That Evening
My “second best”wife option stared at me from across my desk, batting her brown eyes.
Her name was Lydia Moon, and on paper, she’d seemed like all I’d ever want if I ever did get married.
So far, all we’d done was take turns quizzing each other about our likes and dislikes, just as Jenna suggested.
“What type of books do you enjoy reading?” I asked, needing a break.
“Oh, wait a minute.” She shook her head. “Miss Dawson didn’t give me the answer to that question.”
“That’s okay,” I said. “You can freestyle it.”
“Are you sure?”
“One hundred percent.”
“To be honest, I don’t like any books. Reading is boring.”
I paused, my pen hovering mid-note, as if my hand refused to acknowledge what she’d just said.
“Okay… What about movies?”
She shrugged. “I haven’t watched a film in a super long time. That’s just not my thing.”
“What do you like to do?”
“Influence.” She smiled. “I can sell you any product with ease.”
“I mean, whenever you’re not working as an influencer,” I said. “What do you do for fun, like off social media?”
She gave me the blankest stare of the day, and I kept my eyes on the door, anxiously waiting for Jenna to return.
She’s not going to work for me at all.
“Your tie is really nice,” she said. “It’s a Tom Ford, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“I get seven percent of every sales lead I send there from my TikTok account.” She leaned forward. “Would you mind taking it off, so I can make a video for my followers about it?”
I checked my watch, already done pretending this meeting was salvageable.
“Um, hello?” She waved her hand. “Yes or no? I can split the profits, if you want.”
I stood up from my desk and walked out.
6
NICHOLAS
Laura Hayley was the type of woman who most men in my position loved to have on their arm. A beautiful brunette with deep almond eyes, she was highly educated and well-traveled.
She was also, unfortunately, incapable of going longer than ten minutes without talking about something other than herself.
“This is my first time dining at this place.” She smiled at me. “I like it a lot.”
“Happy to hear that,” I said. “Like I was saying before, though, do you think you’ll be ready and have everything memorized by next weekend?”
