Page 57 of Proposal Play
He’s moved on, so I try to put my worry aside. “Someday, I’ll run a business as well as you.”
He laughs. “Fair point, Callahan.” But before lying down, he adds, “So, you two are going to be husband and wife at the picnic?”
“That’s the plan.”
“Weird, but I guess I can handle it.”
“How big of you,” I deadpan.
“I don’t need to get you two a blender or anything, do I?”
“No, but maybe I should get you one,” I say, offering an olive branch since, well, he could have been a supreme dick, but instead he was simply a protective big brother. If I had a sister, I’d probably behave the same.
He grins. “I’ve had my eye on that new Vitamix.”
Later, when we finish working out, we head to TheOasis up the block to meet Soraya for a quick planning session. She’s jogging down the street toward us, wearing workout gear and a ball cap holding back her long hair.
“Hi, guys,” she says when she comes to a stop. “Asher, anything exciting happen overnight? Did you buy an amusement park? Start a space camp? Invest in a yacht with your new wife to use as an animal sanctuary?”
“Nope. But the amusement park and animal sanctuary are excellent ideas,” I say.
“Glad I could be helpful,” she says.
Beckett lifts a hopeful finger. “Can you leave me the yacht in your will?”
“Only if you take the animal sanctuary that goes with it,” I say, swinging open the door to the shop.
“Obviously,” he replies.
“While we’re laying claims, I’d like the amusement park,” Soraya says.
“Sure. I’ll have my lawyer get right on it,” I say.
We go inside and order, then sit down and catch up on our plans for Total Teamwork over smoothies while Soraya makes notes on her phone.
When we’re nearly done, she sets down her phone with a smooth finality. She’s such a good leader. “And thanks to that one hundred-grand donation fromsomeone,” she says playfully, knowing full well that someone was me. Though, Beckett deserves the credit since he got the ball rolling with the donation to the auction charity that set the whole back and forth of the money in motion “We should be able to expand our services even more.”
“Someone was looking out for us,” I reply.
“Yeah, me,” Beckett says, pointing to his chest.
I point to mine. “Dude, me.”
He shrugs. “Though originally, I suppose it was Maeve since she technically started this all.”
“Speaking of Maeve,” Soraya says brightly, “we should have a great turnout at the picnic—donors, families, and community members. I’m excited your wife will be there.”
A pang of guilt twinges in me. Yes, Maeveismy wife. But Soraya thinks we meant to get married. That we plan to stay married. That she’s coming to the picnicasmy real wife. “Me too,” I say, and while that’s true, I’m not being honest with Soraya, and that doesn’t sit well with me.
But it has to be okay since my goal is to protect Maeve and make sure no one ever knows we’d once planned to get our marriage annulled this week.
Soraya scans her notes and laughs lightly. “I can’t believe I almost missed this. We have a board dinner this Friday. Did you want to bring Maeve to that too? Reina is going, and so is Aram,” she says, mentioning her partner.
Beckett shoots me a hard stare, which I translate asRemember what I just said?
Of course I remember. And I also don’t mind spending more time with Maeve. “I’d love to. I’ll ask her,” I say.
Soraya smiles. “It’ll be great to have her there. Board stuff—you know how it goes.”