Page 97 of The Reason I Married Him
“Sounds relaxing.”
“It was. It was nice.” She takes a seat across from me. “I see that you did the chicken coop, which leads me to believe you didn’t do any relaxing this weekend.”
Relaxing? No.
Making huge, life-altering decisions? Yup.
“I’d like to say I did the chicken coop all by myself, but well . . . Wyatt helped me.”
The slight hitch in her expression leads me to believe she must have heard talk around town this weekend. God, what she must be thinking . . .
“I heard he’s been out here all weekend.” She pauses, looking uncomfortable, and I don’t blame her. The last time I talked to her, I told her how I thought Wyatt was up to something suspicious, and now she probably knows that we’re dating. She has to be confused. If I were in her shoes, I’d be confused as well. She’s the only one I told about my Wyatt suspicions . . . so maybe I can trust her to tell her what I agreed to this weekend.
“I know what you must be thinking,” I say.
“I don’t think you do.” She laughs.
“Let me guess. Last you heard, I thought Wyatt was here to steal the farm away. You take a few days off and over the weekend hear that Wyatt and I are dating. And then of course he’s here all weekend, helping me out. Hattie told me that people bought all of the cherry pie from The Sweet Lab because Wyatt and I were eating a pie together, and well . . . I must seem like a total hypocrite. I swear there’s an explanation, but I need to be able to trust you as a friend to talk about this.”
She chuckles and crosses one leg over the other. “Well, I guess you did know what I was thinking.” That makes me smile.She grows serious and says, “When I say I’m looking for a friend, I mean it, Aubree. You can trust me, I promise. You have given me a new chapter in my life with this job and helped me find an apartment. My loyalty is with you and no one else.”
“I appreciate that,” I say. “Can you, uh, lock the door?”
“That serious?” she asks as she gets up.
“That serious.”
She locks the door and then scoots her chair closer before sitting on it. “Okay, what’s going on?”
I take a deep breath. “You’re the only one I’m telling this to, okay? And I need you not to judge me either.”
“I won’t, I promise.”
“Thank you,” I say before taking another deep breath. Here we go . . . “Uh, Wyatt came into town, and I was rightfully annoyed. I knew he wanted something, and I was right. Long story short, a family cabin was supposed to be passed onto him, but because of a technicality, it goes to the first married grandchild in his family. That person will be his cousin, who apparently has no sentimental regard for the cabin and wants to knock it down when he gains possession. Wyatt owns a part of this farm that he doesn’t want. So he asked me to marry him for a year in exchange for the land so he can get the cabin, and we’re both happy.” I let out a deep breath. “And I can’t tell my family because they’ll tell me not to do it and call me crazy, but I feel bad for Wyatt and his cabin because I know how much it means to want something . . . like this farm. And oh God, saying it out loud makes me sound like I’ve completely lost my marbles, but I haven’t, I promise. I think this is the right thing to do.”
Echo stares blankly at me for a moment before leaning back in her chair. After a few seconds, she says, “Wow, that’s a lot to take in.”
“Is it too much? Did I cross a line? Are you uncomfortable? If you need to excuse yourself, please feel free to do so.”
She chuckles and shakes her head. “No, I mean, it’s just not what I was expecting. I heard you two were dating, and that was confusing, but this . . . this makes the suspicions you had, the way he’s been lurking around here, the gossip about you two in town—makes it all true. The dates out in public, that’s to convince people that when you get married, you’ve been dating all along.”
“Exactly,” I say.
“That’s actually pretty smart. And you get the farm, he gets his cabin, then you go your separate ways?”
“Yes,” I say, feeling a little lighter now that I got that off my chest...and it seems like Echo is not going to judge me.
“Honestly, if I were in your shoes, I’d probably have said yes as well. Wyatt seems like a good guy, at least from what I’ve experienced and heard, so it’s not like you’re going to marry an ass. The deal seems fair. And you’re both gaining something very important to you. I don’t see what the problem is. Why do you have to be secretive about it?”
“Because of his cousin,” I say. “Wyatt told me the moment he finds out about us getting married, he’ll be pissed, which means we need to keep this farce a secret. We want to make him believe that we’re together and we’re in love.”
“Ah, makes sense, and if the town knows about the lie, then that will probably get back to the cousin and ruin Wyatt’s chances of getting the cabin.” She scratches her cheek. “This feels like a well-plotted idea from the author who writes thrillers. Please tell me there isn’t going to be a murder in the end.”
“Only if he continues to annoy me.”
That makes her laugh. “Is there a threshold for the annoyance?”
“There is,” I answer.
