"Again?" I asked as he handed be a beer. Taking a seat on the couch, he sat in his chair.
"It’s really not my place to say anything, but Lilli overworks herself to pay for some financial difficulties her father has and she has pushed school off so much that it seems she will end up dropping out. It pisses me off. She’s smart and an amazing writer." Dixon sat back in his chair and sighed.
"A writer?" I settled into the couch.
"Yeah, mostly journalism. She's been published in a couple magazines. Phoebe sent some things she wrote in, without her knowing, of course." Dixon chuckled. It was good to hear him laugh. Shaking his head he leaned back in his chair and picked up the TV remote. "How about some Sports Center?"
After a couple hours of Sports Center, I headed home. When I got home, I sat down into the leather couch, thinking about making a marriage deal with someone. I make business deals on a daily basis. Negotiating this deal can't be much harder. Could it?
Pulling out my phone, I placed a call to Devlin, the family lawyer. Before I moved forward with this plan, I need to talk to him. Making sure I could do this without breaching the inheritance terms is crucial. Also, I need him to set up the legal documentation for when I make the deal official.
After my phone call with Devlin, I was able to move forward with the plan. However, now I needed to figure out how and who to approach. I’m sure I could easily pull a random person off the street but that’s not exactly safe. I definitely prefer to at least know the person before entering this kind of arrangement. Acquaintances, friends, past lovers all swirled around my head while I showered, brushed my teeth and dressed for bed. Sleep did not come easy, but eventually the softness of my bed lulled me to sleep.
~
Saturday morning, I woke haunted by dreams of faceless women chasing after me. With only seven months to get blissfully wed, my dreams were not going to improve any time soon. And don’t even get me started on the conception part of the conditions. I sure as hell am not ready to be married, and a kid...holy fuck, I’ve never even thought about being a father. To say I was uncomfortable with the idea was a huge understatement. My mind raced throughout my whole morning routine; coffee, shower, breakfast and even as I tried to distract myself with work.
Pushing away from the mess of memos and contracts on my desk, I decided to give television a shot. C-Span could easy distract me from my internal dialogue. And, hell, I needed to check out the highlights on Sports Center. Plopping myself down on the couch, I picked up my personal cell. I hated having two cell phones but I didn’t like to use my personal cell for business calls and vice versa. I thought about calling Oscar, but he would probably still be sleeping or at the hospital. With a heavy sigh, I tossed my phone on the coffee table in front of me. Laying my head back on the couch, I took a deep breath before pulling myself up. As I paced laps around the living room, my phone started ringing.
"Hello," I answered a little breathless from the pacing.
"Hello honey. Are you okay? You sound a little—"
"I’m fine." I smiled at the sound of Viola’s concern.
"Oh," she paused. "Well, I just want to remind you about Maggie’s party next weekend. You know we are having dinner at seven on Friday—"
"Right, Viola," I chuckled. She knew I would never forget Maggie’s birthday.
"What?" She feigned innocence.
"I’m guessing you’ve heard from Elora’s parents?" I walked into the kitchen.
"Well," she hesitated. "Okay, I did. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay. Are you okay?"
"I’m fine.” Grabbing a mug, I moved to the coffee machine, placed the mug on the base and hit the button to fill it up. “Elora is a nice girl and it would’ve been easy to come to the arrangement necessary, but I would never want to take away her chance at real happiness. Not for someone like me." I mumbled.
"Aidan Walsh Iverson! How dare you talk about yourself like that!"
Uh oh, Vi is about to go all motherly on me.
"You are a wonderful man and any woman would be lucky to have you."
I snorted.
"Aidan sweetheart, I love you," she reassured.
"Viola, I need to tell you something." Taking a deep breath, I knew this wasn’t going to be easy to explain.
"What is it?" Her question was full of sincere concern.
Pacing back and forth in my kitchen, I launched into the deal I was going to make with someone. Regardless of my shame of the situation, I was running out of time. When I was finished, she was extremely quiet. As the silence grated on my nerves, I squeezed the back of my neck with my free hand.
"You still there?" I rubbed at the tense muscles in my neck.
"Yes dear, I’m here." She sighed lightly. "Aidan, please don’t rush out and make this arrangement with someone hastily. I realize you’re being practical; however, you may come across something…the real thing." She attempted to diffuse this idea but we both knew I was out of other options.