Page 24 of VOGUEish

With jerky movements, Chandler poured himself a cup of coffee. “What favor? I don’t recall owing you a favor.”

Ms. Birdie placed a hand on top of Isabella’s, which she’d been fitfully twisting in her lap, and squeezed. “The very night you requested help for Isabella, it required me to leave my granddaughter’s wedding reception. And if you will think back, I’m sure you’ll recall we clearly established that evening that you owed me a favor for coming to your assistance.”

Chandler scowled. “That wasn’t much of a favor considering helping young people in distress is what you do.”

Removing her hands from Ms. Birdie’s, Isabella shifted on the couch so she could look directly at the woman. The last thing she wanted was to be foisted upon Chandler due to a favor he owed. “Not to be rude, but he’s not at all what I imagined when I imagined that part of my comeback scene.”

“And why is that?” Nonna snapped, sounding very much like a momma bear.

Isabella plowed forward. If she’d learned one thing in the past ten years, it was how to stand up for herself. “For starters, he has a reputation of being a bully. I don’t—“

“Poppycock.” Ms. Birdie stared frostily at Isabella. “My Chandler is no bully.”

“You’re his Nonna. Of course you think that.” Isabella made eye contact with Chandler. He looked like a first-time model caught in runway spotlights searching for the nearest exit.

“My Chandler has a heart of gold,” Ms. Birdie added.

Isabella glanced back at Ms. Birdie. “Heart of gold or not, I just don’t see how we could ever pull off a ruse of being in love. There are truly no sparks.”

The woman speared Isabella with a frustrated stare. “Are you certain? I’m seldom wrong in my matchmaking attempts.”

Isabella scrunched her nose and nodded. “Attraction can’t be forced.”

“Fine.” Ms. Birdie raised her chin. “I have a backup plan.”

“Why the hell didn’t you lead with that?” Chandler boomed.

Ms. Birdie ignored her godson and maintained eye contact with Isabella. “Chandler hangs out with some of New York’s most sought-after bachelors. He’s even participated in a few bachelor auctions.”

“Nonna, what are you suggesting?”

“You can pay back the favor you owe me by introducing her to one of them.”

Chandler slammed his fingers through his hair. “Why don’t you just ask for a damn kidney or something, like a normal person?”

“Because I don’t need a kidney. I need helping finding Isabella a billionaire husband.”

“Pretend fiancé,” Isabella corrected. “Love can’t be rushed.”

“Of course it can be rushed,” Ms. Birdie countered. “That is, if you were to fall in love at first sight.”

Before Isabella could respond, Chandler spoke. “I have never set up any of my friends on a blind date. It’s not in my DNA.”

“Darling, that is your problem. Not mine. I have contractual obligations to Isabella that you will not thwart with your stubbornness.”

“Nonna—“

“It’s okay,” Isabella butted in. “I don’t really expect the Fairy Godmother Project to uphold the guy part of my contract. Surely, it’s not enforceable on either of our ends. And if by some bizarre chance it is, trust me, the guy doesn’t have to be rich.”

Ms. Birdie gave her an exasperated look. “When one of our subjects requests the Prince Charming package, we strive to make him quite rich. After all, it’s just as easy to fall in love with a rich man as it is a peon. As for the enforceable part, unless you’re telling me you’ve already given your heart to a peon, then yes, this part of the contract is quite enforceable.”

“Even if I say I don’t want this part of the contract?”

“The time to pick and choose what you wanted in the contract was ten years ago, before you signed the legal document we have on file. And since we are a full-service fairy godmother operation that allows such items to be included in contracts, your contract is not complete until your prince is down on one knee offering you a ring, and you say yes.”

“What exactly are you expecting of me?” Chandler asked Nonna.

“It’s quite simple. Either you help her meet and fall in love with a billionaire, or you spend the next several weeks pretending to date her and then propose to her right before the reunion. After the reunion, she will dump you, and she will, with my help, go back on the hunt for a billionaire who wins her heart with his personality, not his bank account. I will not rest easy until I watch Isabella walk down the aisle and say I do to her rich Prince Charming. It was Patricia’s dying wish.”

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