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The Boss’s Proposal
Marriage of Convenience Romance
By: Amanda Horton
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The Boss’s Proposal
Lily Day’s breath became labored as she looked at the notice that hung on her bookstore’s glass door. Large red letters were scrolled across the top of the page, screaming at her. Her gaze was iron, and her body was buzzing. Lily felt as though she was going to fly apart from the inside out. EVICTION NOTICE
Her chestnut brown hair thrashed in the wind, hitting her peachy skin and getting caught in her umber eyes. Her delicate hand met her thin, pink-lipped mouth as a tight gasp escaped her violently. She felt her breath get caught in her chest, and refused to allow her to breathe. She could hear her own devastation.
She had fought so hard for this store. She had worked every day since high school to buy it, and now, here it was, about to be taken from her. Taken like a security blanket from a reluctant child with a misunderstood parent. The loss cut her deep. She was at a loss for a reaction, and also for words.
She had known that her rent had gotten a bit behind, but she could not have guessed that it had gotten to this point. She had emptied all of her accounts, sure that sales would pick up. After all, the store had only been open for a few months. She thought the sales had been impressive and had hoped her landlord would understand and give her some extra time to pay rent. No business owner was successful in their first year, at least, that’s what every magazine and article that she had read had said. Didn’t they understand that?
She felt as though she was being taken on by a power much too powerful for her. An entity that was much larger and greater than she could hope to be. She felt like a child on a playground being bullied. Helpless.
Lily did the first thing that she could have thought to do; she called her sister, Holly Day. Holly had been there for Lily since she was born. After their mother died, Holly had taken over the family. She was the only person who would have been able to do it anyways. Their father quickly fell into a deep pit of alcohol and verbal abuse, and Holly did all that she could to shield Lily from the pain that entailed for the two of them.
Lily thought back to those late nights where Holly held her tightly as she cried while their father screamed in the living room, complaining about his life and their bank account. Holly would sing Lily lullabies that their mother had taught them. She would rock her and tell her stories about how one day it would be all right. That’s what this bookstore meant; it was her all right. It was her happiness that she had been deprived of for so long.
Holly had also invested all her savings in the bookstore so Lily was scared to see her reaction. She began to sweat as the other line rang. She remembered the day that her sister had emptied out her savings account with a smile, happy to help her sister. Holly’s husband James had been resistant to the entire idea. Lily understood why, but a small amount of her resented him for it.
After Holly got married to James, Lily felt truly alone. Holly was busy being a newlywed and planning for children, and their father was little more than a ghost that occasionally needed bailed out of jail or bill money.
“Lily?” The mellifluous voice on the other line asked.
Her sister’s sweet and kind voice had Lily erupt in tears that refused to stop.
“Honey, what’s wrong?”
Her words were comforting and loving, just as they had always been. Rain began to pour, and Lily worked her key in the door with a shaking hand as she grabbed the now wet and curling piece of paper.
“My shop…they want to take it.” Lily choked out, her words stuttering.
“Be right there.” There wasn’t a trace of annoyance or anger in her sister’s voice, something she was thankful for.
Lily fell into the nearest chair as she dropped her heavy head in her hands. Her heart throbbed and her throat clenched. She didn’t have too much time to fall into a nadir of despair as Holly came running in. She had Lily’s nephew, Bryce, sitting on her hip, the three year old in the same miserable state that Lily was in. She must have woken him up earlier than his usual time.
Lily imagined her sister waking up Bryce and dressing him quickly as she put him in his car seat, and listened to him wail as she drove all the way down to the store in the wind and the rain. She hated herself for it.
Holly handed her sister her God Child, who seemed to calm down in the arms of despondent company. He began to play with her owl-figure locket, bringing a smile to Lily’s face.
Her nephew had brought her joy. She was so excited when Holly had called her, telling Lily that the countless attempts of Inv-tro Fertilization had finally worked, and she was pregnant. Since then, Bryce had been dear to both of their hearts. For Holly, he was a prayer come true, for Lily, he was the person that had made her sister happiest. When Holly told her that she was Bryce’s God Mother, it blew her away.
“I knew he would make you feel better.” Holly said as she reached for the eviction notice. Lily gave it over as she looked at her dear nephew.
Holly read over the paper, and cocked her mouth to the side as she thought.
“You have thirty days, so we need to think of a plan.” Lily looked thankfully at her sister.
She had been too panicked to even read what the notice had to say. She cursed herself for being so reactive. She could have avoided this entire fiasco if she had only calmed down enough to read what the paper had to say.
Holly walked to the back of the bookshop and began to make the two of them a cappuccino. The soft aroma of coffee lulled Lily even further. She looked around at her second home. It had been everything that she had dreamed of. She had even planned every book that would line its shelves. The day she paid for the shop was the best day of her life. The day she sold her first book was remarkable. Today compared to those had been the most depressing day of her life. Her heart was in pain, and she felt like a failure.
“ If you get a job, you will make enough to pay rent and manage expenses,” said Holly after thinking for a few minutes.
They decided on this plan as a way to save the store. Holly would run the store while Lily was at work and Lily would take over for the last few hours after her work ended. They knew it was going to be tough but it was the only ‘plan’ they could come up with.
Lily was eighteen, and had just graduated high school, and was in her first semester of college. In other people’s eyes, she had the perfect life. She had a full ride into college, and she was dating someone that she cared about deeply. Lily and Alec Cross had been together since they were fifteen. She was euphorically and deeply in love with Alec. He was handsome, caring and unbelievably intelligent.
Besides Holly, Alec had been the person that had been there the most for her. Whenever her father would start in on her, and Holly was at work, Lily would climb out her window
and would run to Alec’s home. It blew her mind how different their worlds were. His mother and stepfather had loved and supported him no matter what. They never screamed at him or got drunk and took their day out on him or his younger sister. They had dinner each and every night, and expressed their love for them constantly.
The fight hadn’t exactly come out of nowhere. It had been the fifth time that Lily had come home from working a five-hour shift at the Cookie Hut, just to find Alec lounging on the couch, playing video games. Lily had gone to school full time, worked part time, and had to study for finals. All the while, Alec had yet to find a decent job. He had yet to even look.
Lily threw down her book bag, and the screams just came rolling from her mouth.
“Alec what the hell!?” Her words made him jump.
“Hey baby. What’s wrong? Bad day?” He asked in a warm voice.
Lily looked around. The apartment was a mess, and it had all been his. She had left it clean when she left before dawn.
“It wasn’t until I came home! Alec, what the hell is all this? Why is the sink full, why are you just sitting on your ass?” Her words were bitter and acidic, but she couldn’t stop herself.
Her feet were killing her, she was exhausted and she was irritated.
“Babe, I’ll clean it up, I just haven’t had time.”
Lily ran to their room and locked the door as she slammed it. She yelled while she beat her fists into a pillow. The tears came rolling from her eyes, and her stomach hurt.
She leaned down onto the mattress and allowed the anger to wash over her. Eventually, the exhaustion took her over, and she fell asleep.
As a few hours passed, she woke up, groggy and feeling pitiful. She knew what she had to do, and she knew that she had to do it now.
Lily liked to have her life planned out to perfection. She had always wanted to own a bookshop and was focused on that goal. She needed someone who felt the same sense of purpose. She was looking for drive that would motivate her. Unfortunately she did not find it in Alec.
As she made her way out of the room, the smell of cleaner rushed her. The apartment had been spotless, and Alec stood doing the dishes. Lily bit her lip as she looked at the man that she loved as she shook her head.
“Alec, we need to talk.” She mumbled as she made her way to their couch.
Lily felt like there was a hot wrought iron in her throat. This was the last thing that she wanted, but she had had enough, and there was no end to this in sight. How many times had she asked him to change? How many chances had she given him? Too many to count, that was for sure.
Her sister had told her so many times to respect herself, and she felt that by staying with Alec, she would be doing the exact opposite. She looked into Alec’s deep eyes.
They had had so many wonderful years together. Alec took a deep breath as he realized what was happening.
“Alec, I can’t do this anymore.” Said Lily said as she looked down at her hands that were a sweaty mess.
“Lil, don’t.”
“Alec, I’ve given you so many chances. You keep disappointing me.” Lily bit at her lip. “I just don’t think that we go together anymore.”
Alec was taken aback, but still kept his cool demeanor.
“What in the hell is this about Lil?” Alec asked, his voice raw.
“Ambition, Alec. You have none.”
“Lil, you assume that just because I don’t have every moment of my day sorted and spoken for that I don’t have a future. That’s not true Lily ”
“There’s no going with it when it comes to the future Alec! You have to mold it, make it happen!” Lily heard the harshness, but didn’t mind it.
“You’re way is not the only way Lily.”
There was a strange emotion in Alec’s eyes, one that Lily ignored, no matter how much they begged her not to.
“I’ve made up my mind, Alec. I’m done.”
“There has to be something I can do Lil,” Alec said, choking back his emotions as he spoke.
“You already had the chance. I’m going to Holly’s, I want all your things gone by the time I get back.” Lily said heartlessly as she stood and left the house, feeling both relief and regret.
“Fine Lil, if that’s the way you want it. The only thing you give a damn about is that book store any way!” Alec yelled in anger behind her as she left the apartment.
***
Lily sat with a knot in her stomach as she watched the clock tick by. It was agony to sit and wait. She was more than uncomfortable, sitting there helplessly as her world was endangered.
Blue Technologies was the world’s largest technological companies, and Holly had managed to set Lily up with a secretary position with the CEO. It was just another thing to add to her list of reasons why she would never be able to repay her sister.
It had been a couple of years since Lily had been to a job interview, and she was suddenly reminded as to why she was so intent on being her own boss. She hated the feelings of inadequacy that came along with begging for a job.
She couldn’t help but to compare her to all of the other women that had appeared for the interview. They were all beautiful women. All dressed in suits and dresses that she wasn’t able to pronounce the designers of. She gnawed at her lip, wishing that she had dressed better. She wore the same old skirt that she had worn to apply for her business license, with a fitted white shirt, again a couple of years old.
“Brandi Goss,” A woman that sat at a round desk called in her valley girl accent.
A tall blonde followed the woman back. She strutted with a stride that asserted strength. She looked like a woman that showed up on covers of New York Magazines with the title, “How Does She Do It?” Lily couldn’t even imagine the confidence that she would have radiated during her interview.
Less than ten minutes passed before Brandi came pouring out of the back office. She wore a mask of aggravation and harsh disappointment. She slammed her Jimmy Choo heels on the tile with loud clicks that made a point. A point that she was done with whatever she had left behind her. It made Lily even more nervous for what lay behind the doors to that office.
“Lily Day,” the valley girl accent called like a demon calling Satan’s next subject.
Lily stood and followed the woman to an office that screamed prestige. Glass and stainless steel sat all around her, intimidating her with their gleam. Respected awards lined the walls, along with the company logo, letting Lily know that she was lucky to be sitting where she was. She thought about leaving the office, about running from the intimidation that she felt, but she shook it off and focused by counting the clicks on the clock.
After a few uncomfortable moments alone, she began to wonder if the CEO had simply given up on finding a secretary. She wondered if they had found someone already? She imagined her bookshop going up for sale.
As the thought passed through her mind, so did some designer cologne that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. It was vaguely familiar, but there was something different about it. It was familiar in the way that flowers are in the spring.
Lily listened as heels came clacking onto the tile that lined the office. Lily turned to look over her shoulder.
He stood about six foot three and had a muscular build. His skin was a deep brown, and looked bronze in the strong daylight that the office windows let in. His eyes were what sparked the memory the quickest in Lily’s mind. They were a light smoked topaz, and were unlike any Lily had seen before. He had strong facial features that were hard to ignore. The word that came to her mind the fastest was handsome. And then the rush of memories that were still blurry.
Even being familiar with the features, Lily had to take a few moments to place the face. When she had last seen it, it had been younger. She saw the same emotion of trying to figure it out, on his face.
The man that stood in front of her had once been a boy, a boy that she had known inside and out, in the most intimate of ways. The name came creeping up to her mouth, where it lin
gered for more than a moment. It had been years since the name had left her lips, or traced her mind.
“Alec Cross?” She asked, her voice sounding unfamiliar to her own ears.
“Lily?” He asked, his voice imitating hers as he looked down to the paper that he held in his hand.
A part of her wanted to stand and to hug the person whom had been her first love. Another part wanted to recoil away from the awkward situation. The two parts pulled at her, making her freeze and stay still, unwilling to move or to say a word.
She was thankful that Alec had taken the first move. He stepped to her and embraced her.
His scent rushed her. His muscles encompassed her, and his voice lulled her. She was brought back all those years ago when a young girl had loved a young boy. Where the two of them spent every waking moment in each other’s arms.
Lily was overcome with too many emotions to count, embarrassment being the most prominent. She was guilt to have broken up with him.
Here she stood, interviewing her ex for a job. The same ex that she had insisted wouldn’t become anything. She felt her face flush, but she doubted that Alec had noticed the betrayal.
“It’s been a long time,” he said excitedly as he pulled away from her arms and took his seat at his desk.
Lily followed suit.
“Yes, I would say that it has.” Lily contributed.
An awkward silence hung between the two of them. Lily swallowed hard, wondering why this was happening to her. It all felt very unnecessary. Did they need to cross paths now, after 15 years of keeping no contact with each other?
Lily looked at the man that she had made the decision to leave. He was a vision of power, confidence and sex appeal, and she was a heap of regret.
The cocktail of emotions and thoughts that ran through Lily’s mind confused her. Jealousy and embarrassment hit her hard. She also couldn’t deny the fact that she was still attracted to Alec in a very special way. Unlike the other men she had dated and been with in all these years.
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