Chapter Seven
Clark was serious. Even though the kiss had been pretty fantastic, she wasn’t willing to base a marriage on one smooch no matter how much it made her toes tingle.
It’s ridiculous. Like something out of a movie or a book. Crazy with a capital C.
“I need a minute. I… It’s too—”
“I know. It’s a lot. I’ll go for a drive.” He walked to the door. “I just want to do the right thing for you and your son.”
“Why is Louie so important to you?”
He turned slowly. “I caused this mess. I want to fix it.”
Anna wasn’t buying it. There were a dozen ways he could help her without a marriage certificate. “It’s more than that. At the very least, I need an explanation.”
He exhaled slowly. “I can’t bear the thought of him growing up with that bastard.”
It still wasn’t making sense, and before the discussion went any further, Anna intended to get to the bottom of Clark’s motivations. “Why do you care so much?”
He leaned on the front door and rubbed his jaw. “I was Louie. Not exactly. My parents stayed together and we always had money, but they never noticed me, they never paid attention to me except to criticize me. I know how that hurts. Louie is a great kid. He deserves a great childhood.”
Taylor never talked much about their parents. She’d always been close to Clark, and Anna never thought to dig any deeper. “I try my best.”
He took a couple of steps toward her. “I know how much you love him, and that’s why he needs to stay with you. He needs that deep affection more than he needs money and things. My dad criticized everything I did, everything I felt. When I heard George speak to you that way, it did something to me. ”
“It’s just the way he is.”
“I get that, but those scars can be really deep ones, and Louie deserves better.”
Anna’s heart squeezed. “I really appreciate what you’re trying to do.”
“Think about it. I’ll be back soon.”
“Hey,” she said, following him to the door. “In order to consider your offer, I’m going to need that second kiss guaranteed in writing.”
Clark raised one eyebrow. “Got a pen?”
As soon as he closed the door behind him, Anna pulled her phone from her back pocket and dialed Taylor. The line rang three times before Taylor answered. “Hello?”
“Your brother is certifiable,” Anna said. “Absolutely batshit crazy.”
Taylor laughed. Like it was no big deal. “What else is new?”
“I’m serious,” Anna said. “It’s not funny. He came over here with an armful of roses. He proposed marriage.” She still couldn’t believe it herself. “And he kissed me.”
“He kissed you?” Taylor laughed even harder. “I’m sorry. I really am,” she said before she broke into another round of giggles.
Anna was becoming more and more irritated by the second. “Stop laughing. This is serious!”
“It is serious. Really. It is.” She heard the smile in Taylor’s voice.
“Did you know about his little plan?”
“No. I would’ve told you, Anna. Surely you know that.” Taylor started laughing again. “I knew he might help with the medical and legal bills, but I had no idea about the rest.”
“What is so damn funny?” Anna demanded.
“It’s just that this is so like Clark. He can’t help himself.”
The doorbell rang. Anna ignored it.
“Obviously. He’s been meddling in my life since the moment he stepped through the door. All I wanted was a man dressed up as Redhawk. I didn’t expect to get a savior for forty bucks plus costume rental.”
“He’s trying to help. Since the accident with Jake, he feels guilty about everything. He feels really shitty he caused George to go after you. He can’t help it. He’s a fixer. It’s always been his nature.”
“I handle my own problems. I don’t need him, or any other man, to help me.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. Don’t let your trust issues and all the things that have happened in your past cloud your thinking. Not all men are shits.”
“They could have fooled me.” Taylor was always trying to get her to work on her trust issues, but she wasn’t ready so she changed the subject. “He mentioned that he never felt like your parents noticed him.”
“They were too busy with dinner parties and golf at the club. They’re self-absorbed, egotistical. It’s just who they are. My dad can be a really critical jerk, and he was much harder on Clark than he was on me.”
“Clark seems really hurt about it.”
“He took it more seriously than I did, probably because I always had him. Even though he’s only a few years older, he’s always looked after me like I was his kid.”
His drive to make sure Louie didn’t end up with George was beginning to make sense.
“He shouldn’t have hit the asshole, but it was just a matter of time. You and I both know that. Maybe Clark was the final straw, but if it weren’t him, George would’ve found something else.” After the party, she’d blamed Clark, but in her head, she knew he was trying to get custody of Louie just to save face. It was just another battle in a long war.
The doorbell rang again. Damn and blast.
“He’s persistent. I’ll give him that,” Anna said.
“Why don’t you just listen to his offer? Clark may interfere too much, but he’s a stand-up guy, totally different from George or your father. Just talk to him. I’m positive he can help. You know he always helps me out of scrapes.”
“I don’t need his help,” Anna said through clenched teeth. “I can do it on my own.”
If I don’t stand up to George now, when will I?
“Bullshit. You do need help,” Taylor said. “You’re just too proud to admit it.”
“But if I take his help, I’ll just be admitting that I’m afraid. The goal is to move past that fear, not give into it.”
“Call Dr. Phil for that shit. Right now, you need to ensure that Louie stays with you. No matter the cost.”
There was more knocking on the door.
“I need my keys if I’m going to take that drive,” Clark said through the wood.
“The solution might not be so bad. He’s a really good problem solver. Maybe a short-term relationship would get Louie out of George’s clutches once and for all. Maybe you’d get lucky for the first time in years.”
“You two must be drinking the same Kool-Aid. How could marrying Clark not make things worse?”
“Like I said, he’s a stand-up guy. He feels responsible for the custody motion. Let him help you.”
“He doesn’t even know me and he wants to marry me. He’s crazy.”
The knocking stopped and was replaced by yelling. “I can hear you, Anna,” Clark said. “The door isn’t that thick.”
Shit. Shit. Shit.
“He’s at the door and he’s heard everything I’ve said,” Anna whispered into the phone. “Damn it.”
“Let him in.”
“I need my keys,” Clark bellowed from the other side of the door. “Can you at least hand them out the door?”
So much for a quiet night with sushi and a movie on Netflix.
“He’s left his keys in here.”
“I’m hanging up now. Answer the door. Listen to what he has to say.”
“Can’t I just hand him the keys through the old mail slot?”
“Nope.” Taylor disconnected.
Anna took a deep breath and tucked the phone back into her pocket. “I’m coming,” she called toward the door. “Hold your horses.”
Clark looked totally calm, as if he hadn’t been banging on the door for the past five minutes. As if she hadn’t called him batshit crazy. Anna stepped back from the door and gestured for him to enter. Even though she didn’t intend to accept help from him or anyone else, he wasn’t going to give up until she heard him out.
He walked to the coffee table, picked up the roses, opened the door, and tossed the flowers into the front yard.
Turning to Anna, he smiled. “Can we just start over? Maybe start when I rang the doorbell the first time?”
“Why not?” She threw up her hands. “Why not just embrace the weirdness?”
Weirdness didn’t begin to cover what had happened in the last half hour, but it was the only word she could think of to describe it.
“Good. Here’s the plan. You and I get married. We stay together until custody is decided. We’re probably looking at a few months at the outside. You and Louie move into the cabin with me. I’ll pay the rent on this place so you can cut your cleaning schedule back a bit and be home with Louie. I can add both of you to my health insurance. While we wait for custody to be settled, your landlord will have the time to get rid of the mold. It’s his responsibility anyway. For as long as we’re married, you put all the money you earn, plus any child support George pays you, in the bank. After everything is settled, we file for divorce.”
The idea of a nest egg was very appealing, and so was the idea of getting rid of the mold. She’d love a clean start, but she didn’t want to be a leech. It wasn’t in her nature. “I could pay the utilities at your house.”
She couldn’t believe she was actually discussing this cracked plan.
Clark dismissed that suggestion with a wave. “I’m paying them already. Louie will be in the same school, and with the extra time in the afternoon, you can drive him over to visit his friends in the neighborhood. He’ll be out of school for the summer soon anyway. He can invite his friends over to spend the night. The cabin is only six miles out of town.”
“Cabin?” Anna asked. It didn’t fit with her idea of architects.
“Like a mechanic with a car that sputters? Or a house painter with weathered shutters? I’m the cliché, an architect living in a cabin. I have my dream home plans drawn, but I haven’t gotten around to breaking ground yet.”
“Marriage is a big step.”
A step I never want to take again.
“A real marriage is a big step, but this isn’t that complicated. You need a legal marriage, not an emotional one. This is strictly business.”
“But I need to take care of things on my own,” she said. “Without help from a man.”
Clark shook his head. “Men aren’t the problem. George is the problem. Let me right the wrong.”
It still sounded crazy, but the more he talked, the more she saw his point. He wasn’t talking about happily ever after. “In name only?” She wondered if that included conjugal rights and half hoped it did.
If we’re living as man and wife, why not have a little fun in the process? Who would know the difference?
“We don’t even know each other. I’m not looking for long term, and I don’t think you are either. It’s just a way to make sure Louie stays where he belongs.” He looked her in the eye, and she tried to ignore the fluttery feeling deep in the pit of her stomach. His eyes were so earnest and so brilliantly green.
Even though she didn’t know him very well, she was beginning to trust Clark, just a little, but that was more than she could say for any man since George. Maybe it was his resemblance to her best friend, or maybe it was the way he’d immediately tried to take responsibility and make things right. Whatever it was, the idea was growing on her. She could do anything for a few months, and a lighter schedule that allowed her to spend more time with her son would be a dream come true.
But the reality slammed in to her.
“I’ll spend all my savings filing for divorce,” Anna muttered. That should have occurred to her before she let her hopes inch up a little. “It always comes down to money I don’t have.”
“I’ll pay for the legal stuff. Neither of us will contest it, and there’ll be no custody issue. Should be a lot simpler than the last one.”
“Divorce is the best part of a marriage. It was so freeing the last time. It might be worth another try.”
“I’m trying to make this right, Anna. In the only way I know.”
She didn’t know what to say. The fact he was willing to do this, for her and her child, with no strings attached, touched her heart. No one had ever offered her anything without an agenda. With her ex, she’d only gotten her grocery allowance if she’d been willing to have sex with him anytime he wanted. With her parents, they’d only done nice things for her when other people were watching. She didn’t understand his selflessness.
“But it’s too much.”
“The only thing I ask is you give me your word that during the divorce you won’t try and take the cabin or half of my assets or future earnings. I want everything to be out in the open. Business arrangements are always better when all the details are spelled out clearly.”
Anna nodded. “I’ll be happy to sign a prenup.”
He waved away the suggestion. “That’s not necessary. Your word is more than enough.”
She’d never met anyone so trusting, so filled with a sense of right and wrong.
Where were the men like this when I married for real?
She pulled herself back. Anna knew better than to offer a man, any man, her trust again. It was imperative that she see this for what it was: an arrangement.
“Tell me what you’re thinking.” Clark’s deep voice was barely above a whisper.
Anna clasped her hands together and looked at her nails, all different lengths. The cuticles were cracked. Her skin was dry and weathered, making her hands look at least ten years older than the rest of her.
What was she teaching Louie? She was working fifty hours a week, barely scraping by every month, worrying about every penny. What kind of life was she living?
Could a few months with Clark make it any worse?
I’ll have Louie. For good. As soon as that’s settled, I’ll never have to fear that sorry bastard again.
She looked up and met his eyes. “For the record, I think you’re bonkers. But if you’re sure you want to offer me this deal, I’d be a fool not to take it.”
“It would make me feel a lot better about what happened at the party.”
“Then let’s set the date. Think we have time to send out invitations?”
Clark laughed. “Church or county courthouse?”
Anna thought about it for a minute. “A church wedding will look more authentic.”
“Should we turn the planning over to Taylor?”
“That sounds like a great idea.” Taylor was the queen of Pinterest. For no apparent reason, she had at least ten boards dedicated to weddings. “Only no—”
“Roses,” he said, finishing her sentence. “Lesson learned. Before we set the date”—he rose from his seat and pulled a small box from his pocket—“I got this just in case.” He moved closer to Anna and opened the box. “The lady in Bright’s Jewelers said all women like pearls.”
Inside, nestled in blood-red velvet, was a ring. In the center was a large creamy pearl, flanked on both sides by small sapphires channel set into the white gold band. It was breathtaking, like something a mermaid would wear. “It’s beautiful.”
“I hope it fits.”
Anna slid it onto her finger. “Perfectly.” When she looked into his bright-green eyes, she remembered the feel of his lips on hers and wanted to kiss him again, but her shyness won out. “I love it,” she said.
“It’s yours. No matter what.”