“And won’t they take more out of your paycheck for a wife? Stop it, Landon. This is nuts.” She shook her head and shifted away from me.
“I make a great salary, and I wouldn’t miss it.” I spun her around. “You’d really be doing this for me. Because I didn’t like that crack about choosing between groceries and medications. I’m not going to watch you get sick just because you’re stubborn.”
“Okay, let’s say I agree to be your fake wife in the name of insurance fraud. And you meet someone and have to explain you’re married, but it’s just for convenience?”
“It’s no one’s business but ours. If I met someone, it would be a long time before marriage was even a consideration, if ever. And if she didn’t understand how much you mean to me, if for some reason I did have to tell her, then I wouldn’t want to waste my time with anyone like that anyway.”
She draped her hand over her eyes, still shaking her head.
“And this only has to be until you get on your feet, for maybe a couple of years, if that. If you find a job or meet someone you decide to marry, we’ll divorce just as secretly.” I lifted one side of my mouth, trying to relax her, but she waved her hands and shook her head again.
“I’m not close to dating anyone, much less thinking of getting married. But this feels like I’m taking advantage of you.”
“I told you, I wouldn’t miss the premium out of my paycheck, no one has to know, and again, we are right here. It’s almost like fate.”
“A fated fake marriage.”
“Yes,” I said, bobbing my head in a slow nod. “I can’t take this away from you. I’d love to wave some kind of wand and you wouldn’t have to worry about being sick ever again, but I can’t. But this—” I grabbed her biceps, gripping them tighter until she turned her head toward me “—I can fix this.”
“A marriage fix?” She huffed out a humorless laugh.
I lifted a shoulder. “More like a marriage solution.”
“But,” she sighed, pressing her fingers into her temples. “Won’t word get around at work that you’re married?”
“I don’t care if it does or it doesn’t. I’ll tell HR that I got married and need to add my wife to my insurance plan as soon as possible. They’re supposed to keep it private, but if they don’t—” I shrugged “—it’s no one’s business beyond that.”
“Landon,” she said, picking up my hand and holding it in both of hers. “I adore you, but I cannot let you do this.”
“I adore you too, that’s why you need to marry me. Since you told me about all of this yesterday, I’ve been going crazy trying to think of a way to help you and dreading going back to Charlotte and worrying about you all the damn time. If we do this, I can help you.”
I cupped her cheek when she stilled, holding her gaze as she barely breathed or blinked.
“Think of it as a favor to me. Let me do this for you soIcan relax. I’m already going to text and call too much and drive you crazy.”
I kept hold of her hand and dropped to one knee. A group of women by the opposite row of flowers gawked at us in my periphery. Getting down on one knee wasn’t necessary, or even appropriate for the type of proposal this was, but I was desperate. And with the crowd gathered around us, I hoped embarrassment would force her to say yes, and I’d hold her to it after.
“Get up,” she said in a loud whisper as she scanned the space around us and noticed all the heads swiveled in our direction.
“Nope,” I said, popping the p as a grin split my mouth. “Julianne Marie Robison, I love you, and I want to take care of you.” Her face softened before she clenched her eyes shut. “Please marry me.”
8
JULIE
What was crazier about this disaster of an idea? The fact that Landon thought of it in the first place, or that I was giving it serious consideration?
I had other financial concerns besides health insurance. Nate didn’t want his part of the down payment back, but when we’d bought the house, I’d put in most of it anyway. The mortgage was enough to eat up most of my salary and would gobble up my severance before I could even blink. What I would get from unemployment wouldn’t even make a tiny dent in my monthly payment, never mind the other utilities.
But if I took Landon’s offer, I could look into freelance jobs or concurrent part-time ones without having to worry about a chunk being taken out for hefty insurance premiums. I wouldn’t exactly be comfortable, but I could manage and breathe a little.
Marrying my best friend purely in the name of convenience was one thing. Marrying him while I was so attracted to him lately? That made me take a serious pause. My vulnerability and displacement had me latching on to Landon like a life preserver for the past couple of days, which was probably the catalyst for how drawn to him I was now. While that would most likely turn out to be a temporary thing due to circumstance, making him my husband while I was soawareof him felt dangerous and a little reckless.
But this wouldn’t be a forced-proximity situation like all the fake marriage romances I liked to read. He’d be in North Carolina, and I’d be in New York. Our daily lives would still be just as separate, and the only thing we’d have to share would be an insurance plan.
Then why did the entire notion of marrying Landon as if it were a business transaction leave me with a feeling of ominous dread in the pit of my stomach?
“Get up. There has to be another way.”
