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“No shit.” I slump into the chair.
“I only spoke with her a little bit, but she seemed very offended when I suggested you were simple-minded.”
I lift my face and glower at him.
“She seemed so curious and excited to learn about you.”
I sigh, looking down again.
“Genuinely interested, Sawyer. Maybe you two do seem like opposites, but maybe that’s why you work so well. Well enough to get engaged.”
I growl and drop my head back to stare at the ceiling. “We’re not engaged. Not for real.”
He stands and returns with two beers.
I look at his offering, then him, and wonder if we’ve finally let enough years pass to bury the hatchet.
“Talk to me, Sawyer. It’s about time we act like brothers. And I know you’re struggling with something, so try me. Lay it on me and see if we can’t figure it out.”
I sigh and take the bottle, draining a good third of it.
And then I tell him everything. How Claire and I met. The way she reminded me of Gina and how I was so untrusting of her interest because she seemed like a repeat of Gina, out of my league and no one would want to stick with a common worker like me. Then I summed up Claire’s troubles about her mom and the idea to pretend we’re engaged.
“But now her mom’s moving faster. She’s going to change it all.”
Kevin shakes his head. “That can’t be legal.”
“You’d think. Dalton and Caleb both have their lawyers looking into it. It’s twisted and messed up, but I know I can trust his word. It’s not a bluff. Somehow, in some way, that woman will prevent Claire from ever seeing a penny of the money her father wanted her to have. And Kev, she needs it. She doesn’t want it. She just needs the investment to make her business take off. I wouldn’t be surprised if she let it all sit, only using what she needs to get afloat and start up her dream shop.”
“What are the options now?”
I scoff. “Dalton says if Claire is married now, sooner than later, the estate will transfer to her.”
“Married to anyone, right?” Kevin lifts his brows. “Anyone like…the man she’s already ‘engaged’ to?”
“You weren’t there.” I shake my head and set aside the bottle of beer I drank. “She looked mortified and crestfallen.”
“Fancy adjectives.”
I kick his chair lightly. “She was not on board with the idea of marrying and divorcing for the sake of getting her money. I saw the pain in her eyes, like it would be the worst thing she’d put up with.”
Kevin laughs, rolling his eyes. “And you assume it’s because she doesn’t want you?”
“What the hell else am I supposed to think?”
“Maybe that you asking her to go through this like it’s a business transaction could be the opposite of what she really wants?”
I’m scared to let his suggestion settle into my mind, but my heart leaps with dumb hope.
“What if she wants the real thing and has to accept that you don’t seem to?”
I shake my head, thinking back to how she categorized what we had as a hookup.
“What’s the risk of telling her how you feel about her? About her, not this crappy situation she’s stuck in.”
I lick my lips and shrug. “I’d get my heart stomped on if she still isn’t interested.”
“And I bet you’d still survive. What’s the risk if you don’t tell her how you feel?”
