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I told him my address and the crease between his brows deepened. “I’m pretty sure about half of the homes there are registered as historical.”
“The people who don’t mind the historical society are registered. Some either didn’t have the money or didn’t want to have the oversight.”
“Was it condemned?”
“No. This is purely a revenge decision on my brother’s end. It’s so sad. The house is in good shape and a family could totally live there.”
Levi’s lips pursed and he glanced at me before looking back down at his laptop.
“Have some work to do? I can come back.”
“No, stay. This will just take a second.”
I didn’t say anything as he quickly typed something, but I did feel worse for showing up unannounced.
“All done?” I asked when he finally closed his laptop.
“For now, yes. You have my undivided attention.”
“Good, because we need to talk about how to fake a marriage, which is a sentence I never thought would come out of my mouth.”
Levi smiled and then leaned back in his chair. “You know what they say about lies: every good one has a nugget of truth to them.”
“And what’s our nugget of truth? It’s not like you love me or anything.”
“Right,” he said after an awkward moment of silence. “I meant that we would go through with it like a normal marriage. We start with a ring and have a wedding. Do all the things normal couples would do.”
“Notallof the things,” I reminded. “But yes. That makes sense. You pick out a cheap ring and then we elope. Problem solved.”
“The problem isnotsolved. I have a few things I want to do differently.”
“If you’re going to suggest something weird, like the Romanian tradition of kidnapping the bride for ransom, I’m gonna have to pass.”
He laughed. “Nothing like that.”
“Then what changes do you want?”
“We’re not picking out a cheap ring or eloping. If we’re doing this, then we’re doing it right. And my wife gets exactly what she wants.”
My wife.
The word was so shocking, all I could do was say, “O-okay.”
Oh, fuck. Apparently, being called his wife made any arguments flee my brain. This was not good for my resolvenotto get caught up in this man.
Don’t trust him. He’ll only let you down.
I could hear Gram’s voice in my mind and I steeled myself. I could have fun looking at rings and not trust him.
Easy enough.
“Good,” he said as he got up and put on his jacket. “We can get started now. Let’s go ring shopping.”
“What, now?” I asked. “Don’t you have work to do?”
“I told you my meetings were canceled.”
“But I’m sure you have other things on your list.”