The Marriage Contract Natasha Black (top ebook reader .txt) 📖

round, having put away a couple of cups already. I turned to see her when she walked through the hallway, but my voice caught in my throat. She was only wearing her towel, and her hair was dripping wet. She smiled at me and peeked into the kitchen to see what was cooking.

“Smells good in here,” she said as she passed by and back into the bedroom. A few seconds later, she came out with her dirty clothes and brought them to her bedroom where she shut the door to change.

I realized I had been holding my breath the entire time and let it out in one big exhale. I had to get a hold of myself. When she came back from the bedroom, dressed and ready, I avoided eye contact as much as possible. We ate in relative silence, her checking some news on her phone and me keeping myself busy with dishes and things while I ate. Finally, it was time to leave.

“Are you ready?” I asked as I put on my shoes.

“As ever,” she said.

We got down to the car, and instinctually, I opened her door for her. As she got in, she stopped and looked at me with a sly grin.

“Oops,” she said, “I guess the annulment due to failure to consummate won’t work anymore.”

We both laughed nervously, and I shut her door to go around to my side.

By the time we got to the jeweler, the ice had been broken and we were mostly back to our normal selves. Music blasted from the radio, and she was singing along. It was some newer artist I wasn’t familiar with, but I didn’t mind it. After we pulled in, I left the car running for a minute to finish the song.

“That was pretty good,” I said.

“Yeah, I love her,” Chloe said. “Saw her in concert a year ago. Got to meet her. She’s very sweet.”

“I forget that you know some of those people.” I laughed.

“So do I, sometimes,” she said. “Though, I wouldn’t trade where I am now for that life again. Nine times out of ten, knowing a celebrity just means you know what kind of asshole they are.”

“Fair,” I said. “Never meet your heroes. It’s an old saying that still rings true to me.”

“Solid advice,” she said. “Though all my heroes are reporters. They don’t tend to have big egos about fans.”

“Not when the fan in question is rich and her family is powerful,” I said. “You could have been a source.”

“If only I had something important to tell them,” she laughed. “It’s not like I ever knew anything that was going on outside of gossip.”

We got out and went inside, arriving just one minute before our appointment. An older woman came to greet us, but we were all the way across the long room. She was very grandmotherly, and I felt bad waiting on her to cross, so I motioned for Chloe to follow me to meet her.

“Good afternoon,” she said, “how can I help you?”

“We have an appointment with Mr. Klaus for this afternoon,” I said. “For right now, actually.”

“Oh, I am afraid Mr. Klaus can’t make it today,” she said.

“Oh no,” Chloe said. “Does that mean our appointment is rescheduled?”

“I’m afraid we can’t reschedule either,” she said. “Mr. Klaus has passed on.”

“Dead?” I exclaimed. “I just talked to him two days ago.”

“Yes, he was very alive two days ago. Not as much yesterday. Very dead today. However, I can help you,” she said. “I am Carla Banks-Klaus. I was his sister-in-law.”

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Chloe said, looking over at me with widened eyes. I shrugged.

“It’s fine, dear,” she said.”

The sweet smile caught me off guard. Finally, I relented.

“Alright, well, let’s pick out some rings,” I said.

“Perfect. This way, please,” she said. Guiding us to a display case in the corner, she walked around behind it and placed her hands on the wood. “You two are so cute. I read that you were just engaged?”

“Just married, actually,” Chloe said. “We decided to skip the whole engagement and go right for the big day.”

“Oh my, that’s fast,” she said. “Congratulations. I can tell you are both very much in love.”

I felt my stomach churn and my cheeks blush at that. Chloe’s hand tightened around mine.

“Thank you,” Chloe said. “We did it so fast we never got our rings. That’s why we’re here.”

“I see,” Carla said. “Well, I am happy to take out anything you see that you like.”

As we walked around the jewelry shop, looking at various rings and occasionally pulling them out to look closer or try them on, I got a text from Jordan. I thought he was going to call me in early, but he was instead asking if we had gotten our rings resized. Apparently, Mom had asked him if Chloe had a ring yet and intimated that if she didn’t that there were rings from our family going back a few generations I could come pick from. The thought made my stomach hurt.

If it were real, that would be what I would do. I would go visit Mom, pick out one of my grandmother’s rings that Mom and Dad had in the jewelry box in the safe, and I would give that to her. None of the other brothers had chosen that route, so I would have my pick of what was there.

But I couldn’t. As much as that made my heart warm, I had to remind myself it wasn’t real. Every time we started acting like we were more than a partnership, like last night, we ended up being awkward around each other. I didn’t know how much more awkwardness I could take like this morning.

I had to shove all those thoughts aside. Bury them deep. I could not catch feelings for Chloe. That wasn’t what this was about, and it never would be.

26

Chloe

The weird feelings I got when we were at dinner with Jordan and Hannah stuck with me for the next couple of