Page 11 of The Backup Groom
Now, my heart was playing a drum solo in my chest. “Hey, Ryan. How are you? It’s been such a long time.”
“It has,” he said. “And I’m doing fine.”
“Good, good . . . glad to hear.”
Glad to hear? Did I seriously say that?
I sounded like my doctor after I told him I was drinking more water.
“Congratulations on becoming a veterinarian,” I said, trying to pretend I wasn’t so nervous. “That really is amazing.”
“Thank you. Look—I’m getting ready to neuter a cat,” Ryan said. “How can I help you?”
This sounded like a business call, which made sense since I was calling him at his business.
“How can you help me? Well . . . I . . . uh . . .” I floundered, failing to come up with the proper way to tell him I wanted to marry him, so I could have a lot of money and quit my job.
No matter how I phrased it, he was going to think I was crazy.
This was a bad idea.
I could offer Ryan all the money in the world, and he wouldn’t marry me.
“Amber? Are you there?” Ryan asked.
“Yes . . .”
I was an idiot. It had been so long that I had forgotten how to have a conversation with a man.
“Ask him to get together for coffee to chat,” Stella whispered, obviously seeing that I was dying a slow death on the phone. “Do it.”
“Do you have some time today or tomorrow to get together for a cup of coffee?” I asked. “I’d love to run something by you. I promise I won’t take too much of your time.”
Ryan blew out a breath. “Look. Amber. I appreciate the call, but I think it’s best if we left the past in the past. Things are good in my life right now. The business is thriving. Oh, and I married a wonderful woman.”
“You’re married?” I blurted out.
My heart sank.
That was the last thing I expected him to say.
The disappointed look on Stella’s face said it all.
It was time for me to kiss that five million dollars goodbye.
“Don’t sound so surprised,” Ryan said.
“No, no,” I replied, not wanting to hurt his feelings. “It’s not that. I saw your Facebook profile, and it said you were single. You caught me off guard, that’s all. I’m happy for you, Ryan, really. Congratulations. She’s a lucky lady.”
“Thank you—I appreciate that,” he said. “And yeah, I completely forgot that I need to change my status on Facebook to married. Thanks for the heads-up, but I really need to go, Amber. You take care of yourself.”
“You too, Ryan.” I disconnected the call and plopped back down into the chair, all the energy drained from my body. “He’s married. Imagine that.”
“This can’t be happening. I was already brainstorming names for our new agency!” Stella paced back and forth, thinking. “This really makes no sense. Uncle G would’ve done the research to make sure Ryan was single before putting that stipulation in the will.”
“Ryan said he got married recently, and Uncle G recorded his will a couple of months ago, according to the lawyer.” I shrugged. “Well, anyway, that’s that. Back to the grind, I guess.”
“I don’t want to go back to the grind!” Stella pointed to the folder on the table with the printed version of the will. “Were there any clauses in the will, in the event that Ryan was already married, or maybe they found his dead body at the bottom of Lake Poway? There has got to be something in there.”
