“I’m guessing you didn’t see me on the news last night.”
“No! What happened? Are you in some kind of trouble?”
“Yes and no. I need to tell you something, but you have to swear not to tell a living soul. Not even Mom and Dad.”
“Elbow promise!” It was their own sister-to-sister, linked elbows, stronger-than-linked-pinkies, ‘til-death-do-you-die promise.
“And you can’t be mad at me.”
“I promise, but you’ve got me really worried, now. What is it?”
“There’s a guy who’s offered to marry me.” She hurried on before Harper could interject a question. “It would only be for about five months. He thinks he can help me keep my job until I finish my counseling hours, and there’s a prenup that gives me $250,000 when we divorce. I’ve done some figuring, and that would be enough to pay off my school loans, buy a decent car, start a college fund for the baby, and put a down payment on a house.”
Harper responded with silence.
“What are you thinking?” Brooke asked.
“You may not want to hear it.”
“Go ahead. That’s why I called.” Brooke’s pulse raced.
“I’m sorry, but I think this sounds a lot like being a prostitute. Some rich dude is basically paying you for temporary sex. There’s no commitment. That’s not a real marriage and you know it. And how do you know he’ll even come through with the money?”
“But—”
“Brooke, you don’t have to do this. When I finish school, I’ll make enough money to pay back both our school loans.”
“But we aren’t going to sleep together.”
“What did you say?”
“We aren’t going to sleep together. We’ll be married, but we’ll have separate bedrooms. No sex whatsoever.”
“If you’re not having sex, then what does he get out of the deal?”
“He’ll save a million dollars, minus the quarter million I get when we divorce. So he nets three-quarters of a million.”
“And how does marrying you save this dude a million dollars?” Harper asked in an I-can’t-believe-you-fell-for-that voice.
“It gets him out of his contract to be on Millionaire Matchup.”
Harper’s tell-tale gasp signaled the moment the puzzle pieces clicked together. “Cole Miller? Cole Miller wants to marry you?”
“Yes.” Brooke cringed. “Don’t be mad at me. I suggested he’d be happier marrying you, but he’s never met you, so…”
Harper let out a squeal that must’ve surprised anyone in hearing distance. “This is fantastic!”
“It is?”
“You guys are only friends, right? I mean, obviously you haven’t fallen madly in love, or you wouldn’t be planning a temporary, sexless marriage.”
“No, it’s completely platonic. We don’t have any feelings for each other.” Why did the words stick in her throat?
“It’s the perfect chance for me to meet him. He won’t be on the show, so he won’t fall in love with some rich girl and be lost forever. Instead, he’ll marry you. I’ll come to the wedding and then visit you guys a few times. You’ll divorce and get your money. Cole and I will start dating. Etcetera, etcetera. And we’ll live happily ever after!”
“Wait. Let’s go back a few steps. You want to come to the wedding? I was thinking we’d make it small and quiet, since it’s not real.”
“Whatever you do, you have to invite me,” Harper gushed. “I have to meet him.”
“I’m not even sure I want to marry him.”
Harper came back in a panicky voice. “Oh my goodness! Is he abusive? I wasn’t even thinking! I’m so sorry. If he is, don’t marry him. I don’t want to marry a guy like that, either. It’s not worth it, even for the money. He just seemed like such a nice guy on TV, but—”
“No, he’s not abusive,” Brooke cut in. “He has a little temper, but he’s super sweet to me.”
“Then what’s wrong with him? You can tell me. I already elbow-promised to keep it a secret.”
What could she say? That Cole Miller was too nice and she might fall for him? That she couldn’t handle getting her heart broken again? The seed of an idea sprouted in her head. If she went into the marriage with the attitude that she was setting Cole up to fall for her sister, she wouldn’t get so attached. In a weird way, it would be like being a surrogate mother. Only in this case, she would be a surrogate wife.
“I’m mostly worried I’ll let him push me around too much,” Brooke said. “After being with Nathan, I never want that to happen again.”
“I don’t think you will,” said Harper. “These last few months it feels like I finally have my sister back. Nathan really wore you down, but I can’t imagine you’ll ever bend to someone else’s will again. You were already pushing back before he cheated on you. Didn’t he try to make you give up on your counseling license?”
“You’re right.” Brooke thought back to the last few months of the painful relationship. “The closer I got to finishing, the more he complained about it. I think he felt threatened.”
She was surprised to find the memory wasn’t as raw as before. Maybe the pregnancy was giving her some endorphins.
“What about Mom and Dad?”
