Thanks to Duncan Fletcher—I seriously can’t believe he’s related to my old teammate Dax—I need Alice’s help more than ever.
Instead of filling out the papers to start the annulment process tonight, this is going to be a different kind of conversation.
“Hey, Alice. I know you wanted to get this marriage annulled, but how about staying married to me instead?” Even saying it out loud to myself sounds ridiculous.
A crash in the entryway breaks me from my wayward thoughts.
Alice. Coming in like a tornado.
The ball of fury blows into the kitchen. A baseball hat, complete with the Enchanted Petals logo, hides her hair. A white T-shirt, knotted at the waist, hugs her chest. Completewith black leggings and flip-flops, she looks relaxed, but I know she isn’t.
Waves of anger are radiating off her.
“What’s wrong, Alice?”
“What’snotwrong?” she huffs as she sets down a brown paper bag on the counter. Based on the smell, I know it’s my favorite empanadas.
I’m starving. I didn’t eat enough before meeting Cash at the arena for our workout, and once Troy showed up, it turned into two hours on the ice.
“Do you mind filling me in, Froggie?”
Alice adjusts her cap. A sign of nerves. Huh. That’s interesting. We’re both nervous.
“We need to stay married,” she blurts out.
“What?”
I couldn’t have heard her right. There’s no way. Staying married? Maybe this might solve my problem.
“Look, I know that’s not what we agreed on, but I need your help.”
I lean against the counter and fold my arms over my chest. “And this help requires staying married to you?”
“Yes.” Alice nods. “Do you have anything to drink? This would go down better with a drink.”
“Yeah.”
Pushing off the marble island, I open the fridge and grab her bottle of wine. The one that I keep here for her.
Getting a glass from the kitchen cabinet, I give her a healthy pour. She gulps half of it down immediately.
“Okay, use your words, Alice.” I clasp her wrist to stop her from finishing it off in one go.
“In order to get my trust fund, I need to be married.”
“Since when?” I ask. “I thought you got it on your next birthday.”
Alice shakes her head, walking over to the food and starting to unpack the bag. “My grandfather apparentlydecided that in order to get it, I must be married. I’m sure my dad thinks that won’t happen—and that I will decide to go work for the family business instead so I can earn enough money there to make up for not having the trust. But I don’t want their money.”
“I know.”
“But if I want to get Enchanted Petals when Leon retires, I need it.”
“Which leads us back to staying married.”
Alice spins on her heel and looks at me. She looks resigned to this fact. “If you don’t want to do it, you don’t have to. I realize I’d be asking a lot of you and it’s not fair, but?—”
“Yes,” I cut her off.
