Billion Dollar Mistake by K.C. Crowne

Chapter 15

JOLENE

The Uber only took a few minutes to arrive, but those few minutes felt like an eternity. I found myself glancing again and again at the front door to The Outlook, hoping that Sawyer wasn’t about to come marching out.

When the Uber showed up, I didn’t waste any time getting into the back of the car.

“Hey!” The woman in the front seat spoke in a chipper, friendly tone. I glanced up to see that she was a trim, older woman of around fifty, her eyes kind. “You ready to go?”

“Yeah.” My voice came out far weaker than I’d hoped. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, the conversation with Sawyer had left me feeling beside myself, defeated almost.

“This place nice?” she asked as we pulled away. “Never been here before.”

I opened my mouth to say that, yes, it was nice. Then I realized that I hadn’t had a chance to take so much as a bite of food. The to go bag on my lap was warm, filling the car with delicious scents.

“It was nice inside, at least.”

That was all I got out before I did something that I couldn’t believe I’d do – I sniffled, then before I knew it, I was crying.

“Oh, no,” the woman said. “That’s no good.”

I wiped my tears away with the back of my hand. “Sorry, it’s so stupid what I’m crying over.”

She opened the glove compartment and took out a small packet of tissues. With a series of quick motions, she opened it up, pulled the top one out, and handed the package back to me. I thanked her as I wiped my tears and blew my nose.

“Trust me, I’ve been on my share of bad dates in my lifetime. Sometimes they’re so bad that you don’t want to cry, and you do want to cry all at the same time. I get it.”

Part of me wanted to tell her that she most definitely didn’t get it, followed by me explaining the whole insane situation to her. However, I kept all of that to myself.

“It’s hard, you know?” I asked.

“Oh, I know, sweetheart, I know. But you just keep your chin up – keep putting yourself out there and you’ll find the right man. You know, I was thirty-nine when I met my husband, and you won’t believe how it happened…”

She told me the story, and as much as I tended to have a hard time chatting with strangers ‒ I’d never been good at small talk ‒ I was happy to listen to her speak. More than that, hearing her telling me a story about how true love found her was just what I needed to hear after a date all about love being turned into some twisted business arrangement.

The story ended with perfect synchronization, right as we pulled up to my house.

“And twenty-seven years later, we’re still just as in love as we were back then.”

I was still crying at this point, but for an entirely different reason – I was happy.

“Thank you so much,” I said. “This is just what I needed to hear. And I promise I’ll give you a good review.”

She laughed. “If you did, it’d be most appreciated. But more than that I want you to get some sleep and wake up happy and refreshed and ready to start the next day of your life.”

I was so moved that I almost started bawling again right then and there. Instead, I threw out another thank you and goodnight before hurrying out of the car with my container of food in hand. Once I was inside, I headed directly over to the bottle of Barefoot and poured myself a glass before dumping the food out onto a plate.

I considered the matter as I took a bite of what had to be the best steak that had ever graced my palate.

I had to decide one way or another – and I had to stick to my decision.

One thing I wouldn’t do was allow myself to fall for the charms of one Sawyer Williams ever again.

* * *

When the prenup was delivered to my office that Friday I felt like I was being served. A serious faced man in a suit arrived, handing me a manilla folder and asking me to sign something to show that I’d received it in person.

“What’s that?” Megan asked when the man was gone.

“Business arrangement I need to look over.”

“Looks important. And that guy looked kind of scary.”

I checked my watch, seeing that it was a little after five-thirty.

“Megan, what on earth are you still doing here? You should’ve been gone half an hour ago.”

“Sorry, got into these emails I was writing.”

“Get out of here, enjoy your weekend!”

I said the words knowing that I was most certainly not going to enjoy mine. I’d done a fair job keeping the issue of Sawyer and the deal out of my head ‒ I’d had a few natural death autopsies to help keep my mind occupied. Now, standing there with the heavy packet that no doubt contained the NDA and the prenup, I knew there was no chance of putting it off any longer.

Megan finished up, wishing me goodbye as she hurried out and left me alone.

There was no doubt in my mind that I needed three things – wine, a supreme pizza with extra cheese, and the company of my sister. I slipped out my phone and typed up a text.

Hey! OK, here’s the deal – if I order a pizza and provide the wine, you want to come over and have it with me? And…I kind of need you to look over some legal stuff.

The reply didn’t take long to arrive.

Oh, I’m on legal duty? A smiley face emoji followed. In that case, how about you come here? Grab some wine, and I’ll put in an order for this amazing pizza place near me. And you can stay over.

It sounded perfect – I’d be able to spend some time with my sister and get out of town for a little while.

I responded in the affirmative and didn’t waste any time packing up my things and heading out. I had plenty of clothes at Joann’s, so I didn’t bother going home for anything. Instead, I drove straight to Denver and, an hour later, was parking on the street in front of Joann’s downtown condo, a bottle of wine resting next to a pizza box that smelled so damn good it took all the restraint I had not to shove down a slice right there in the car.

“Oh, hell yes.” Joann’s eyes went right to the pizza when she opened the door to her condo.

Her place was cute – a nice, sunny, modern condo on the twenty second floor of one of the newer buildings downtown. The two-bedroom place was sleek and clean, with tall, sliding glass doors that looked out over the city. The Netflix pause screen was on the TV, pictures of shows available appearing one after another.

“Hurry and get your butt in here,” she said, shutting the door behind me. “I’m so hungry I might scream.”

She rushed into the kitchen and grabbed two plates, a corkscrew, and a pair of stemless wine glasses. As she was getting everything together, Joann glanced at the document folder I’d had tucked under my arm.

“That’s the legal stuff?” she asked.

“That’s it.” I plopped the folder on the big, glass coffee table.

Dinnerware in hand, she sat down on the couch next to me and set everything out.

“But I should tell you what it is first.”

“Ok.”

I took a deep breath, trying to figure out where to begin. “So, I met with Sawyer for dinner. And he had an, um, arrangement he wanted to discuss.”

“An arrangement? What kind of arrangement?”

I went into it, telling her all the details of what Sawyer had laid out. Joann listened with wide eyes, hanging on my every word.

When I was done, I felt like I was outside of my body, as if the whole situation was too surreal to be what was happening to me.

“I’m going to give it to you straight – that’s about the most insane thing I’ve ever heard in my life.”

“I mean, it is what it is. And all the legal stuff is right here.”

I tapped on the folder. Her eyes still wide, she latched her gaze onto the file and regarded it with such excitement I was sure she might start salivating at any moment.

“Let me at it,” she said as she picked up the packet and opened it, her hands moving so quickly that they were a blur in front of me.

“We can wait until after dinner if you want; no need to get into this now.”

“Are you kidding? I want to know all about this insane little arrangement he’s cooked up for you. Open the wine and pass out the pizza.”

I did as she asked, putting a pair of steamy, floppy supreme slices on the plates before opening the wine. As I did, Joann skimmed through the documents, mouthing words to herself as she went, her eyes moving as if she were devouring every word.

“This is interesting.” Her eyes still on the papers, she reached for her wine glass as soon as I filled it and brought it to her lips.

“What?”

“You know how much money he’s giving you?” she asked.

“Paying off my student loans,” I said. “If you can even believe that.”

“Paying off your student loans and then some – he’s giving you the exact amount of your loans times two.”

“What?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“Here, look.” She turned the pages over to face me, her finger near a number. Sure enough, it was huge.

“That’s insane. That’s way too much money.”

“That’s not all. He’s paying for everything through the entire fake marriage, along with your mortgage. God only knows what sort of goodies that sort of lifestyle’s going to pay out for you.” She sat back. “And you know what else – you could even rent out your house while you’re living with him. That’s even more money in your pocket.”

“Maybe it could be more – maybe I could get him to pay off your loans, too.”

Her eyes flashed. “That would be a hell of a thing. And I wouldn’t even feel bad about it because this guy is loaded. If he manages to secure the CEO position and take over the company like he wants to, he’ll be worth billions. What he’s offering you is a drop in the bucket.”

I took a bite of my pizza and sat back, trying to let it all wash over me.

“Anything else?”

She turned her attention back to the documents.

“OK, so the length of time you have to stay with him is kind of open-ended. You’re engaged, and then he wants to stay married for six months after he takes over the company. So, that could be a while.”

“I guess he wants it to look natural.”

“Right.” She skimmed some more, then set down the packet. “OK, so…it’s your life. And I don’t want to tell you what to do…”

“But you think I should do it.”

She nodded and smiled. “I know it’s crazy, and I know it could end in disaster, but just think about what having a little extra money in your pocket and not having loans to worry about would do for you.”

“Oh, and he’s going to put in a good word for me with the state coroner’s office.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “There you go – no reason not to do it.”

I sat back, sipping more wine.

Joann read more, and I considered it all.

Was it really the chance of a lifetime? Or a disaster that I’d never recover from?