“I can’t go out dressed this way. People need to believe I am marrying Pierce.” I’d worn my only respectable the outfit to our meeting that morning and quickly changed in midafternoon when he brought me back to his estate and helped me settle into a room.
In San Francisco, I spent my day in work clothing. I wore four-inch stilettos like they were gym shoes, but many things changed since then. For the first time in two years, I realized I had changed too.
Oliver laughed as if he found my comment hilarious. “You are with the Kensingtons now. No one will care what you’re wearing. And no one would dare to comment, even if they did.”
He acted as if Pierce owned the town, but I knew the truth. When you had a certain amount of money, everyone always looked to you. Gossiped about you. And, you were absolutely expected to maintain a presence, which happened most often by your appearance.
“I’m just not used to it.” How easy would it be to slip back into my life of rich and famous? Had my move to Guatemala changed me at my core?
Did I even like high heels?
That’s a stupid question. I loved high heels. They were gorgeous. Sure they made your feet hurt like a bitch, but power heels made me feel… powerful. A beautiful pair of heels held the potential to change your life.
Oliver leaned up against the doorway and stared at me almost as if he had pity, but it wasn’t quite that. Something else lurked behind his eyes. “Pierce would prefer the jeans and t-shirt look, but I bet we can take a trip to the city and properly outfit you later.”
What? Isn’t it wrong to spend somebody else’s money, but I would love a new outfit? Years had passed, literally, since I’d been able to shop. That’s a long time not to enjoy a favorite pastime.
“My bank account is a tad short.” Our host company provided most of our food and lodgings in Guatemala. I’d been living off my little savings account for the last two years.
When I was flying high in San Francisco, I never expected to need a large nest egg. Saving for retirement was something I’d do when I hit thirty. I spent most the money I made and now with my account so low it left me cautious with spending cash.
“Don’t worry. As Pierce’s fiancée, you have access to the Kensington accounts now. Shop away. In fact make it look good. Any fiancée of Pierce would want to spend his money. Really stick it to him, for me,” he said with a quick wink.
I practically swooned right there, but instead I bit my bottom lip to stop the smile from giving away my reaction and nodded once.
I could definitely spend a small amount of my fake fiancé’s money if it meant a few more pieces of clothing. Not as much as Oliver wanted, but an outfit or two. When I finished with my six months in Pelican Bay, I’d sell them on eBay and take the money back with me to Guatemala.
“So you agree to dinner and new clothes?” Oliver asked, for clarification. He liked to make sure he had things lined up and neatly agreed.
I nodded. “So far I haven’t heard anything too horrible.”
Honestly, I hadn’t figured out everything yet and my mind whirled with what happened. I walked into a meeting this morning to ask for money and somehow ended up a fake fiancée to the richest man in Pelican Bay. A girl needed time to process that in the quiet of her room. In a bath. I’d live in the bathtub every moment I could while in America. I missed baths.
Oliver stepped further into my room and stuck his arm through mine pulling me out into the hallway. “I find you the most agreeable fake fiancée. I think you’ll do, Mari.”
Not sure agreeable had ever been used as an adjective to describe me before, so Oliver immediately won brownie points.
Hopefully the townspeople of Pelican bay would agree. If I could make them see Pierce as more than the rich playboy villain they’d made him out to be, he would get his bed-and-breakfast, I would get my two million dollars, and the people in Guatemala would get fresh water. It was a triple win for all of us.
4
Mari
I’d never been to the Portland mall, but from first glance it resembled every other mall in America. Tile floors led shoppers through long hallways with shops lining the sides. Pretty standard. The economic downturn hit the space as it had most malls in the country over the last decade. Many of the storefronts were empty, and the others were filled with big chain businesses. Too bad I didn’t need candles or Tupperware.
I stared of the tall shop directory and tried to pinpoint which would be the best place to begin our shopping extravaganza. Malls and I were well-acquainted, but I’d never been hauled around one with two men who had more money than common sense. I tried to delay the promised shopping trip, but Oliver would hear nothing of it. He practically forced Pierce and me out of the house the next morning.
“I told you we should have chartered a plane for New York,” Pierce said as he stood beside me in front of the directory and shook his head at the lackluster choices.
“No.” It was crazy enough I let the two men talk me into coming to the mall and buying clothing in the first place. It was super crazy for Pierce to suggest we charter a private plane to shop in New York for the afternoon.
Old Mari would have found the idea a smashing one, but now I didn’t look past the waste—jet fuel, company time, resources, the wasted money.
Pierce Kensington screamed money, but Oliver… didn’t. He didn’t hold himself as stiffly and his eyes didn’t gaze over everyone as if they didn’t matter right away. He obviously had wealth, but he held it differently than Pierce. He was not so flashy, and I walked closer to him when we entered the mall.
Wealth didn’t impress me as much as it would other people, but even I felt out of my element with Pierce. I floated in high society in San Francisco, but I’d never flown in a private plane for an afternoon of shopping. Of course, Pelican Bay fell a long way away from San Francisco. Back then I had more clothing choices in my closet than in this entire mall. Plus I was often too busy working to take an afternoon for fun. Most of my shopping happened online or with a personal shopper who had outfits delivered to my office.
Mall trips were saved for special girls’ night out. Since I didn’t have any actual girlfriends, I trolled the malls alone more often than not. At one point in time, I thought there would be a chance I would be accepted into the small group of women who formed at Trey’s, my ex-boyfriend, workplace, but we were never a good fit.
