The Wife Arrangement

by Penny Wylder

  In the meantime, I nudge Dee with my shoulder. “Come on. Let’s get ready. If you’re going to wow my parents, might as well start with this party tonight.”

  “Step one: I need to stop swearing, don’t I? Your mom about turned white when I said damn.” She laughs and pushes herself off the bed, then offers me a hand. I take it and pull her back down onto my lap instead, kissing her hard.

  “Mm, please don’t stop. I love your dirty mouth.” I trace my tongue along her lower lip, and she parts it for me, draws my lower lip between her teeth to bite down gently.

  “You do, huh?” When we break apart, her eyes are full of mischief.

  “Especially when you’re using said dirty mouth to tell me all the dirty things you want me to do to you,” I reply with an arched brow, as I flip her around beneath me. With the sea breeze fluttering the curtains, and our view out over one of the most beautiful cities this side of the Atlantic—and most importantly, with Dee pinned underneath me, her body wriggling in anticipation as she wraps her arms around my neck and pulls me down against her—today should be perfect. This whole week should be.

  It will be. I’ll make it right. For both of us.

  12

  Dee

  Jasper and I, predictably, take a bit longer to prep for the cocktail party than we anticipated. As in a couple of hours longer. Finally, I manage to shower without him dragging me back into the stream of water, and get dressed in the only cocktail-hour type dress I brought. I got it at a vintage shop, knee-length and lacy, and it reminds me of a ballerina’s costume, but with a little edge from the studs sewn into the top and the ragged fringe on the hem.

  I check myself out in the mirror before departing our suite, and I actually smile. I like the look on me.

  But the moment Jasper and I step arm-in-arm through the veranda onto the rooftop bar of the resort, my stomach sinks. I’ve gone all wrong with this. His cousins—these must be the cousins, there are about a thousand of them, and everyone has the same dark messy waves as Jasper, the same piercing dark eyes—are in veritable ball gowns, all sleek black things, some clingy and others flowy. But nothing like my dress. Nothing that looks so casual or… well, cheap, in comparison.

  My cheeks flush immediately. But then a woman rushes forward to grasp my hand and pull me into a hug, without so much as an introduction first.

  “You must be Dee,” she says, all in one breath. “I’m Sofia, Jasper’s cousin. It’s so lovely to meet you—and so wonderful our little J’s gotten himself a girl at last, huh?” She winks at him. Only then do I notice the train of boys clinging to the hem of Sofia’s gown. Each one dressed cuter than the last, in little matching suits. “Oh, these are my sons. Peter, Christopher, Luke. The girls are floating around here somewhere too…”

  “Two,” pipes up one of the boys.

  Sofia laughs. “Luke Two,” she amends. “Luke number one is his uncle. At least whenever we’re at big family events like this.” Then she glances at me with a grin. “I tried to explain the proper term is junior, but—”

  “I’m not junior,” the boy—Luke Two, I suppose—replies, looking cross.

  “Of course you’re not.” Jasper kneels and extends his arms. “Hey there, Two. How you been?”

  “Good.” Luke Two considers Jasper for a moment, then, with a laugh and a huge smile, peels away from his mother’s skirts and his brothers to throw his arms around Jasper’s neck in a hug. The other two boys join in, and pretty soon Jasper is rolling on the ground of the very fancy, very elite rooftop club with these kids.

  I can’t help it—I burst into laughter, loving the sight. Loving that he’s the type of person willing to get down and dirty with his cousins’ kids, even at a fancy event like this.

  Sofia tucks her arm through mine as the boys continue to wrestle. “Come on,” she whispers conspiratorially in my ear. “While he’s distracted, let me steal you away.”

  She leads me straight toward the buffet table, and I think I love her already.

  Along the way, we collect a couple of other cousins—Chloe and Jessie, who come to offer Sofia congratulations, both with significant glances at her stomach.

  “Are you pregnant?” I ask, genuinely surprised, because I couldn’t tell under her tight, form-fitting gown.

  “Four months along, bless you.” She pats my hand and laughs. “I love this girl,” she adds to Chloe, who falls in beside us at the buffet. “Great taste in food and compliments.”

  The three of us stock up our plates and hover at the edge of the party chatting. Sofia points out Jasper’s aunts and uncles and various cousins. I lose track of most people—there are so many names flying past, it’s hard to attach them all to faces. But Sofia just pats my arm, reassuring. “Don’t worry, you’ll get to know them all soon enough. In the meantime, just stick with me, and I’ll make sure to whisper hints anytime your memory needs a jog.”

  “Thank you,” I tell her, sincerely. “It is a little overwhelming, but in a good way—it must be so wonderful to have a huge family like this.”

  “Wonderful and the bane of my existence all at once,” she says with a loving sigh that makes her sound just like Jasper. “I love them to pieces, but sometimes we can be a bit much to handle. Especially for newcomers who aren’t used to it. Do you have a big family, Dee?” She smiles at me, so genuine I can’t help but return it.

  “No, unfortunately. Just me.”

  “Not anymore,” she corrects me with a wink. “You’ve got us now.”

  My heart soars even as my stomach sinks. Because I don’t, not really. This is all for show, and sooner or later, Jasper’s going to have to break the news to these people. I’m nothing more than a business agreement, a fake wife he needed to get his CEO promotion. What will his parents think of me then? They’ll probably hate me even more than when they thought I was just some gold-digger.

  “Oh, come here, you have to meet my brother Alex—Alex!” She shouts and waves at a guy in the crowd, who’s got an infant tucked under one arm and one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen wrapped around the other.

  I force a smile back onto my face and try to push those thoughts to the back of my mind. I try to forget that I’m faking, that none of these people are really my family now. I try to forget Jasper and I are lying to everyone here. Instead, I just focus on the party, the fun. The sense of welcome and ease which was missing when I first stepped out of the cab jet-lagged and tired earlier, but which is starting to return with every spin around the room.

  Maybe… maybe I really could fit in here, I start to think.

  * * *

  Pleasantly buzzed from the cocktail Sofia pressed on me to drink in her stead—something called ouzo, which tastes like licorice, but when mixed with a full glass of ice water, was actually surprisingly refreshing… And potentially deadly. I drained the whole thing before Sofia realized and stopped me, laughing, with a warning about the high alcohol content.

  It definitely didn’t taste that strong going down. It tasted delicious and light.

  Now, however, as my head swims and I stumble along the hall trying to remember which suite Jasper and I are in, the floor swaying under my feet, I realize she was right. Whoops.

  I squint at the doors and try to force the numbers to align themselves properly in my head. 403? No… 401? I sway back and forth between the two, then finally grip the knob of 403 just as it turns under my hand. “Oh—sorry!” I blurt, only to find myself face-to-face with Greg.

  He hesitates, eyebrows lifted, and then smiles with understanding. “Oh. You two are next door, Dee.”

  “Thanks.” I sway on the spot a little, but don’t make a move to reach for 401. Instead, I’m too busy staring up at Greg. Greg, who I thought was my friend. Greg, who hired me for this gig in the first place, and then tried to throw me under the bus the second I got here. “Can I ask you something?” I say. I’m proud that only the s comes out a little slurry.

  “Of course.” He blinks, taken aback. Like he has no i
dea what he did.

  “Why did you say all that stuff about me to Jasper’s dad? That I was an intern who threw myself at him, that people are gossiping about me…”

  He tilts his head, confused. “Well, it’s all true, isn’t it? I mean, minus the throwing yourself at him part, but that was the party line we’d agreed to go with, I thought.”

  “It’s just the way you said it, though. It made… it makes this all sound so much worse than it is.”

  “Worse than faking a marriage with someone your father will hate so he’ll promote you to CEO and beg you to divorce her on top of that?” Greg laughs. “Yes, I suppose that does sound pretty bad, Dee, but you knew what you were signing up for.”

  I reel back from him, until my back hits the far wall. I glance up and down the hallway, worried someone else overheard that, my head buzzing. “What did you just say?”

  Greg frowns. Crosses the hallway to lift my chin and peer down at me. “Dee. You know this is all fake right?” His voice drops low, concerned now.

  I shake my head, twist out of his grip. “Not that. The other thing. Someone your father will hate?” My chest hurts. My stomach, too. I feel like I’m going to be sick, and not just from the alcohol.

  His frown deepens. “I thought you knew that’s why we picked you.”

  We? My heart aches. “Why?” I whisper, through cracked lips.

  “Jasper’s father was demanding he marry in order to promote him. Jasper figured this would kill two birds with one stone. He marries for the promotion, but somebody totally inappropriate, someone his parents would think was a gold-digger just using Jasper for his money, somebody uncultured, so they’d be fine when he goes to—or, even encourage him to—divorce you.”

  So that’s why. All Jasper’s talk about liking me for me, about how I wooed him with my love of cars, about how he couldn’t resist me… And all along this has been his plan. Seduce me because I’m the most humiliating option. The one who will never fit in, the one who doesn’t match his family at all.

  “Is it really that surprising?” Greg asks, still with that sympathetic look on his face, which somehow makes it so much worse. “I mean, you met his parents, you saw their reactions even before I said anything. You were at the party tonight, too—didn’t you notice how you stood out like a sore thumb?”

  The backs of my eyes sting. I have to get out of here. “I… I didn’t really…”

  “Oh, Dee.” Greg reaches up to touch my shoulder, the sympathy melting into abject pity now. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t think ahead about what this would feel like for you. I thought you’d be prepared for it, but how could you be? I mean, dozens of people all disapproving of you, and those girls at the office spreading all those rumors… It must have been awful.”

  It should have been, I think. But instead… Right up until this minute, right up until I learned what Jasper really thinks about me… Until now it hasn’t been awful. It’s felt like it’s worth it. All this pain, all the rumors and the gossip. It was worth it to be with him, to feel like I’d finally found a guy who gets it. Who gets me.

  But he doesn’t. Not really. I’ve just been a ploy all along. Somebody to toy with and then throw aside. A tool to help accomplish his goals.

  Tears spill over the edge of my eyes and track down my cheeks. “Yeah, I… It has been,” I whisper.

  “Come here.” Greg pulls me into a hug, which surprises me, but I let him, sighing. “You don’t have to stay,” he says. “The main part’s been done. They’ve all seen you exist, they know who you are. If you want to go now, I don’t blame you. Hell, it could even play better that way—we can say something like, you didn’t like anyone here and decided to head home, and that will just make Jasper’s dad even more likely to regret forcing his son into this. And then you don’t have to stick around here feeling miserable all week. How does that sound?”

  For all that he hurt me with what he said earlier, Greg is making a lot of sense. I bite the inside of my cheek and nod at him. Whether this messes up Jasper’s plan or not, I can’t stay here any longer. Not knowing what I know now. Not feeling how I do. I need to get out of here.

  I need to go home.

  13

  Dee

  Tears sting at my eyes as I grab my suitcase and stuff it full of clothes. I hear a knock at the door, and start to cross toward it, expecting Greg. He went to pull the car around and come pick me up.

  But instead I hear Jasper on the far side. “Dee? Where’d you go?” His voice sounds nearly as slurry as mine—probably from the ouzo his cousins have been forcing on everybody in sight.

  I cross over to the door and pull it open, without taking the chain off the lock, so it only opens a couple of inches.

  The moment he sees my face, my eyes red and swollen from crying, his eyes go wide. “What’s wrong?” he blurts.

  “Did you ask me to marry you because you knew your parents would hate me?” I demand.

  He blinks a few times, clearly trying to clear his head. And failing. “Did I…”

  “Did you choose me because I’m the most humiliating option?” My voice rises an octave now. I can’t help it. It cracks on the end, and another tear spills down my cheek. I wipe it away, trying to channel anger instead of pain.

  “Dee, let me in and we can talk about this…”

  “Why should I? You lied to me.”

  “I didn’t lie—”

  “You said you just wanted a fake wife. Not a fake gold-digger. Is that really what you think of me? You agree with all those angry girls at work, is that it?”

  “No. Dee, listen to me, that’s not how I feel anymore.”

  “But it was.” My eyes glitter now, the tears hanging suspended, unshed.

  “Please, Dee. Let me explain.”

  “You had weeks to explain, Jasper. You could have told me what the real plan was when we first met. Or any moment since. All this time, I thought…” A hiccup escapes my lips, frustrating me. “I thought things were changing between us. But I guess only for me.”

  “No, they’ve changed for me too. Let me in, Dee, so we can talk about this.”

  But I’m already pulling the ring off my finger and shoving it back at him through the crack in the door. “I’m done playing charades, Jasper. I’m done trying to fit in somewhere that I don’t. And right now, we’re both drunk, and in no state to talk about things, so please just…” I close my eyes. The tears spill over. “Please just go, okay? Please.”

  He hesitates. Hovers before the door still. “Dee…”

  “Please go, Jasper.”

  “Okay,” he finally whispers, after a long moment. “But only because you asked me to. And only because you’re right, we should talk about this not…” He waves a hand in the air. “Not drunk.”

  I wait until he’s gone. Until his stumbling footsteps fade down the hallway outside, until the hotel around me falls quiet.

  Then I go back to the suitcase I have open on the bed, and continue to toss my things inside it. Ready to go the moment that… Ah. There it is. My phone buzzes with a single ring. The signal from Greg. I tap the screen and find a text from him. Downstairs waiting. Then I grab my suitcase, zip it shut, and I slip out of the resort.

  I can’t wait around anymore. I can’t sit here and listen to more lies, surrounded by a family of people who despise me. Maybe when I get home, Jasper and I can talk about this on familiar territory, if he really wants to explain why he lied to me and hired me to be a gold-digger. But right now…

  I’m going home.

  14

  Jasper

  I stumble back upstairs to the party. The music is still playing, my cousins are still drinking and laughing, and the kids have gone to bed, so now the adults have really let loose. While I normally enjoy myself chatting to my cousins, especially Sofia and Chloe, tonight I can’t relax. I can’t think about anything but Dee, downstairs in our hotel room, her eyes red-rimmed from crying.

  Crying because I didn’t tell her the truth. I didn�
�t tell her the whole story, which I should’ve done a long time ago. But I thought she’d react… well, like this, when I did. And I didn’t want to lose her.

  The irony of that hits home like a bolt. I didn’t want to lose her, so I wasn’t completely honest, and now I’m probably going to lose her.

  Someone slaps me on the back. I grimace and turn around to excuse myself, but then I freeze. Because I’ve just found myself face-to-face with my father.

  “Dad.”

  “Jasper.” He’s smiling, so that’s something. He also has the biggest glass of ouzo I’ve ever seen him drink in one hand, so that could be the only reason why.

  I tense. The last thing I need right now is a fight, much less a fight over the propriety of the girl I’ve chosen. The girl he forced me into choosing.

  The girl I’m about to lose, who just might be the best thing in my life.

  “If you’re here to tell me to break things off with her, you don’t need to bother,” I say.

  To my surprise, Dad’s brow crunches up in distress. “Why on earth would I tell you to do that, son? She’s your wife.”

  She’s not. But at this point, she feels like it. She calls me husband. She’s wearing my ring—or, well… she was. I feel its weight now, heavy in my pocket, and it only makes my heart ache worse. “I thought you’d hate her,” I reply, my tone glum.

  But Dad just laughs, deep and loud. “Son.” He claps me on the back again, and shakes my shoulder a little. He’s definitely had one too many of those ouzos. “Why would it matter what I think of her? What matters to me is that she makes you happy, Jasper. That’s all I’ve ever wanted for you. The same happiness your mother and I found together. The same happiness we found doubly strong when we had you. So, are you happy when you’re with her?”