Page 17 of The Marriage Deal (Sunset Falls #1)

CROSS MY HEART

LILAH

Big warm eyes peer up at me from the head that rests in my lap. My heart—my silly little heart—weeps.

“I’ve taken to calling him Senior,” Madelyn says.

“Has there been any interest in him?”

She shakes her head. “None.”

“How can that be? He’s so sweet.”

“He’s old.” Madelyn shrugs, but I can feel her frustration. “Big dogs rarely live longer than twelve, maybe thirteen. I suspect Senior is around ten.”

“So?”

Her eyes flick to mine from the stack of charts she’s working on. “So, most people don’t like to open their hearts to an inevitable loss.”

“All pets are an inevitable loss. They don’t live as long as people.”

“You know what I’m saying.”

“Yeah.” I stroke my thumb over the smooth golden fur between Senior’s loving eyes. He gives a doggy sigh that whispers love from the heart. It hurts. “But I wish I didn’t.”

“I figure he’ll just spend his final years with me.” Madelyn slaps a chart closed. “I’m not going to just give up on him. He deserves better from us. From people. And other than his age, he’s healthy. Great with people and kids.”

“He does deserve better.” I wince at the needle that drives into my heart when Senior scoots a little closer. Sometimes I really hate people.

“Are you meeting the man tonight again?” Madelyn changes topics.

“I am.”

Her eyes flick up from the charts. “You are?”

“Yep.” I pop the P. Then I feel myself sink into a spiral of spilled secrets. “If I told you a big secret, and I mean a huge secret, would you keep it?”

Her brows rise. “Do you have a big secret to tell me?”

“Maybe.”

“Lilah.”

I squeak. “Yes.”

Madelyn pushes back from her desk to drop her butt in the chair beside mine. “Spill. The whole thing.”

I clap my hand over my mouth. “Oh, my God. I can’t.”

“I’ve been your best friend since pre-k, girl. Spill.”

“I’m a terrible person.” The words are muffled behind my fingers. Senior lifts his head from my lap with doggy concern.

“You’re not a terrible person.” Madelyn scoots to the edge of her seat. “What’s this about?”

“Briggs.” His name sounds high.

Her eyes widen. “You slept with him! Already!? Go you.”

“No.” I shake my head. “I haven’t. I won’t.”

“You won’t?” She’s frowning now.

I’m an idiot. I should have kept my mouth shut.

This is a bad idea. A lot of my ideas lately aren’t the best or brightest, though. This is just another on a very long list.

“You know that’s what adults do in a relationship? Eventually, I mean.”

“We’re not in a relationship. Well, not that kind of relationship.”

There’s a beat of silence as both dog and woman look at me. Madelyn breaks the silence. “I’m confused.”

“It circles back to that secret I have.”

She spins her finger in a circle between us. “That one you’re going to tell me now?”

I release a stuck breath in a rush. “I’m not actually dating Briggs. I mean, the thing between us is fake.”

Madelyn blinks. Then she laughs. “Of course, you’re dating him. You’ve been all over town together. Woman, I saw that man pin you to him just this morning. Not going to lie that was hot as Hades and absolutely real.”

I groan. “No. No, it was not.”

“I don’t understand. You’re going to have to explain it to me in layman’s terms because honey, I’m lost.”

“Okay,” I begin, pause, and start again. “He propositioned me to be his fake girlfriend slash wife.”

“He proposed?” Madelyn shrieks, hands gripping the arm of her chair like she’s on a wild amusement ride.

“Not yet, but he will.” When she fails to close her slack jaw, I press on.

“It’s all part of the deal we struck. I’m not going to go deep into detail, but essentially, I got myself into some financial trouble that he offered to pay me out of if I marry him and help him get Fire Falls Ranch and Resort and Fire Falls Estates going.

Also, when it’s all over and we divorce,” I air quote, ‘divorce’ before pressing on again, “I’ll walk away with five hundred thousand dollars.

I want to help the town, and everyone who knows change doesn’t always have to be bad knows that we need something to change in Sunset Falls—so I just—I mean, why not get something out of it? ”

Silence. I’m not even sure she’s breathing, and her jaw is still slack.

After at least two minutes have passed and Senior has shimmied from me to her to nose her in concern, I beg, “Say something.”

She peels her jaw off the floor. “I don’t know what to say. I can’t tell if you’re pranking me.”

“I’m not pranking you.”

“Briggs seriously offered you five hundred thousand dollars to marry him?”

“To be his fake wife, yes.”

“But—” She shakes her head, dumbstruck. “You guys have legit chemistry.”

“We don’t, I assure you.”

She argues, “You do.”

“Okay, well, if we do, it’s the murderous kind.” I groan again. “We’re always bickering about something. The man is infuriating and I’m pretty sure I drive him to the edge of sanity. He calls me a little lunatic.”

Madelyn snorts, but she’s grinning toothily. “That’s cute.”

I eye her, probably a little maniacally. “There’s nothing cute about being called a lunatic.”

“Maybe not a lunatic, but a little lunatic.” She pinches her thumb and finger nearly together, bobbing her head. “That’s adorable.”

“You’re a freak, you know that?”

“Says the woman who’s marrying a man for money.”

“Google says it happens more often than we know.” I paste the excuse onto my bad decision as if it’ll make it all better. It won’t—doesn’t. The delusion is nice, though.

Her brows arch high. “You Googled marriages for money?”

“I Googled contract marriages, yes. They’re quite common in the world of business.”

She blinks at me. “Which you aren’t a part of.”

“Wasn’t a part of. Apparently, I am a part of that world now.”

She slouches back in her chair. “All right. When is the wedding?”

“I don’t know. Soon?”

She crinkles her nose. “He’s right. You are a lunatic.”

“I’m friends with you, aren’t I?”

“Touché.” She smiles, but it’s still a little—or a lot bewildered. “Seriously, though, you know you don’t have to do this, right?”

“I do have to. He’s already paid my debts.”

“So, pay him back.”

“I can’t. That’s why they were debts.”

“They can’t have been that bad. You don’t have anything.” She can’t know how much those words hurt. “I’ve got a little savings. I can help you.”

“No.” I shake my head. “I don’t need help. I want to do this.”

Her brows inch high again. “You do?”

“Sunset Falls needs him whether they want to admit it or not. This town has been dying for years and if nothing changes, it’s only going to get harder.

People are going to be forced to move, to abandon houses and shops—lives.

Soon we’re going to be like one of those boarded up towns on the way to something better.

Sunset Falls is more than that, Madelyn, and Briggs is willing to roll out the money this town needs to start really making money. ”

She nods like she gets it. I’m not certain she does, though. At least not my part in it.

I continue, “I need you to keep this between us, okay?”

She draws an X over her heart. “I won’t tell anyone. Cross my heart.”

“You’re the best.”

“I’ll remind you of that claim when I’m demanding details. Intimate, personal details.”

“As long as you don’t tell anyone, it’s a deal.”

Madelyn snorts. “Because apparently you’re so fond of making those.”

I groan but say nothing. She isn’t wrong, so…