’ll come back to that. I enjoy doing nothing with you or going out. I seem to be inordinately interested in when you call me and if you call me and what you’re doing next. You’ve kind of taken over my life. So I’m sorry if that makes you uncomfortable, but wouldn’t you rather marry someone who feels that way about you than not?”
I didn’t really know what to say. Honestly, I didn’t want to marry someone who felt that way about me, not in a fake marriage. “But Aaron this is supposed to be an illusion. None of that is supposed to be true. It’s a contract, a verbal agreement that we would marry for mutual benefit.”
“Well, one of the benefits for me is I get to hang out with you.”
He was standing in front of me. My hands were firmly placed on my hips. I no doubt looked like a cranky school teacher.
“You look very cute when you’re confused.”
“I’m not confused, I’m exasperated.”
“And a little confused.”
“Okay, a little.”
“You know why?” He took my hands in his. “Because you actually like me, too. You wanted me at your party. You like making me pies. You enjoy my company and that scares you. But there’s no reason to be scared. I have no intention of hurting you, Piper. Look, I’m making you risotto.”
As if that was proof of anything.
“Here’s the thing Aaron, you will hurt me because I’ll get used to this. The someone-to-come-home-to, the kindness I’m not accustomed to, the way your face lights up when you see me, and then bam! our time will be up and there’ll be another Ophelia or a Persephone or a Portia and I’ll just be that girl you accidentally married.” I sighed. “Because the one true difference between us, beyond the obvious, is that you don’t believe in love and, unfortunately for me, it’s all I believe in. Because if I don’t believe in it, that it’s out there, that one day someone will find me and love me only for me, well, then I don’t have anything. That’s what keeps me going. That’s what I’ve held on to for all these years through the crappy family and the lackluster relationships. I’ve been holding out for love. I know it’s out there and I want it and you know what, I deserve it. So I’m not giving up on that, as much as I like you and I could let myself get sucked in to believing that this was enough, it just isn’t.”
Aaron came and took my hands from my hips and held them against his chest. I could feel his heart pounding in there.
“Look at me Piper.” And I did. But I was sure to steel my resolve before I looked into those delicious eyes.
“What if I was wrong? What if I do believe and you’re it for me?”
“Except, I’m not.”
“You could be.”
“I could be, but I’m not. So you need to stick to the agreement, less kissy-kissy, less touchy-touchy, even if you like me a bit, as my friend, then make it easier for me, not harder.”
“But that’s going to be so much harder for me.”
I shrugged. We had a stare-off. A minute, maybe two, passed. He was still holding my hands rubbing his thumbs over the backs in a very, very seductive way. Then he dropped my hands and went to stir the risotto.
“I hope you like mushrooms.” He said.
I certainly did. I wasn’t certain of too much else at that moment.
Any Way You Slice It Page 16