Page 19 of The Marriage Deal
I gave her a look to say; Are you serious?
She raised her hands in surrender. "I mean, what you told me about that night makes me think otherwise."
I thanked myself for not telling her about the almost kiss. She would be shipping us if she knew that. "It was a fluke. Something was in the air."
She nodded. That must be it. She chugged the rest of her beer down and whistled to the waitress. "Two more." She waved her glass at her. The waitress nodded.
"I think I've had enough," I said.
"Come on," she whined. "Let's do another round. My husband's gone to a work conference, and I am alone at home."
"So that's why you wanted to do beers."
"And to cheer you up."
The waitress came with two full glasses of beer to replace our empty ones. I grabbed mine, and so did Jess, who then raised hers, "Cheers. One more for the road." When the waitress gave us a side eye, Jess added, "We're taking an Uber, darling. Don't worry about us." The waitress shook her head and left. Jess rolled her eyes. "Kids these days. A little judgmental, don't you think?"
"You're thirty. That's hardly old."
She snorted. "On a college campus, that's sixty-five."
We drank our last beer as I told Jess about the family pawnshop. When Effie called me this afternoon, she told me she was thinking of selling, like the partners wanted. When I told Jess this, she asked, "How much does she need to buy them out, anyway?"
"Eight hundred and sixty thousand dollars total." The number was drilled in my head. I could recite it in my sleep.
"That's a lot. I love your shop. I know you call it a pawnshop, but it's more of an antiques store to me. It's like walking into a treasure cave." Jess stared blankly at her drink. I thought she was lost in thought when she suddenly jerked up and said, "Lightbulb moment! What if? Oh my God, yes. What if…" She trailed off, and for a moment, I thought she was just being drunk when she said again, "What did you say about Levi's trust fund?"
"What's that got to do with anything?"
"What did you say about the trust fund!"
"He was saying something about needing a wife so he can access it, I don't know."
Her eyes widened. "Bingo. You want eight hundred and…
"Eight hundred and sixty thousand dollars."
"You want that much. He wants access to his trust fund. So what if you marry him? He gets his money, and for your troubles, he pays you. Everyone's happy.I squared the circle, I am a motherfucking genius. What do you think?"
I burst out laughing.
"Come on! It's perfect."
"Yeah. And what? I just send him an email asking him to marry me?"
"Why not? You miss every shot you take."
"Every shot youdon'ttake."
"What did I say?"
"Never mind."
"What do you say?"
"You want me to send an email to my boss asking him to marry me? For money?"
She shrugged as though that was the most reasonable suggestion in the world. And I, person six or was it seven, beers deep, thought, "Why not?"
