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“Hello,” Mr. Doyle’s voice in my ear snapped me back to the present and what I was supposed to be doing.
“Mr. Doyle, this is Charlie Beaumont,” I said as I went and took a seat at my desk.
“Yes, Mr. Beaumont. How are you doing?”
“I’m doing well, thank you. I wanted to touch base with you for a quick moment and inform you that my wife has agreed to the move.”
“Oh, that is wonderful news. Your grandfather will be so pleased to know that you both are going to be taking over Rose Falls. I am sure you will be able to restore the town to the beauty and life it once had.” I could hear the massive smile in his voice and the cynic in me couldn’t help but wonder if he was getting a kickback with my acceptance.
“I hope so. It is going to be a lot of work, but I am sure it will be very rewarding.”
I knew it was going to take a very long time before the town started to look like a town. It also didn’t help that I had no idea what I was doing. I was a football player. I worked on a farm. Yeah, I could help in that area of the town, assuming there were any farms. But businesses and homes, I had no idea how to do any of that. I could paint a wall, but I couldn’t build the wall for the paint. There was going to be a huge learning curve and with a lot of luck, I just might make it through. The good thing was, I was a billionaire so I could hire people to restore and repair the areas that I had no clue how to do. I was confident I could find some developers that would love to get their hands on the land and turn it into something. I didn’t want to change it completely and make it a large city, but in order for the town to thrive for generations, it needed to come out of the 1950s.
“You will be great with it. I will get the paperwork all set up, and it will be ready for when you come down. Do you know when that will be?”
“I think within the week. I can call you when we know a set date, but it will be quick.” The sooner we started the better. Plus, I wanted to get Zoey set up in school before it got too far into the school year.
“I will make sure they are ready for you and your wife to sign.”
“I appreciate that. Thank you for all your hard work, and I will speak with you in a couple of days to inform you of when we will arrive.”
“Wonderful. You have a great night Mr. Beaumont.”
“You as well,” I said as I ended the call. That was one call down. Now I had another one, and it was going to be a much more complicated call. I easily pulled up the contact’s name and hit the call button. After three rings, a very familiar voice flooded my ear.
“Hey man, what’s going on?”
Lucas Miller had been my best friend since I was ten years old. He lived on the next farm to the right of us, and he was always coming over to play. He was two years older than me, and he had been helping my grandfather on the farm before I got there. He was a great guy, and he was not only my best friend, but he was Zoey’s Godfather. After I had gotten back from Rose Falls, he was the first call I had made, and he laughed for a good five minutes before he was able to talk after I told him what my grandfather did. We both agreed that it sounded exactly like my grandfather, and Lucas knew there was no way I would be getting married in three months. I had told him my plan about getting a woman to be my fake wife. He joked saying that him and I should be husbands and then I wouldn’t have to worry about a wife. It was very tempting, but I didn’t want to risk having to kiss him in public. I had no problem with gay people, but that did not mean I wanted to make out with my best friend, someone that was a lot like an older brother to me.
“I’m getting fake married.”
“Holy shit, you found someone?” he asked, completely surprised. Though, I didn’t know why. He should have known by now that when I put my mind to something I always make it happen.
“That girl I was telling you about from a month ago.”
“The one you called a prostitute,” he quickly added.
“Jesus fuck. Neither of you are ever going to let that go. It was an honest mistake, which I have apologized for profusely.”
“Alright, alright, calm down. I won’t bring it up again. I thought you said she wasn’t interested and that was a month ago. Did she look you up?”
“Believe it or not, I stumbled into her. I was driving into town and her car was broken down. I managed to get her to come back to my place, and we sat down and talked like rational adults, and she agreed. There are some conditions, but they were all reasonable.”
“Oh yeah? And what were they? What’s her price?” he asked skeptical, not that I could blame him.
“The first was no sex and I agreed. It would be best to treat this as a business contract. The second though, she doesn’t want any money. She wants a job. That when the year is over, we both leave with whatever we brought into it. I was surprised, but she said she wanted that very clear in the contract. She’s not looking for a payday.”
“Well, that is surprising, but it works out in your favor. And not mixing business with sex is always a good thing. Do you know her full name?”
“Maya Hawke. I might have looked in her purse when she went to the bathroom.” Okay, that was an asshole move, but I had to make sure I got her real name. Lucas was going to need it.
“Good boy. I’ll run it and see if anything pops. You said she was living out of her car. Chances are there isn’t anything major. She most likely will have some unpaid parking tickets and maybe a theft. It just depends on how long she has been living out of it and if she’s gotten desperate enough to steal food.”
And that was why I called Lucas. He had been a cop in Houston since he was twenty-one, thirty-six years now. He was a detective and had access to all sorts of records. If there was anything on Maya, he was going to find it. And like he said, she was most likely clean or had some petty charges. I didn’t care about any of that. I just wanted to make sure she wasn’t wanted for murder or child abuse. I didn’t think anything like that would pop up though. I was a very good judge of character, and the way she interacted with Zoey told me a lot about her.
“Thanks man.”
“What are you gonna do about the marriage license?”
