by Hart, Hanna
“—Stephania would get married,” he blew out a breath. “Yeah, I already thought about that. But guess what? We’re not.”
“Yeah, thank heavens,” Gabriella said, crossing her legs on his plush leather couch and pulling the will into her lap. Logan stood to leave the room, and she raised her empty rocks glass. “Booze me,” she said, just twenty-four then and drinking like a rockstar.
“I can’t believe this,” he said, drawing his brows together. As disappointed as his father was in him, he never thought he would purposely try to keep him out of the family fortune. “He hated me.”
“Oh, he did not,” Gabriella waved him off. “He just wanted you to be settled and… I don’t know! Matured? He wants you to be happy.”
Logan shook his head, now feeling more furious than mournful. He pressed his eyes shut and then glanced at Gabriella. “You think mom could get the will changed? Say he wasn’t in the right state of mind when he wrote it?”
She screwed up her face and stared down at the paper. “I don’t think so, Logan. He wrote it two years before he started getting sick.”
This statement was confirmed further after Logan had taken the papers to his personal lawyer. There was no way around these rules. If he wanted his money, he would have to get married.
And after hurricane-Stephania, he had no desire to be with anyone, let alone get married one day.
Looking back, he wasn’t sure what his father was thinking. Did he want his son to settle down and get married so that he wouldn’t blow the money on single-pursuits… or did his father not want to give him anything after his death?
Logan shook his head, trying to forget those memories after his father’s death. He looked back to Timothy, forcing himself back into the present.
“That requires a wife,” he said matter-of-factly. “Which, I will soon have, if all goes well.”
He grinned at his friend and pulled out a massive solitaire engagement ring from a turquoise box.
“Holy hell,” Timothy swallowed, peering down at the ring and then looking back up at Logan in bewilderment. “I didn’t even know you were seeing anyone! How do I not know this? You’re like my best friend!”
“I’ve been keeping this one private since… well, you know,” he widened his eyes and Timothy gave an understanding nod.
“Well shit, what’s her name? Where’d you meet? What’s she look like?” Timothy said, shooting off some rapid-fire questions. “Fill me in! I feel like an idiot over here.”
“Well,” Logan began slowly, feeling a nervous sweat fill his palms.
The truth was, there was no woman in sight.
He hadn’t even been out on a date since he and Stephania broke up over a year ago. But he needed the money.
After talking with a trusted advisor one particularly hard night, Logan decided he was going to get that money one way or another. And if ‘one way or another’ meant faking a marriage, that’s what he was going to do.
“You’ll meet her soon,” Logan said with a wry grin. “I’m having her move in with me, if all goes well with the proposal. Then my mom’s flying in, and we’re going to have an engagement party.”
“Wow,” Timothy said, still in shock.
“Yep,” Logan breathed, taking the last sip of his gin.
Now all Logan had to do was find a willing actress or someone who was willing to take a small cut of the inheritance to stay married to him for one year, so stipulated the will.
That would be better than getting tangled up with some girl, he told himself.
He had already posted an ad online on a reputable job search engine. He had a few promising leads on a temporary wife and would be interviewing the best candidates tomorrow.
Easy.
Maybe?
Chapter Three
Riley
“Almost here?” came the warm, honey-filled tones on the other end of Riley’s cell phone. The voice belonged to her best friend, Leah Radford.
Just as she’d planned, Riley had called her friend after three days of living out of her car by the beach. She hadn’t been in the car for long at all, yet it was as though her best friend had a built-in radar. Leah somehow knew she was close by.
“Yes,” Riley finally responded.
“How did Zoe do on the drive?”
Riley’s gray eyes darted to the rear-view mirror so she could get a better look at her little girl. Her blonde hair tussled from the breeze through the open window as she lazily moved her hand into the air like a never-ending wave.
“The whole twenty minutes?” Riley laughed. “Yeah, she survived.”
Leah gave a dismissive laugh. “Tom and I have your room all ready to go.”
Riley nodded to herself, watching the road carefully. She’d asked Leah if she could crash at her place for a while but didn’t exactly go into details about why. The silence hung between the two until she finally explained, “Sorry, I’m nodding! Yes, of course, thank you both so much!”
“Thanks for the update,” Leah giggled. “See you soon!”
With that single phrase, the call ended, and Riley flopped her cell phone onto the passenger’s seat.
Zoe had been an incredible addition to Riley’s life.
At the time, Riley was the only one of her friends who had children who actually planned to have a baby. She’d wanted to be a mother since she was a little girl.
And Zoe was the best thing she ever could have asked for. Even at just three, she was the sweetest, most thoughtful little girl.
Riley had grown up with stable parents: loving parents. She couldn’t imagine packing up one day and moving her whole life away, even if it was only a few hours down the road.
Leah had been Riley’s close friend since they were thirteen. Leah married Tom and Riley married Joshua. Two years later, everything had fallen apart.
As of now, both she and Josh shared custody of Zoe, though he rarely took advantage of that fact.
The divorce nearly killed Riley. She’d spent weeks lying in bed, barely caring for herself or her daughter. Leah was right there at her side, listening to her cry and rant about the same topics over and over again. She was always there to watch bad movies with or go on random midnight runs for fast food.
Leah was a big proponent of change. Especially since her changes were always good ones. A new start for Leah at the beginning of her marriage meant children and a side-by-side overlooking the ocean.
Riley’s change wasn’t so much a new start of something as it was picking up the pieces.
She exhaled a full sigh through her nostrils, causing a burning wind to course through her body. She turned the radio down and pursed her lips curiously as she made eye contact with her daughter once more.
“You okay?” Riley piped up.
“Yep,” came her quiet, quick response.
Riley gave a quick dismissal with her brows and let her eyes stray out the open window. The hills in the distance rolled on like endless waves of green.
“Mama,” came the sing-song tones of Zoe, who now rested her head tilted against the back-seat headrest, finally ready to break her string of silence.
“Yes, honey?” Riley asked.
“This junk is everywhere,” Zoe said, trying to push her down-filled duvet to the other side of the car with her little feet.
Four years’ worth of life had been compacted into whatever could fit into Riley’s oversized beige Jeep.
“Oh, you’re right,” Riley teased with a breath. “Why don’t we just toss it out the window and make some room for my little baby?”
Zoe’s blue eyes widened almost comically as she considered the prospect of losing her toys to the open window. She gave her mother a wry smile as though reconsidering her options. “No, no!” she said a little too quickly. “That’s okay, mama. We’ll keep them!”
“Is that right?” Riley laughed. “Then let’s.”
Zoe breathed a whispered sigh of relief and tried to pull her blanket back toward her, staring down at it th
oughtfully. “Mama…?”
“Yes, baby?”
“Are we moving far from daddy?” the little girl chortled out absent-mindedly, looking down into the plush comforter now cuddled closely on her lap.
“Oh, it's not so far,” Riley waved her off. “And remember, you can see daddy whenever he comes to visit.”
Riley had been with Zoe’s father, Josh, for four years. Their’s had been an easy kind of love. The kind of love with long talks and date nights every single week. Everything that friends and women’s magazines all said would keep a marriage happy and alive. Especially after Zoe was born.
Things with Joshua were effortless.
But then… things were so effortless that she forgot to keep on her toes. It was when things were effortless that Riley had the rug pulled out from under her.
Once Zoe was born, everything fell apart.
Shaking her head of the thoughts, Riley pulled up to the beautiful, though modest, white brick apartment overlooking the oceanside.
“You ready for our big sleepover with Aunt Leah?” Riley asked with a lilt in her tone, trying to sound excited but unable to shield the slight nerves she felt tingling up her throat and cascading across her tongue.
“She's not my real aunt,” Zoe said in a tone that didn't reveal whether she was looking forward to their new adventure or not.
“No, she's way more fun than that,” Riley said with a playful cock of her brow. “Come on, bug, let's go!”
The world was such a mystery when you were three.
And at twenty-two, things weren’t much different.
The pair tumbled out of the car and Riley watched with a bemused trepidation as her daughter ran toward the front door of Leah's apartment. She did so with as much familiarity and high-spirits as though it were her own home.
Riley raced up and grabbed her by the waist with a tickle and picked her up, bringing her to her side lovingly.
Leah flung open the heavy front door with an excited haste, burying the two in a giant welcoming hug. Her hair was long and curly, naturally white-blonde from the sun and thick.
“There's our girl!” Tom shouted. A smile crept at the corners of his mouth as he welcomed their little family of two into their modest home. “Come in, come in!” he said, twirling his hand and holding the door open for everyone. “Riley, how are ya?”
With a shrug, she gave an awkward laugh. “Better.”
“Good,” he said unsurely, still with a warm smile set on his face. “Bags are in the car?”
“Looks like there's a third-world country in the car!” Leah jested, looking at the mountain of clothes and various household objects that crowded Riley's backseat.
“Yeah, it’s uh, it’s a long story,” Riley finally lamented.
The truth was, she couldn’t take living in her car anymore. And she had such limited funds to live off of, it just wasn’t healthy for her or Zoe anymore.
“Come on, Tom!” Leah cheered, marching toward the vehicle and flexing her faux-muscles in an over-exaggerated fashion.
“Coming!” Tom, jogging up toward the car.
Riley watched Tom carefully, waiting for him to disappear into the apartment before she turned to Leah. “I got fired,” she said quietly, not making eye contact with her.
“You got fired?” Leah repeated, louder than Riley would have liked, as she leaned against her Jeep.
“Yup,” Riley blew out a breath. She fixed a lock of hair behind her ear and lugged her duffel bag out from the back of the vehicle. “And then some.”
“That’s never a good addition,” Leah pulled her housecoat closer to her body and rushed to help Riley unload more of her belongings.
It was seven-thirty in the morning and Riley had barely slept at all.
Leah, of course, welcomed her visit with open arms after she’d called her asking to stay over.
Feeling like it was the polite thing to do, Riley brought coffee for her friend and Tom. She had literally used the last of the available funds on her credit card in order to buy them.
“Thanks for doing this, Leah,” she said groggily and watched as her friend stared down at the disassembled baby playpen that Riley had stashed in the back of the car.
“Yeah. So, um. Why am I getting the feeling that there’s more to this story than you’re letting on?” Leah asked, wrinkling her nose in the playful but prying way she did.
Riley had known Leah so long, Leah practically had a sixth sense about things going wrong in her life. In fact, Leah was so in-tune with Riley’s emotions that she practically knew the moment Josh had left her.
“Well,” Riley began and could feel her face start to burn with embarrassment. “I got a big tip two nights ago.”
“Okay,” Leah said, bundling Riley’s daughter into her arms and slowly walking toward her front door with the two of them. “This sounds promising.”
“But then I got fired.”
“That’s the bad part.”
Riley exhaled and managed to squeak out, “Because I’ve been living in the storeroom at the diner.”
Leah stopped dead in her tracks, whipping around and holding a hand around the back of Zoe’s head. Her almond-shaped eyes went wide as anything, and she whisper-lectured, “Are you kidding me right now? Riley!”
“I know,” Riley said, practically dragging herself through the front door with her bags. “I know. I’m an idiot.”
“Yes!” Leah hissed. She disappeared briefly into the hallway, likely putting Riley down in her own daughter’s room before emerging and smacking Riley lightly on the side of her arm. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Can I please get a lecture after Tom’s left?” Riley whined, running a hand through her dry balayage hair.
“No! Because why? Because, how could you not tell me, your best friend in the whole wide world, that you were homeless?”
“Obviously because I’m a monster,” Riley snarked, her face going red. “What do you want me to say? I was embarrassed, Leah.”
“With me?” Leah said, her eyes going wide as they sat across from each other on the matching loveseats, sipping semi-warm coffees. “Riley, I’ve seen you wearing bell-bottom jeans. It doesn’t get much more embarrassing than that.”
Riley set her jaw, unsure how to react to the forthcoming lecture. Leah was her best friend, but she had plenty of reasons to keep this from her. First of all, Tom, Leah’s husband, was still friends with Josh.
And the second was… well… jealousy.
“Look at your life, Leah!” Riley scoffed. “You and Tom are like, perfect together. Your daughter’s well-behaved, you’re trying to get pregnant again, haven’t gained like a pound, you have this perfect apartment—”
“—It’s not perfect,” Leah interrupted, crossing her arms.
“The only thing you’re missing is a white picket fence,” Riley deadpanned. “Me? I got dumped, divorced, and currently, my bedroom is a diner floor. How am I supposed to come to you and tell you that?”
Leah looked like she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She blinked in quick succession several times before looking back up at Riley.
“First of all…” she began, and Riley sighed.
“Oh, here we go,” Riley breathed.
“First of all,” Leah enunciated. “You’re my best friend, Ry. You can tell me anything, and you know that. At least, you should know it. Second of all, Tom and I aren’t perfect. We have problems just like everybody else.”
“Yeah we do!” Tom announced comically as he came out of the guest room. “And thanks for sharing!”
“I’m just saying,” Leah gave a light laugh, “No relationship is perfect.”
Tom stood in the open-concept space between the kitchen and the living room and stared between the two girls.
“My gut is telling me I should go to work early,” he said.
Tom worked at a wildlife reserve for dolphins. Any injured dolphins found in the ocean were brought there, rehabilitated, and then let back out i
nto the wild.
He was handsome and kind: a real outdoorsy guy. He often sported a man-bun that Riley perpetually mocked and wore loose-fitting clothing. It was his influence that had turned Leah from an adorable type A into a wild, free-spirit.
He had also been a kind friend to Riley, both before and after Josh left. He’d come to help her around the house, played with Zoe, and never judged her or took sides during the divorce.
Even so, it was hard not to be jealous of their relationship: the way he looked at her and how he knew when to leave a room.
“That coffee is for you,” Leah said, pointing toward the coated take-out cup from his favorite coffee house.
Taking that as his cue to leave, Tom raised both his brows and pulled the coffee from the cardboard tray and nodded his thanks to Riley.
Tom walked over to the playpen in the living room, leaned in, and kissed his daughter Charlotte on the top of the head before raising his cup to the girls.
“Make good choices!” he yelled as he left the room.
Leah rolled her eyes playfully and curled into the corner of her loveseat, the padded pillows furrowing behind her.
“How long have you been homeless?” Leah finally asked when she heard the screen door close behind Tom.
Riley scraped her bottom teeth along her top lip and then admitted, “Two months.”
Leah rubbed her forehead with her thumb and middle finger and sighed. “Why didn’t you tell us you were going to lose your house? We could have helped you.”
“I think we’re beyond that now,” Riley snipped.
“So… what are you going to do? I mean, obviously you can stay here as long as you need to.”
Riley inhaled a deep breath and leaned her head back so it rested against the top of the couch cushion.
“I have a plan.”
“Of course, you do! Riley can't go anywhere without making a list first.”
“You joke,” Riley flushed. “But yes.”
“Alright, let's hear it,” the blonde said with a grin.
“I was looking at jobs, and I found one that’s… a little unconventional.”
“We like unconventional,” Leah smiled. “Text it to me.”