Page 12 of Married to the Frenemy

He’s probably right.

“Is this what you make in a month?” His eyes lock on mine, something akin to pity within.

Which irritates me even more.

“I’m only able to work part time. Plus, this may come as a surprise, but a lot of employers don’t like hiring a single mom because they’re worried about me having to miss work whenever Maggie gets sick. And she’s a kid. She’s going to get sick. So?—”

“I know. I just…” He shakes his head, seemingly at a loss for words.

“Why are you here, Beckham? Other than to make me feel like a shitty mother?”

I cross my arms over my stomach, doing everything I can to hold it together. It’s getting more and more difficult with every passing day. But I refuse to cry in front of him.

It’s bad enough I asked to rent his townhouse and he turned me down.

“You’re not a shitty mother, Haley,” he soothes, a break in his normally aloof demeanor. “I see how happy Maggie is.”

“Yeah. Well, we’ll see how happy she is when we’re living out of my car.”

He steps toward me, dropping his voice. “Is it that bad?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know.” I throw my hands up in frustration. “I’ll figure it out. I always do. What did you want to talk to me about?”

“A solution, actually.”

I tilt my head. “A solution?”

“Yes.” He gestures to the chair with a brow raised, wordlessly asking if he can sit.

I nod, and he sits down as I assume the chair across from him.

My eyes remain locked on him as he draws in a deep breath. Which only increases my unease about whatever this solution may be.

“You need a place to live. I have a place for you to live.”

“Did your renters cancel?” Hope builds inside my chest.

“No. It’s still fully booked. In fact, there’s a waiting list.”

“But—”

“On the vineyard. With me.”

My breath catches. “With…you? Why would you do that?”

He taps his fingers nervously against the table. “Because I need something, too.”

“What’s that?”

He slowly lifts his eyes to mine, several protracted seconds passing as I wait for his response.

Then he finally says, “A wife.”

CHAPTER SIX

HALEY

I must be hallucinating. Or even dreaming. That must be it. I must have fallen asleep while I was manifesting and dreamed that I was presented with a solution to my problem. That’s the only possible explanation for why Beckham Lawrence is suggesting I marry him. After all, the man has barely muttered more than a few words to me over the past several years.

---