How to Marry Your Frenemy (How To Rom Com Series Book 1)

by London Casey

  I went from one pain in the ass woman to another.

  At least with Callie when she got on my nerves I could fuck her. Or just go down on her to shut her up.

  With Miranda…

  I couldn’t bring myself to have a thought like that about her.

  I walked into the kitchen to get some coffee.

  There was none made.

  I looked at the time and understood why.

  It was the early afternoon already.

  My days consisted of sleeping until the afternoon, wandering around like a hurt puppy, dragging my ass to the gym to say I did something, and then come back to Liam’s where I’d sit around all night long until I fell asleep right around sunrise.

  “I want the deposition on my desk by the time I get back,” Miranda’s voice screeched.

  I cringed.

  She came into the kitchen and stopped when she saw me.

  “Look,” she said. “If it’s not on my desk, I will fucking personally hunt you down and make it worth my time to find you.”

  She ended the call.

  “How long is this going to go on for?” she asked, waving her hand at me.

  “You don’t like having a house guest?” I asked.

  “From my understanding, Jackson, you go through a lot of women,” Miranda said. “So why does this one matter?”

  “This one I loved.”

  “So you got burned?”

  “In a sense, yes.”

  “So all the women you lied to…”

  I felt my lip lifting. “You’re suggesting this is karma?”

  “Perhaps,” she said. “Clean up anything you touch.” She pointed around the kitchen.

  She turned and walked away.

  I wanted to wave my middle fingers at her like people did at a concert during a sad song.

  But maybe Miranda was right.

  Maybe I deserved this.

  Liam entered the kitchen like a spy, looking around.

  “She’s gone,” I said.

  “What?”

  “You’re looking for your fiancée,” I said. “Right? Or… avoiding her.”

  “I’m not avoiding anyone,” Liam said.

  “I saw her. I talked to her.”

  “You two talked?” Liam asked.

  “Well, she tore me a new one and left.”

  “Shit… Jackson…”

  “I don’t care,” I said. “I’m used to it. I made sure to put the bathroom towel the right way. I washed the dishes I used by hand and then put them into the dishwasher. I made sure not to step on every third tile. Or look out the window for more than ten seconds.”

  “Come on,” Liam said. “Don’t be a dick.”

  “I’m not a dick,” I said. “I need a place to stay and clear my head. Not get treated like I’m some bad kid or something.”

  “You’re invading our lives,” Liam said.

  “Invading?”

  “Sorry… I didn’t mean that. I meant-”

  “I thought we were close, Liam,” I said. “When have I ever called you for help? Never. I’ve never asked you for a place to crash. This shit going on is all new to me. I’m feeling this thing in fifty directions. And I don’t need Miranda breathing down my neck. I’m not staying forever, Liam. You can’t just calm her down for a few days for me?”

  “This is our home, Jackson,” Liam said. “You’re welcome to stay as long as you want. But it is our home. I’m in a tough spot here too. Stuck between my fiancée and my best friend. Miranda and I work long hours. When we come home, we have our routine. It’s tough having that messed up.”

  “So I’m invading and messing things up.”

  “You’re being a dick now. Big time.”

  “You’re the dick,” I said. “She crushed me.”

  “Miranda?”

  “No. Callie.”

  “Did you call her yet?”

  “Why the fuck would I call her?” Liam asked.

  “Why wouldn’t you? Since when do you back down?”

  “I’m not backing down.”

  “You’re hiding,” Liam said. “That’s not like you.”

  “Things change,” I said. “People change. Maybe you’ll change too.”

  “Oh, this is where you tell me to leave Miranda, right? You want to control my relationship. You can’t even control your own.”

  “Fuck you, Liam,” I snapped.

  “There it is,” he said. “Come on. Get that anger out. You love her. You fell in love. Now you’re trying to tell yourself it was never real to begin with. But it was.”

  “I will knock your ass out in your own kitchen,” I warned.

  “Then do it,” Liam said.

  I stepped toward him.

  Liam unbuttoned his sleeves and rolled them up.

  We both nodded at each other.

  “You’re afraid to make a move because if she really is a bitch, it’s going to fuck with your heart for a long time,” Liam said.

  “And if you marry Miranda, you’re going to be miserable,” I said. “You know it.”

  “So what are we going to do here, Jackson?” Liam asked. “I have a meeting in an hour.”

  We slowly circled each other.

  Was I going to throw fists with my best friend?

  Hell no.

  We both knew that.

  Liam just played into it for me. Because he was that good of a friend.

  When I lowered my fists, I sighed. “I’m going to go pack my shit and leave. Thanks for me letting me crash here. I have to figure something out.”

  “Okay,” Liam said. “The door is always open. Just not for too long.”

  “Please tell me that you and Miranda don’t do stupid shit like walk around naked…”

  “Did you and Callie ever do that?” he asked with a grin.

  “Of course,” I said. “But we fucked each other’s brains out while dinner was getting cold.”

  Liam winked.

  I had no idea what the wink was for, but I did not want to think about him and Miranda naked, squirming around the kitchen floor.

  I went back to the guest bedroom and fixed the bed as though I was never there.

  Then I grabbed my bag off the floor and started to leave but paused.

  I looked at the guest bathroom.

  I grinned.

  I went into the bathroom and threw the towel to the floor.

  Just because I knew it would piss off Miranda.

  Sorry, Liam… not really.

  “I have no idea what to say, nephew,” Vince said as he swirled the top shelf scotch around in his glass. “It was just moving so fast in that moment. I can’t believe this…”

  Vince wanted to meet and talk. I figured it was because I hadn’t shown up to work for a while. But he wanted to get right into it.

  He looked at me. “You know I’d never fuck her, right?”

  “I don’t know what I know anymore,” I said.

  “Look, she played us both,” he said. “I fired her. Just so you know.”

  “You, what?”

  “I fired her. She was drunk, Jackson. Drunk at work. Drinking on the job. Acting like a crazed woman. Ruining my reputation. Ruining the company your father started.”

  “How?” I asked.

  Vince sipped the scotch and put the glass down. “I know what you saw and the way it looked. It looked like your uncle was being a pervert and making a move on your fake wife, right? That’s what you saw. The truth? I got a call she was still in the office. That she was acting strange. So I showed up to see what was going on. She was in her office, damn near stripping herself down…”

  My heart began to race. It twisted and pounded.

  Vince frowned. “I knew something was wrong. She was all over the place. She demanded I pay her. She wanted the bonus. I told her to calm down and keep her clothes on. I know the marriage was fake, but, you know, she’s married to you, Jackson. To my nephew. She asked me to… to sleep with her. On her desk.”

  Then ente
red the rage.

  Callie… taking her clothes off? In front of Vince? Begging him to fuck her?

  “I’m so sorry,” Vince said. “I really am. I didn’t know what to do. She was ranting about taking you down. Hurting you. So I finally just caved. I grabbed my checkbook and figured just tell her what she wanted to hear. Write her the goddamn check. Get her out of the goddamn office. Let her take the money so I could let her go and get things back to normal.”

  “Why did she come after me then?” I asked.

  “That’s just part of the act, Jackson,” Vince said. “She’s a good actress. That I’ve always known. I thought this was… I don’t know. Fun. What the hell was I thinking? I thought you two would compete and… boy, did I fuck this up, huh?”

  Vince admitting he did something wrong…

  I stood up. “I have to go.”

  “Jackson, wait,” he said. “You believe me, right?”

  I looked into my uncle’s eyes and nodded.

  “Good,” he said. “It’s just us now, nephew. The way it should have always been. Hey, I’m going to take care of that money your father left. I told myself when you were ready for it, you’d get it. And I want you working right along-side of me. You and I, Jackson. It’s time. Forget about what happened. Forget about Callie.”

  I kept nodding. “Okay. We’ll talk soon?”

  “Sure. If you want, I can send some stuff over to you. Keep you busy.”

  “Yeah, you do that,” I said.

  Vince opened his arms and hugged me.

  He was desperate.

  He was lying.

  Everything in my life was a lie.

  I walked through the cemetery carefully.

  There was always something about the place that bothered me.

  I didn’t like the idea of it being some kind of advertisement for what was to come in life.

  It had been a long time since I visited my father’s grave.

  I wasn’t into the whole talking to the headstone or hanging around with the dead, but there I was.

  For as rich as my father was, he was buried right in the middle of the cemetery. Nothing big or fancy. Just normal. Which was what my father always was. He was always normal. Everything about his existence was to help people. There were times he ached over the fact that he made the money he did. I remembered as a kid finding him having a drink, staring into the fire in the fireplace, almost in tears, wondering if what he was doing was right or not.

  Everything he ever did was right.

  He found the companies that needed the help.

  He never took more than he should have.

  Sometimes he took way less and got burned in the process.

  Every penny he made, he made sure to find a way to split it up.

  When word got out that there was a playground in need of repairs, he rebuilt the entire thing. When someone mentioned that a nursing care facility was in dire need of a new central air system, he made sure it was replaced. And never once did he put his name to it. He would write a check and demand it be kept anonymous. One time a local reporter tracked down the donation to fund the local library to my father and ran a story about all he had done. He was so hurt by it because it put his name into the spotlight. So when it came time for him to have the interview, what did he do?

  Instead of him talking, he had a group of people there to do it instead. Firefighters. Police officers. Nurses. Teachers. Trouble teens who turned their lives around. And he demanded each get their chance to talk and tell their own stories.

  That’s who my father was.

  When he died and Vince took over the company…

  I crouched down and shook my head.

  I thought about that day when he was so mad at the reporter.

  Later that night he told me to sit with him.

  ‘Jackson, I have it worked out… because that’s what you do when you face a problem. You work it out. You can’t let your anger get the best of you. Even if you have to walk away and think for a while. That’s okay. Just never forget where you came from. You know the saying about lemons and lemonade… right?’

  I remembered his face vividly.

  “Lemons,” I whispered.

  Then something hit me.

  “Lemonade,” I said. I reached forward and touched the headstone. “Dad, I have to cut this visit short. I have something to do. But you did it. You saved the day again. I miss you. I think about you every day.” I stood up. “You really did it…”

  I turned and started to jog through the cemetery.

  For the first time in days a smile crept across my face.

  I had some work in front of me.

  My plan?

  Save my father’s legacy.

  And save my marriage.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Callie

  The one good thing about not having a real job was that I could wear whatever I wanted to wear.

  Jeans and a hoodie for the day? Sure thing.

  I couldn’t remember the last time on a Wednesday I was able to dress down and not give a crap about my hair, makeup or clothing.

  I sat behind the counter at Mom’s shop, working on her books, and casually looking around the place.

  The people that came into shop were… real people.

  My heart ached more than ever.

  I had been judging Mom for something she so believed in.

  She just needed help with her books.

  She knew nothing about managing a business.

  Was that her fault?

  Yeah, but that didn’t mean it should have been a death sentence for her.

  Everyone had flaws.

  Nobody was perfect.

  When customers came to the counter, I moved away.

  Mom took care of everyone with love and respect. And she made sure to introduce me to everyone.

  That’s when I really learned who Mom was.

  Every single person looked at me and said that Mom was special to them. That she listened, helped, and was always available. Mom was selling an experience for those who needed it. Those who were in pain, confused, scared, or anxious. Those who just wanted to decorate their homes with something a little different.

  She really had a good business.

  The books proved it too.

  The work that Jackson had put in made a lot of sense.

  His notes on the vendors were spot on.

  I made a few calls and I was able to easily salvage relationships that would have been otherwise destroyed for good.

  When it came to inventory, Jackson’s ideas were right again.

  Everything he suggested was… right.

  “You’re working too hard,” Joni said to me.

  I looked up and smiled. “I’m trying to save this place.”

  “I know you are. Your mother believes in it too.”

  “That’s a lot of pressure to put on me.”

  “Is it?” Joni asked.

  “Yeah, it is,” I said. “This isn’t my business, Joni.”

  “Maybe it should be. Maybe fate put you here.”

  “Jackson did this work,” I said. “He was the one who took it on. He saw…”

  My throat closed.

  Joni touched my hand. “It’s time.”

  “Time for what?” I asked.

  I felt my voice crackling.

  “Stay here,” Joni said.

  She walked away and I hurried to wipe the corners of my eyes.

  I cleared my throat.

  Jackson didn’t want a thing to do with me.

  That was clear.

  Vince fired me.

  I had no desire to fight back against him.

  So for now, this was my new job.

  I had enough savings that I could take a little time and think.

  I could help Mom get the shop back on track and in order.

  She could pay herself from the business. And she could pay her taxes and her car payment - and all her other bills. Once I had that set up for good, then
I could get out there and find a new job.

  Part of me even thought about leaving the city.

  Or the state.

  I could definitely start over somewhere else.

  As far as a reference went, I just needed to call Vince and make it known if he wanted to play this game, I would tell the truth and ruin him. I knew how to scare him.

  In fact, I could have had my job back in a heartbeat.

  I just didn’t want it.

  I couldn’t work that close to Jackson ever again.

  “You need to go with them,” Mom said to me from behind me.

  I turned around.

  Joni, Sunny, and Lake were walking toward the back.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Go with them,” Mom said. “Please just trust me. Trust them. Trust this.”

  “Mom…”

  “Callie,” she snapped. “I know everything you’ve done for me. I know how you feel about this place. I’m asking, just one time, trust this.”

  I swallowed hard.

  I walked from behind the counter to the back room of the shop.

  I had no idea what to expect.

  The lights were out.

  There were four candles lit.

  “Sit,” Lake said to me.

  I sat at a small table.

  “This is where we tell the truth,” Sunny said. “Speak your truth and blow out the candle.”

  “Then what?” I asked.

  “Then let fate take control,” Joni said. “No more trying to plan it all out.”

  “Trust us,” Lake said.

  “I’ll go first,” Sunny said. “My name is Sheila. I married a wonderful man. I had a dream life. All we wanted was a family together. We tried and my body refused. The universe had other plans for me. For us. I was told I would never have children. No matter what. I looked into my husband’s eyes and just knew it was over. I knew the truth. So we sat down and said we loved each other, but it was over. A month later, he impregnated a woman. We weren’t even officially divorced yet. I never knew if that meant he was seeing that woman while we were together or not. I never asked. I changed my name to Sunny and I embraced my fate.”

  Sunny blew out the candle.

  I heard her sniffling.

  I wanted to cry.

  “My name is Lisa,” Lake said. “I fell in love as a teenager. With the most beautiful boy in the world. He was my best friend. He was my first everything. He took care of me in a way nobody could ever understand. They blamed our age. As though that’s a punishment for feelings. We were going to run away together and get married. Have a family, a house. I had a dream of him working as a mechanic and me as a waitress. We would struggle to get by, but we would have so much love…” Lake wiped her eyes. “He died in a car accident when we were eighteen. I’ve never loved since then. I’ve had lovers, but have never loved. He was the one and only. The truth of the universe. I changed my name to Lake and became part of that universe. My fate is to wait for my time to see him again.”