Chapter Seventeen

Avery

Jake, determined to make the rented house a home, filled it with groceries. It was a nice gesture, and I wouldn’t rain on his little parade.

“Here,” he said, handing me a can of club soda. “Sit back and watch me transform this kitchen.”

I laughed and took the soda before having a seat on one of the barstools at the kitchen counter.

“So, you cook?” I asked, watching him put groceries in the fridge and pantry.

It was fun to watch him make himself right at home in the big kitchen. It was a side of him I had never seen before. I kind of liked the man in front of me. He looked like he was in his element. The more I watched him, the more uncomfortable I began to feel. I was a guest in his house. I was living with a man I didn’t fully trust. The old doubts came rushing forward, pushing away that brief feeling of contentment I had while watching him work in the kitchen.

“I cook a little. I love to cook, but I never really have the time to do it,” he was saying as he set aside a bag of Yukon potatoes. “Do you cook?”

I laughed. “I cook Ramen noodles. Does that count?”

He made a horrible face and shuddered. “Please don’t eat those. Those things will kill you. They are full of sodium.”

“So you’re a nutritionist as well?” I teased, trying my best to keep the mood light.

“I’m not a nutritionist, but I do watch what I eat. I used to have a personal trainer. He dumped me when I kept missing appointments. I did learn some things from him and have tried to eat better. I’m not getting any younger, and I can’t go around stuffing myself with crap and still look like this,” he said with a grin.

I rolled my eyes. “I always forget how shy you are,” I said sarcastically.

He chuckled, and with all the groceries put away, he began to peel potatoes. Everything the man did, he did with a quiet confidence that was attractive. I found myself staring at him, completely entranced by what he was doing.

He looked up and caught me staring at him. He raised an eyebrow, questioning me without words.

“I’m amazed to see how proficient you are in the kitchen,” I said, hoping I sounded cool and casual.

He nodded his head. “Sure.”

I wanted to pretend I wasn’t attracted to him, that I wasn’t dying to touch him or be kissed by him, but I couldn’t. I was. I loathed myself for thinking about him that way. I couldn’t let myself fall for him. Not again. It had ended very badly the last time I let myself fall for his charming ways.

“Can I help?” I offered.

He looked around as if looking for something for me to do. “You want to wash the vegetables?”

I laughed. “Are you afraid to let me do any slicing and dicing?”

He chuckled. “I’m afraid of you holding a knife in close proximity to me.”

“Good. You should be afraid,” I teased.

I pulled the veggies out of the crisper and began to wash them.

“Did Janice call you?” I asked him as we worked together in the kitchen like we’d been doing the same thing for years.

“No. Why? What happened?”

“I called her. I assumed she would call you or your lawyer at least.”

He put down the knife and looked at me. “And? What happened? Why would she call me?”

“I told her we were married. I have court on Friday. It was the date set last week when they took Iris away from me,” I said. “I told her we were married and you would be going to court with me.”

“Shit. No, I didn’t know any of that. I wonder if my lawyer knows,” he said.

“I don’t know. I assumed you were supposed to be in court that day as well.”

“Okay, so we go to court together. Did she say anything about the marriage, like it would help our case or anything?”

I grimaced. “It’s Janice. I don’t think she says much of anything. She said we’d have to convince the judge we were suitable parents.”

He shook his head. “She said it just like that?”

I thought about the brief conversation we had and nodded. “Yes.”

“So she doesn’t believe us.”

“I don’t know about that. She did sound hesitant, but I think that is how she always sounds.”

He went back to chopping potatoes and tossing them in a pot of boiling water. “We have to make this work. I’ll talk to my lawyer to see how much interference he can run, but we might get asked questions about each other.”

“Like what?”

“Well, they’ll want to make sure the marriage is real. I have the marriage certificate, but we need to show we’re a real couple. You know, that we know things a spouse would know and stuff like that,” he said.

I nodded, understanding what he was talking about. “Okay. How are we going to do all that in the next two days?”

He laughed. “By starting right now.”

“Well, we knew each other growing up. That should help.”

“Yes. Okay, so what’s our story? Janice saw us that day in the office. I think it was pretty clear we weren’t exactly on speaking terms.”

I took a minute to think of a good story. “Okay. We dated when we were younger. We had known each other for a while. You went off to college and we broke up. We’ve talked off and on over the years. When you came home for the funeral, we had a small fight, but then we made up. We decided we wanted to be together and got married.”

He was smiling and nodded. “Good. That works. It’s plausible. Okay, so, now we need to catch up. What’s your favorite food?”

I smiled. “Cherry cheesecake.”

He laughed. “I don’t think that’s an actual food.”

“You’ve obviously never had cherry cheesecake then. It’s dairy, fruit, and a whole lot of yummy.”

He nodded his head, still smiling. “Okay. Mine is lasagna. I could eat lasagna for weeks and never get tired of it.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Ugh, that’s so heavy.”

“And cheesecake isn’t?”

He took the washed veggies and started expertly chopping them. I watched in amazement.

“Pets?” I asked him.

The face he made told me that was a definite no. “You?”

I shook my head. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t want one in the future. Iris could use a dog.”

“We’ll talk about that later. Color?”

I shrugged. “Black. I don’t know why. I’ve always been drawn to black.”

He grinned. “Me too. Look at that, we have something in common.”

“Want some wine?” I asked, grabbing one of the many bottles he had bought on his grocery shopping adventure.

“Sure. I’m a white wine drinker but prefer whiskey neat. You?”

“Honestly, I like white wine or an ice-cold beer.”

He burst into laughter. “I didn’t expect that.”

“I’m not pretentious. I can get down with a cold beer. Sometimes it goes better with the day or the meal. I really like fried fish. Maybe we should say that’s my favorite food,” I said.

He shook his head. “No. Stick with what comes naturally. If we start making stuff up, we’re going to get confused and get caught in a lie.”

“You’re right. Fine. I’m going to go change. I’ll be back in a bit,” I said, leaving him to his cooking while carrying my glass of wine with me.

It was strange to be having a real conversation with the man I had hated for so long. He wasn’t all that bad. I had a feeling I would find myself liking him if I allowed myself to put down all my walls. I couldn’t do that. I had to remind myself the marriage was a sham. It wasn’t real. He was only being nice because he wanted something from me.

I pulled on a pair of cutoff jean shorts and a tiny black T-shirt. It felt good to relax after a day of wearing a tight skirt. I couldn’t imagine how Jake must feel after the end of a long day at work wearing one of those fancy suits he looked so damn good in. Watching him move around in the kitchen wearing his shorts and a T-shirt had looked so natural. The man was a chameleon. He could blend into any environment and look good doing it.

By the time I made it back into the kitchen, dinner was almost done.

“Oh my god, it smells so good!” I exclaimed.

He smiled. “Good. I hope it tastes as good as it smells. Do you want to eat at the table in the dining room or here at the bar?”

“I’ll set the table. The dining room is amazing. It feels too formal for the two of us, but we may as well use it while we got it.” I winked.

We were having steak, potatoes, and salad for dinner. I carried in the various condiments and cutlery, doing my best to make it look nice. I lit the two candles on the table and walked back into the kitchen to see if there was anything else I could do.

He was dishing up our two plates.

“I’ll grab the wine,” I said.

We sat down, and I suddenly felt the intimacy of the situation.

“This is kind of weird, huh?” he said, breaking the ice.

I nodded. “Yes, it is.”

“Let’s enjoy the meal and get to know each other more. We need to be ready for whatever they may ask.”

“Okay. We can use this as our first date, but we’ll pretend it happened a long time ago.”

He chuckled. “Sounds good to me. So, you said you just got a degree. What’s the degree in?”

“Accounting. I know, completely boring, but it was one of the few majors that promised I could get a job once I graduated. Although that hasn’t been working out well for me.”

“I can put in a good word for you if you want,” he offered.

“I’m not that desperate—yet—but I will keep that in mind.”

“Who’s Sally?” he asked.

I smiled. “She’s a friend. A couple years ago I ran out of money while I was still in school. I couldn’t afford the apartment I was in. She offered to let me stay with her. I insisted on paying rent. I’ve been renting the room from her for a couple years. I help her out around the house when I can.”

“I like her,” he stated.

I laughed. “Good. So do I. She’s been like a second mom to me. What about you? What exactly do you do in California?”

He looked at me as if I were a little crazy. “You don’t know? Tracy never talked about me?”

I shook my head. “Not specifics. She knew I wasn’t all that interested in hearing it.”

He smirked. “Understandable. I own a company.”

I nodded. “And you’re rich.”

“Yes.”

“A lot rich or just richer than me?” I prodded, not really caring if I was getting too personal. This was something I should probably know before a judge started asking questions.

He sighed. “A lot rich. I don’t like to brag, and please don’t think that’s what I’m doing, but, well, last I checked I was in the billionaire range.”

My stomach flopped and my mouth dropped open. “What?”

He shrugged as if it were no big deal. “I’m good at what I do, and I have a knack for investing in the right stocks. I’ve been lucky.”

“Uh, I would say so. Wow. I had no idea. No wonder you throw money at problems. I guess when you have that much money to throw around, it’s easy.”

He nodded. “In most cases, yes. In this case, my money didn’t do shit for me. I’m glad you agreed to the marriage. I know it wasn’t what you had in mind. I think we can make this work. It’s going to take effort, and I’m sure I will piss you off many times in the future, and for that, I’ll apologize now.”

I laughed. “Ditto. Sorry for all the many things I’m sure to do that are going to make you regret ever putting this ring on my finger.”

We both had a good laugh and managed to finish our meal in relative harmony. We exchanged a few stories and talked a bit more about what we liked and didn’t like. By the end of the night, I felt a lot better about our situation. This could work. I could have Iris in my life, and I didn’t even mind all that much that Jake was a part of the package.