Page 30 of Forever with the CEO

As we sat down, Hugo said, “I have to say, I was shocked when Nick told me what this was about.”

“So, you think it’s a bad idea?” Allison asked.

I looked at her intently. She was fiddling her thumbs and had moved forward to the very edge of the seat.

“No, I just wasn’t expecting it. When I gave you my advice, I was sincerely hoping that you were already in a relationship. That would have been an easy solution. A lazy one, but lazy solutions are usually the best. Everything else carries too much risk.”

Allison looked at me, and I nodded. “You take the lead with the questions,” I told her.

“Fire away with anything that’s on your mind. Don’t hold back,” Hugo said. “I’m here to listen to all your worries and tell you if they’re legitimate or not.”

“Could this backfire in any way? Like if anyone discovered it wasn’t for real?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Like any other marriage, it will either work out or it won’t. More than half of marriages end up in divorce anyway. If that were to happen after the dust settled in the custody battle, no one could blame you, and it wouldn’t negatively impact your keeping the kids.” He hesitated. “The grandparents could then make a case against you. But in my experience, once a judge grants custody to someone, they’re unlikely to revoke it.”

“That leads me to my next question,” Allison said. “How long would we have to do this for?”

Hugo placed his hands over the table. “Hard to say. Depends how long the custody battle takes. Could be a few months, could be a year, maybe two. But I can have the divorce papers drafted up and ready to go, so the minute you get custody, we can set the divorce in motion.”

She looked at her knees. “And we have to live together?”

I glanced at Hugo, waiting for his reaction.

He nodded once. “It would be for the best. It’s hard to make a case of stability if you two live in separate homes. It could work, but I wouldn’t advise it.”

I turned to face her. “Allison, we can solve that. It’s not an insurmountable obstacle.”

“What else do you want to know?” Hugo asked.

Allison laughed, looking at the floor. “Sorry. I just can’t shake the feeling that it isn’t real that we’re here, asking these things.” She glanced at me. “That Nick would even want this.”

Hugo stared at me, and I knew what he was thinking. Why the actual fuckwasI considering this? We’d been friends for a long time but weren’t close enough for him to ask. I could tell when I set up this meeting last night that he’d been wanting to, and that he still did now too.

“For what it’s worth,” he said, “I think people get married for worse reasons. It’s commendable that you two want to make sure that the kids end up with someone who has their best interest at heart. I suggest you two sign a prenup so that there are no issues afterward. The divorce would then simply be a formality.”

“All right,” Allison murmured. “So, you think this could work? That I would for sure keep custody?”

“It would definitely work in your favor. You’d have a household with two incomes, plus a stable relationship. It’s good that you’ve known Nick for a while. We still have time to decide how we play this for the court. For example, should we say that you two have been together since you first met?”

“That would be at Nora and Jim’s wedding,” I replied.

Allison shook her head. “That won’t work. That was seven years ago, and we only saw each other a few times at birthday parties until they passed away. And I’m sure each of us has dated other people in between.”

“Then we could use that as your starting point. You two bonded after the catastrophe and so on.” Hugo spoke in a very matter-of-fact tone. Allison winced. I didn’t like it either. “Of course, that was only four months ago. But we live in an age where things happen very fast. The situation is unique and could spur a romantic relationship.”

Allison finally looked at him. “You’re certain there are no drawbacks? That there’s no other way I could keep custody?”

“There’s always a possibility that you could win in court against your sister’s in-laws. I wouldn’t discard that. But we’d need to smear them good. It could get nasty,” Hugo admitted.

“So we’re back to attacking them,” she said, sounding distraught.

I hated the stress this was placing on her. The more we discussed the marriage option, the more I could see ways I couldhelp her and make her life a bit easier. And let’s face it, it was no hardship on me. I’d live with a beautiful woman and hang out with the two best kids in the world. I could do this for a while.

“Custody battles can be very dirty,” Hugo replied. “That’s why I don’t advise to actually go into battle.” He checked his watch. “Okay, I’ve got to get going. I’m sorry, but I need to jump onto a Zoom meeting.”

“Yes, of course,” Allison said. “Thank you so much for seeing us this early.”

The second we stepped out of the building, Allison sighed, putting a hand to her temple.

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