A Chance for Us (Willow Creek Valley Book 4) Page 4

  “I need you to pretend to marry me. It doesn’t have to be official, but, well, I have no groom, and I need a groom to get married,” Maren sputters.

  “I’m confused.” I’m lucky I can get these two words out. Between her being a walking wet dream and her asking me to marry her, my brain is fried.

  Oh, and then there’s Devney, who I haven’t seen in years, standing thirty feet away. Yeah, totally not firing on all cylinders.

  Maren smiles, and my heart trips over itself. I shut down the idea of feeling anything for this woman because there’s no way in hell I’m going there. I’m done with women and their bullshit.

  But, God, she’s something else.

  “My fiancé, Oliver, decided that marrying me wasn’t really what he wanted to do as of now . . . or ever.”

  “You’re here to cancel the wedding?” I ask, knowing full well she asked me to pretend to marry her.

  “That would probably be the easier thing, but you see, my father is dying. He’s been sick for a really long time, and about six months ago, the cancer came back. He was fighting—Lord only knows why because I would have given up a long time ago—until a few days ago when the doctors told him the treatment wasn’t working. He’s . . . there’s nothing else they can do other than let him die without pain. He told me all he wants is to have the memory of walking me down the aisle, and now . . . he won’t.”

  The desire to agree rises high. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  She nods and then fidgets a little. “Thank you. He means the world to me, and when he said he feels like leaving me without someone to love me and care for me was destroying him, it destroyed me. I can’t do that, Ollie. I can’t . . . I can’t let him . . . I need to give him this peace before . . . before . . .” She traps her bottom lip between her teeth, but I can still see it tremble.

  I step back because this beautiful creature might just get me to agree, and that is absolute lunacy. “I’m sorry about your dad.” I pause, searching for an easy way to let her down. “I don’t know what more to say.”

  “Tell me you’ll help me. It won’t be real,” she rushes to say. “We’ll go through the entire thing as though it is, but . . . I wouldn’t ask you to really marry me. It’s just . . . well, I need to do this for him.”

  My head is spinning, and thank the heavens above my sister finally joins us.

  “You must be Maren.” Stella’s voice holds a hint of amusement. If she knew what Maren had just asked me, she wouldn’t be so happy.

  “I am.”

  “I’m Stella, Oliver’s twin, and that is my brother, Josh.”

  Josh waves.

  “It’s great to meet you.”

  “Likewise. We’re really happy to help you with the wedding. I know you have been dealing with Oliver, but I’d like to make sure that this goes off as smoothly as possible. Therefore, I’ll step in for the final coordination parts. Flowers, cake, final dinner menu, and seating chart. All the fun stuff.”

  Maren smiles. “I really appreciate that, but I’m not sure there will be a wedding.” Her pleading eyes turn back to me as my sister’s gaze burns a hole in my cheek.

  Stella cuts her gaze to Josh.

  “My fiancé—well, I guess ex-fiancé now—called it off.” Maren launches into the lengthy speech about her father, recounting everything she said to me. Hearing it again isn’t any easier. I wish I cared about my father so much that I’d beg someone I haven’t seen in ten-plus years to fake marry me just to make him happy.

  Stella, the bleeding heart under all that steel, wipes at her eyes. Great. Not the reaction I expected.

  “Oh, Ollie, you have to!” Stella says quickly, her hand going to my shoulder. “You have to do this for her. Can you imagine? Her father needs this.”

  “You want me to marry her?”

  Maren steps back in. “Fake. We won’t be married. We’ll do all the things we need to make this look real, but it won’t be legal or anything. We won’t be married, we’ll just have a wedding.”

  “I’m not going to do that.”

  “I know I’m asking a lot, but . . .”

  Yeah, no shit she is. “I can’t marry you.”

  “Fake.”

  She bites that lower lip again, and I want to slide my thumb against her skin, tug her lip free, and then kiss it.

  Yeah, this is so not going to work.

  “Believe me, I wish there were another way. I am sort of desperate and haven’t thought every part of this through, but I know this is the right thing.”

  “I don’t think you’ve thought any of this through,” I say.

  “She’s thinking with her heart,” my sister defends.

  Maren smiles, and the sun shines brighter. What is with this girl? What is with my reaction to this girl? “I know this is a big ask, and if you say no, I’ll understand. I just can’t help but think of him being so sad. This trip is all he has to look forward to. My stepmother keeps him couped up, making him go to a million appointments and making more excuses as to why his family can’t come visit. He’s exhausted. He’s been fighting this cancer for almost fifteen years, and . . .” Tears fill those beautiful green eyes. “I want to give him something happy.”

  “I don’t think lying to him would make him happy.”

  “I think it’s better than disappointing him.”

  I run my hand through my hair. “I know you’re desperate, but I’m not the right answer here.”

  I look to Devney, feelings that I’d buried coming just a little closer to the surface, and I hear all of it whisper again.

  Nice.

  A great guy, but not the guy.

  I like you, but I love someone else.

  I wish it were different.

  How many times does a man need to be the last option? Not only is this entire thing insane but also it is wrong on so many levels. Maren is upset, rightfully so, but someone has to be rational here. Apparently, it’s going to be me.

  I step to her. “I think that, in about an hour, you’re going to see that this was a bad idea. I can’t pretend to marry you. I have no desire to fake marry anyone.” Stella’s fingers dig into my elbow, but I continue. “Maybe your family can use this time as a reunion, but marrying you—pretend or otherwise—isn’t the right idea.”

  A tear falls down her cheek, and she brushes it away. “You’re probably right. I . . . well, I’m . . . it was stupid.”

  “Don’t say that. Ollie is—” Stella stops talking when she sees my face. “He’s probably right, which isn’t something that happens often.”

  Maren attempts a smile, but her eyes are still filled with tears. “It’s fine. I’m going to go back to Devney’s rental and try to figure out what to do. I’m sorry there won’t be a wedding.”

  Stella speaks quickly. “Don’t say that. Let’s meet tomorrow and discuss a plan.”

  “I wish there were more I could do,” I say, feeling like I’m two feet tall. She looks so goddamn broken. I hate it when girls look like that.

  She shrugs. “Me too, but I understand.”

  Maren walks back to the car and settles into the passenger seat. Devney gives me a small wave, and I lift my head. As soon as they turn down the drive, my sister glares at me and slaps me in the arm.

  “You are a jerk.”

  “Maybe so, but at least I’m not fake engaged right now.”

  I turn, not wanting to hear her tirade that I’m sure is coming.

  “She needs you.”

  “She needs a therapist.” I stop, facing her quickly. “Wait, you actually want me to pretend to marry her? You think it’s a good idea to lie to everyone?” I bite back the asshole remark about how lying comes naturally to her, but that would be mean.

  “I wanted you to at least not make her cry!”

  I shake my head, going back inside where I’m not surrounded by crazy women.

  I grab the folder that’s sitting on the front desk, and Stella rips it out of my hands. “What is your issue?”

  S
tella huffs. “You. What exactly is your brilliant plan now, Oliver? Do you see all the work being done? It cost a fortune to speed up construction for the second wedding you booked. A wedding that is now going to be canceled. Do you know how much we are going to lose now that this event isn’t going to happen?” I have the good sense to look sorry even if I’m not sorry at all. “Your going along with Maren’s suggestion would have saved us thousands of dollars and cost you nothing but a few days of your time.”

  “I get that, but . . . are you kidding me, Stella? You want me to just lie to everyone? Say vows to someone who doesn’t love me?”

  “Oh, it’s called acting. You can manage it for a few days.”

  Little does she know I’m a pro at it.

  “I get that you don’t understand the issue, but normal people don’t fake marry people. This isn’t like asking someone to go to prom.”

  She covers her face with her hands for a second. “No, it’s not normal, and I do understand your feelings on vows and promises. We all love you for it, but we love money too. I love this resort, and the fact that I am eating rice and beans for the third day because we pulled all the money out of savings proves it. Sacrifice your morals for a few days so that woman can give her dad what she needs and you don’t have to deal with your other siblings.”

  “I’ll come up with something. I always do.”

  She doesn’t look impressed. “What about all the people who are going to cancel once she calls this off? We already lost half our bookings from the groom’s side. How are you going to come up with the additional funds we owe to get this done on your timeline?”

  “I’ll sell my body for sex.”

  “But not for a fake wedding? Idiot.”

  I scoff. “Not for a week of lies.”

  Stella looks to the ceiling and then sighs heavily. “I love you, Oliver, but I’m going to have to kill you.”

  “Wouldn’t be the first time you’ve threatened it.”

  “Why won’t you do this?”

  “Why the hell do you think I should?” Of all my siblings, she is the one I thought would be against this. Well, maybe Grayson too. He hates lying more than anyone.

  “Because she needs you.” Stella takes both my hands in hers. “She needs you to help her because she loves her dad and doesn’t want him to be sad. The pain in her voice broke my freaking heart, and I know it broke yours too.”

  “I don’t have a heart to break,” I say, wishing she would drop this. I don’t want to think about Maren’s eyes and the sadness in them. I don’t want to replay the words and desperation laced in every syllable.

  Stella releases my hands. “You’re ridiculous. I don’t get why you won’t at least entertain it.”

  “Because it’s crazy, Stella! Pretend to be her fiancé? Fool her family and put on a fake wedding? What happens after when she has to tell everyone it was a lie or that she’s getting a divorce? It’s seriously the most insane shit I’ve ever heard.”

  “I mean, yeah, it’s a bit crazy, I’ll agree to that, but it’s also really sweet. You can help her. It’s not like you’re really going to be married and you need to do it so I don’t kill you.”

  It just feels fucked up. I have cloaked myself in lies before. I allowed myself to believe relationships were real, convinced myself, and I don’t want to go down that road.

  But that’s not this. I guess. It’s all lies, and we know it is.

  Then I remember the pain in her voice.

  I wanted to help her.

  “I know that look,” Stella says.

  “What look?”

  “The one you use when you don’t want me to see into your bruised soul. You may fool everyone else, Ollie, but you suck at fooling me.”

  “You suck at not being annoying.”

  She grins. “There it is. The way you deflect with humor. I think something happened that scared you when you saw her and that is why you won’t do it.”

  “No, I won’t do it because only an absolutely unhinged person pretends to marry someone for the sake of her dying father.”

  “How about for the sake of their business?” she counters.

  That’s one part of this that I can’t avoid. If they cancel, we are in some serious trouble. Losing four rooms is bad, but losing the whole wedding event will be a huge issue. It’s the money we needed to push the production schedule up.

  “I—”

  “Just listen to me,” Stella says with her hand up. “You may not understand her reasons, but they’re valid to a woman. She needs her friend to be her hero, Oliver. You can be that for her. It won’t be like you can’t just walk away at the end of it. You pretend for a bit, give her father the closure he needs, and at the same time, you save the resort from being crushed by financial ruin before we start.” She lifts onto her toes and kisses my cheek. “I love you and know you’ll do the right thing.”

  Then she leaves, taking what is left of my self-respect with her.

  Six

  MAREN

  “Oh, honey, stop crying, you’re going to burst a blood vessel,” Devney says as she rubs my back.

  “I am just so stupid. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking. Not only am I going to crush my father but also I embarrassed myself so badly.”

  She keeps handing me tissues and rubbing circles on my back. “It’ll work out, Mare. I know it’s hard, but I’m sure it’ll be okay.”

  It doesn’t feel that okay. It feels a lot like devastation. I know that it’s probably not all that bad, but I just keep thinking of how disappointed my father is going to be.

  I wish, more than anything, I could give him this one happy moment before he dies.

  I flop back, feeling worn out and exhausted. “I guess it will be, but I’m not going to tell anyone yet. I don’t want to give Linda a reason not to come up.”

  She nods. “I think that’s a good idea. It gives you guys a chance to spend time together.”

  “Yeah, and most of his siblings will be here. None of us have really had a chance to see each other that much.” I sigh. “I feel so broken, Dev. I feel like I can’t keep it together and nothing makes sense.”

  Devney’s smile is sad. “You’ve had a lot happen in the last few hours. Your fiancé called off the wedding and then the whole Oliver thing, so give yourself a day to just breathe. Tomorrow is a new day, and we’ll come up with a plan to make the visit special.”

  My world is crumbling, and there’s nothing anyone can do that will make this better. I am so angry at my . . . ex for doing this to me. I mean, I get not marrying me if he doesn’t really want to, but he should’ve had a damn clue about it before now. Then I’m angry at myself because I had the clues and I ignored them, which is unlike me. I just wanted to give my father what he wanted.

  I wanted to let him have his moment before I lost the chance to.

  “I’m going to clean myself up,” I say to Devney.

  She pulls me in for a hug. “Okay, I’m going out front to call Sean.”

  “What are you going to say?”

  She shrugs. “I guess there’s no point in him coming. I hate to have him fly down with Austin and Cassandra if he doesn’t have to.”

  Yeah, she’s right. “Makes sense.”

  “Go do what you need to, and once I get off the phone, I’ll order some junk food and wait out here for you with a bottle of wine.”

  Thank God for my best friend. “You’re the best.”

  She grins. “I know. Scoot . . . go.”

  I head into the bathroom, and when I see my face in the mirror, I actually recoil. Lord I’m a mess, and not a hot one. I splash some water on my face, and when that doesn’t help, I dunk my face in a few times, hoping for it to do something helpful. I just end up looking like a drowned rat.

  Great.

  I sit on the toilet, since I’m already feeling down in the dumps. Did I really want Oliver to say yes? Would I be relieved if he hadn’t pointed out that I was being a nutjob? I don’t know. I really thought
it was the best option to try to salvage the situation.

  Then the guilt hits. As much as I want to see my father, having him drive all the way up here only to be disappointed, seems so selfish and wrong. Maybe it’s best I tell Linda, listen to her bullshit, and let them stay home.

  I don’t know what to do. I always know. My gut is what has saved lives more times than the intel has. It’s what I’ve always relied on to get me where I am today, and it’s broken.

  I’m broken.

  A knock on the door causes me to jump. “Coming,” I say to Devney, forcing myself up out of my self-pity.

  When I open the door, it’s not Devney standing there. No, it’s a very put together Oliver Parkerson.

  He stares at me, and his lips quirk to the side. “You still want to get fake hitched?” he asks, and all I can do is blink at him.

  “What?”

  “I asked . . . if you still need me to be your pretend fiancé.”

  “I heard you, but . . .”

  Oliver leans against the doorjamb. “I said no because I really couldn’t wrap my head around it, and to some extent, I still can’t. But after you left, I felt really shitty for saying no.” He steps inside. “I think it’s fucking insane, but if you need me, I’ll do it. I’ll pretend so that your dad won’t be crushed.”

  My heart begins to pound, and I don’t know what to say. For the first time since the breakup happened, I feel hope. I let out a huge squeal and bounce into his arms. Oliver laughs as he catches me and falls back against the wall.

  “Jesus. I take it you want to do this?”

  I lean back, staring at my friend. “You have no idea how much this means to me. I know it’s crazy and is a lot to ask, but yes I absolutely still want to do this. I will never be able to repay you, Oliver. Never.”

  “You’re really sure? You want to lie to everyone you know?”

  I bite my lower lip but nod. “It’s not ideal, but it isn’t as if I concocted this whole thing from the start. I’m just subbing out the man to make my father rest easier.”

  He raises one brow. “And if he figures it out?”

  “I think we’ll be okay. He’s not well and . . . we don’t have that long to lie.”