Then he was gone, vanished in the crowd like a ghost. Sarah and I exchanged awkward glances.
“Sorry you had to see that,” I muttered. “My father can be pretty tactless.”
“Is what he says true?” She read over the contract that was still in my hand. “You really have to get married by the new year?”
I crumpled the paper up into a ball. “I don't have to do a damn thing.”
“But it says you'll lose Slicker Image.”
And after all the hard work I'd put into this place, too. There was no way in hell dad could pry this place away from me. If he thought he'd build his fancy mall here, he was dead wrong.
“My shop,” she added, her lip trembling. “If he wants the land it sits on, then that means...”
Her words hung heavily in the air. She didn't need to finish that sentence.
If dad got his way, both of our stores – no, all of them on this land – would be destroyed to make way for the Galleria.
To my surprise, tears welled in Sarah's eyes. Even more surprising was how it made me feel.
Though she and I were competitors, in that moment, I had the strongest urge to give her a hug.
“There's nothing to worry about,” I said coolly. “My father and I have never seen eye to eye, but we tend to work out our disagreements in the end. This will all blow over, trust me, and everything will be as it always was.”
“B-but... You signed that contract. You heard what he said.”
I had to figure out dad's game plan. If all he wanted was this parcel of land, then why give Slicker Image to me in the first place? Was he seriously trying to force me into marriage?
Well, too bad. I enjoyed the bachelor lifestyle too much to give it up just yet. The thought of being shackled to only one woman for years, maybe for life, terrified me like nothing else.
Kids? A family to take care of? Sounded more like prison to me.
“I'll find a way out of it. There's got to be a way.”
The line at customer service was getting longer and angrier. I didn't have the time nor energy to waste on this bullshit anymore.
Sarah trailed after me as I headed over to do damage control.
“So there's nobody you can marry in the next month? Nobody at all?”
“Don't keep women around long enough for that.”
I laughed, but she didn't seem to find it very funny. Her face was bright red, and though she hurried to wipe away her tears, more rolled down her cheeks.
“Asher, wait.” She grabbed my arm. “Please just listen to me.”
I paused, entranced by the warmth of her hand on my skin. There was something special, something electric, about her touch.
I hardened instantly as I tried, in vain, to force these dirty thoughts of her out of my mind.
“I know we're rivals, essentially, and you have zero reason to care what happens to me.” She pulled her hand away and stared at the floor. “But if your father gets his way, I'll lose my store.”
I wanted to tell her again that dad wasn't gonna lay a finger on her shop or mine. Still, I couldn't bring myself to lie to her.
Because as of now, unless I figured out an escape clause in this contract, both of us very well might be screwed.
“That shop has been in my family's name for decades. My grandma, Hazel, ran it when she was barely twenty years old. If it gets taken away from us...”
“It won't. I'll figure something out.”
“It's not just that, either,” she continued. “This is my livelihood at stake. I'm not like you, you know. I don't have a six-figure bank account to tide me over while I look for other work.”
I shouldn't have cared about her problems. Had enough of my own to worry about. I mean, yeah, I wanted her in the sack, but so what?
I was no good at dealing with emotional women. That's why I bailed on girls quick, before things got too personal. First names and phone numbers were the only details I needed to know.
But it wasn't like that with Sarah.
“You've got to find someone,” she said quickly. “There's gotta be a woman out there who'd marry you on short notice.”
“You must be kidding. Any chick willing to get hitched after one month is clearly a bit too crazy for me.”
“What if I helped you find somebody?” She perked up, suddenly excited. “There's a nice girl in the apartment across from mine. She's single and pretty desperate.”
I gave her my best you-must-be-kidding look.
“Or you could search online. You can find anything on the internet, right? There are dating sites.” She tapped on her phone, eyes wide. “Look! Here's the solution. Mail-order brides from Russia, China, or Vietnam. Your pick.”
“I'm not getting married. And even if I was, I wouldn't buy a wife from some third-world country.”
“W-what do you mean, you're not?”
“I'll talk to an attorney about this, first of all. Maybe forcing your son to get hitched is illegal; who knows?”
“But if it's not...”
Customer service paged me again. Bobby sounded even more frantic than he had minutes ago. Great, just what I needed right now – another crisis to solve.
“I have to get back to work, Sarah. I'm sure you're needed at your store, too.”
Although judging by the empty parking lot across the road, I wasn't so sure about that.
“You have to do something. We have to.” She was quiet now, her voice barely audible over the noisy crowd.
“I've got a month. If you want to talk about this later, I'd be glad to.” I stepped closer. “Over dinner, maybe.”
She let out a
