Liars Like Us

21

“Not if it’s a business arrangement. Maybe the dude already has his side chicks that he keeps on the downlow, and he just needs a wife for the formalities to satisfy Daddy Warbucks. Maybe all he’d expect of you would be to show up at family functions and annoy the s**t out of everyone with your awkward social skills and lack of an Ivy League education.”

I stare at Ryan in outrage. “Awkward social skills?”

He grins at me. “You burped in my dad’s face at our wedding reception.”

“I’d been drinking champagne all afternoon. It makes me gassy!”

Dani says, “And let’s not forget the time you laughed at your grandma’s funeral.”

“I was eight. And corpses are funny!”

Ryan says, “Or the time the security guard at the mall wished you a Merry Christmas and you politely answered ‘No, thank you.’ And the time our neighbor Jenny put her baby in your hands and you said the same thing and set the baby on the ground.”

Indignant, I demand, “Well, what kind of a mother goes around shoving her newborn at strangers? What was I supposed to do, stick it on my boob and start to nurse?”

Ryan laughs at that. “Don’t forget the time we were at that Halloween party and that guy in the wolf mask came up to you and asked who you were, and you stuck your hand on your hip and said, ‘I’m the one your mother warned you about, that’s who.’”

“I was in a mood, okay?”

They keep going, the heartless jerks, telling each other my greatest hits until they’re crying with laughter. I say without heat, “You guys suck.”

Wiping at her watering eyes, Dani says, “Let’s face it, girl, you march to the beat of your own drum.”

“I’m glad I’m such a source of amusement. Now be quiet until I finish my dinner, or I might accidentally stab one of you.”

Feeding Mia another bite of pasta, Ryan says, “Not that you’ll take my advice, but I’m gonna give it anyway. Ask this rich guy what the conditions of his offer are. Even if you don’t believe he’s for real, call his bluff. See what he has to say. And if it turns out he’s serious…”

He wipes Mia’s mouth with a napkin, then turns back to me. “Negotiate.”

“Pardon me, but I’m not livestock. I’m not about to haggle over my purchase price.”

“You don’t have to. He’s already named the price. What you haggle over are the terms.”

Leaning in, Dani says excitedly, “Ooo, yeah, I love that idea. Tell him he has to buy you at least ten carats of diamonds a year.”

Ryan says, “No, I meant like how long you have to stay married before you can keep all the money, stuff like that.” He pauses to think. “Actually, what you should do is tell him the money gets put into a trust in your name first or you don’t walk down the aisle at all.”

“Listen to you. What a mercenary.”

“Hey, it’s business, not love. The rules are different. You have to make sure you get everything you want up front and in writing or no deal.”

What I want. Now there’s a concept. I can’t remember the last time someone asked what I want. In fact, now that I think about it, I’m not sure anyone ever has.

My parents always taught me to be grateful for what I have, to not ask for more. But what if Callum was serious about his offer? What if, like Dani said, he wanted to choose someone who wouldn’t fit in with his family, just to spite his father?

And what if, just once, I was in a position to get anything I dreamed of?

As I sit there, I seriously consider the possibilities for the first time. Ten million dollars is a fortune. The things I could do with that kind of money…

Not only could I keep the store open, everyone would keep their jobs.

I could hire an attorney to fight that ridiculous lawsuit.

I could pay off the stupid tax bill from the CDTFA.

I could go back to school and get that degree I never had the time or money for.

I could figure out what I really wanted to do with my life. Who I actually wanted to be, aside from the person I was always expected to be. The good girl. The dutiful daughter. The person who took on the identity her parents wanted for her. The hardworking, self-sacrificing, loyal-to-the-family-before-all-else child.

The heir to her father’s dreams.

It hits me with a shock that Callum and I have that in common. We’re both products of our fathers’ making, of their inflexible ideas about how things should be. Callum with his dad’s insistence on marriage or disinheritance, me with my dad’s insistence that a literary life is the only one worth living.

“And how strange that we both work for the family business,” I murmur aloud, eyes glazed over as my mind works in a frenzy.

“Earth to Emery. Come back from Mars, girl, your lasagna’s getting cold.”

When I look at Ryan, he grimaces. “That face you’re making is scary.”

I shake my head slowly, feeling wobbly and disoriented, like the room has started to spin. “This isn’t my scary face. This is my negotiating face.”

Dani sits bolt upright, clapping. “You’re going to do it? You’ll see if he’s for real?”

I hesitate before nodding. “Yeah. You’re right. What have I got to lose?”

I glance at Ryan. After that irrevocable trust he mentioned, I know the first thing I’ll be asking Callum for.