04

« As for insulting you, it’s your decision however you’d like take my assessment of your character, and I think that a million dollars is something you can’t turn away, no matter your integrity, because integrity will not feed you or put a roof over your head when you’re thrown out on the streets, » he added. « I could just cut you out of this deal and find another way around my father’s demands but I figured this would be easier and best for everyone. It doesn’t have to get ugly, you know ? Think like a business woman and not like a teenage romantic. You’ll find yourself making more practical choices. »

« Like you do, obviously, » I retorted with a roll of my eyes. « I bet there’s not a romantic bone in your body, Mr. Maxfield—just the cold, mercenary desire to make more money than you could ever possibly need. »

He laughed but although his voice was deep and rich, it was harsh and ironic. « While I don’t deny that I like making money, Ms. Samuels, most of this is simply to avoid more conflict with my father who is deteriorating in health. If you know my father as well as you imply you do, you should know that he’s not in good shape. »

My ready response lurched back into my throat and I swallowed hard.

He was right. Martin had looked older and more frail when I first saw him again after I returned to the city. He was still a raucous, wily old man who had sunshine in his smile but he had been thinner and more tired than I remembered. Time had been quickly catching up with him after he lost his wife.

« Wouldn’t it be worse then, to cheat him like this ? » I asked quietly. « Martin will be so disappointed in me if he finds out I’d do something as despicable as this to him. He’ll never forgive me. »

« My father’s disappointment weighs more heavily on you than a million dollars ? » Brandon asked in confusion. « I’m no longer surprised why you’re so poor, Ms. Samuels. Did you let your father dig himself further into debt because you couldn’t bear to deprive him of whatever made him happy, no matter how bad it was for him ? »

« Don’t you dare speak about my father, » I warned him in a low, angry voice.

He scoffed. « He wasted his life away, drinking until it killed him, yet you display such loyalty ? Aren’t you up to your eyeballs in debt because of him ? »

« Whatever kind of life my father lived bore no impact on yours, so you can withhold your judgement because no one needs it, » I snapped. « As for your father, he’s a good man and deserves none of this. »

« And I deserve none of his manipulation ! » he shot back. « Everything was fine with my life until he decided to drop this bomb on me, and now I have to rearrange my entire existence to accommodate a wife I did not require nor find convenient to begin with. Not only that, I don’t get a say in the woman I’m supposed to marry at all. Of all of the women he could choose, he decided that you would be the perfect candidate—but you’re too young, too rough on the edges, too temperemental, too raunchy in that tiny uniform, and too much of a pain in the ass. »

« Well, I’m glad to be superlative in some ways, » I muttered sarcastically. « But yes, you’re right. I’m definitely not the best choice to be your wife. I’m way too hot for you, too good, too honest and generous a person for someone as greedy as you are, too real to spend time in the company of conniving folks such as yourself, and too pissed off at you to ever consider tying myself to you in marital union, much less stay in the same room as you. »

His eyes glinted in anger. « Ms. Samuels—« 

« You’ve used up the ten seconds I gave you about ten minutes ago, Mr. Maxfield, and I’m done. Now, I have to get back to my job, » I announced, standing up and leaping up over the seats so I could crouch my way out of the booth across the top of the table. The clingy white shirt that had Marlow’s printed across it in maroon and yellow letters, and the black shorts that I wore allowed me the flexibility of the movement, and Brandon made no move to stop me.

Thrusting my chin up in pride, I walked on after I leapt off the table, forcing myself to forget the man whose face had filled each of my secret fantasies for years, and the million dollars he offered me to become the one thing I wasn’t alone in dreaming of—his wife.

I walked away because I was about to do something I would likely regret for the rest of my life.

I was very angry at him moments ago but now, after putting a good distance betwen us, I just resented the fact that he took away one of the last few good things I had—the illusion of this great man I could love in secret and from a distance.

Brandon Maxfield wasn’t the man I imagined, but he was another one that let me down, and that stung most of all.

« You’re kidding me ! »

I groaned as I kept refreshing the browser page and got the same message over and over again saying that I have no internet connection.

It was my day off the next day and after sleeping in a little, I got up, ate a granola bar I grabbed from Marlow’s snack room yesterday, and sat down in front of my laptop to check on some job listings. I needed a second job or something better-paying than my current one.

After checking all my connections and power-cycling my wireless modem, I grabbed my cellphone and called the cable company. I didn’t have cable or phone but I kept the internet service, the cheapest and slowest I could possibly get.

« Hi, I’m just wondering why you guys cut my internet off, » I said nicely when a girl picked up twenty minutes later.

She asked for all my information and reluctantly, I gave them to her.

I didn’t even know why I was calling. I knew the answer.

« Ms. Samuels, the reason you were disconnected is because we haven’t received a payment from you last month and what had been current had just rolled over to a past due today. If you can pay us the overdue, we will be able to reconnect your service for you, » she said and I sighed out loud.

We made arrangements and she restored my services for a few days until my online banking payment came through. After we hung up, I went into my web-banking account and grimaced at the negative balance. I was in overdraft on my checking account and my small line of credit was already maxed out. Even with my paycheck from Marlow’s coming in a week, I wouldn’t have enough to rise above the water. The internet bill was only one of the many unpaid ones I had stacked up on the kitchen table.

You can have a million dollars if you just put up with Brandon Maxfield for a year.

It wasn’t the first time I recalled it since yesterday. In fact, his outrageous offer kept popping up in my head every fifteen minutes.

A million dollars would definitely get me out of debt and set me up comfortably. It could put me through pastry school and still leave me with enough to start my own small bakeshop. All I had to give up was a year of my life.

That plus your principles, your sanity and possibly your virtue.

Despite his awful behavior yesterday, I highly doubted that I would be able to fight my attraction to the man while living with him for a year. There was no mention about the more intimate parts of the marriage he proposed but recalling how enthralled he was with me, I didn’t think he’d want to exercise his husbandly rights. I didn’t want to go there either because so many things about it will just be so wrong—we didn’t love each other, he’s paying me to marry him and everything will just be a pretense.

It’s like being an exclusive, high-class prostitute who gets a ring on her finger as temporary as her new last name.

The thought immediately doused any interest I had in the money. Sure, the money would make everything easier but I wasn’t too far gone yet.

I dialed a number on my phone again. « Hey, Bobby. Do you need any shifts picked up today ? »

An hour later, I was waiting on tables at the diner. It was lunch time—a busy couple of hours—and the tips were good. The bustle also took my mind off two of the biggest things that kept bothering me—Brandon and Bills.