Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 73699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
“That’s good, that’s perfect,” I tell Lewis. “I don’t want you guys to have to lie for me.”
Even though they sort of already had. They do know the nature of my personal life. They know that I didn’t just stop into their “second home” occasionally, but I lived there twenty-four seven up until a couple of months ago. My friends had to lie for me, and it’s my worst nightmare.
“What else did the Gordon Price guy say? Is he looking for me? Or Colin?”
Colin’s attention is on whatever letter he just opened, but his head snaps up at that.
“I don’t know,” Lewis says regretfully. “He had sort of this fake nice vibe going on, acting like he was just a curious friend checking in on things.”
“He was a passive-aggressive bitch,” I hear Kurt announce in the background.
“He thanked us for our time and then hung up,” Lewis said. “He didn’t really indicate if he’d be calling back, or what they were after. I’m so sorry, Char. I can’t believe after all this time they’d start sniffing around …”
“It’s okay, thanks. I’ve got to run,” I say, never taking my eyes away from Colin’s. “Let me know if you hear from him again, okay?”
I hang up with Lewis and stare at Colin a moment later. “That was Kurt and Lewis. They got a call from some guy named Gordon Price, who somehow found them and was asking questions—”
“Gordon Price found us too,” Colin says, holding up the letter in his hand. “We’re under investigation for possible marriage fraud.”
Chapter 28
Friday, October 16
“Oh God, what was your childhood cat’s name again? Taffy? Taco?”
“Taz,” Colin says patiently. “And he was just a mouser that lived in the barn, not a beloved pet or anything.”
“You had a barn? Did we cover that? What color was it? Red? Please say red, it’ll be easy to remember.”
“It was brown, and don’t stress about it. They’re not going to care about the color of my parents’ barn or a cat I haven’t thought about in twenty-five years.”
“But—”
“Remember, just keep your answers simple and honest whenever you can,” Colin says, as he drapes a gray tie around his neck and begins tying it. “If they ask about the cat, or for whatever reason, the barn, tell them the truth. That I never talk about the cat, and you don’t know any details about my childhood barn in Ireland.”
“You’re right,” I say, taking a breath and sitting on the side of his bed. “You’re right.”
“Do you want to go over the San Francisco living situation again?”
“No, I think I’ve got it,” I say, taking a deep breath. “It was a hard decision, but we made the choice for me to work primarily out of San Francisco because the proximity to Silicon Valley made the most sense for a social media company.”
“And I couldn’t join, because my specialty is financial law, and my primary clients are on Wall Street.”
“Right. And we tried to see each other as often as we could …” I stand and begin to pace. “Damn it, we really should have bought plane tickets more than once-a-never. What if—”
“Hey,” Colin says, reaching out and pulling both my hands between his much bigger ones. “Remember what we agreed. No what ifs. They lead to nowhere good.”
I close my eyes and nod, trying to get my racing heart under control. It’s been a week since we got the letter informing us of a required meeting with Immigration Services in an hour. It’s given us a week to prepare, which I guess I should be grateful for, but I almost worry it has made everything worse. My head feels so full of facts about Colin, about our relationship, about my own life. Everything’s so jumbled, half the time I find myself questioning the stuff that is real.
“What’s going to happen?” I whisper.
“We’re going to finish getting ready. We’re going to go down to their offices, have a casual chat about how our marriage came about, and then I’ll take you for a drink.”
I open my eyes. “You make it sound so easy. How are you not freaking out? Also, why are you being so nice to me?”
“Just trying to soften the blow when I tell you that your dress is on backward.”
“What?” I jerk backward, pulling my hands free of his to tug out the neckline of my dress. I look down and groan when I see the tag taunting me.
“I can’t even dress myself,” I wail. “How am I supposed to pull this off?”
“Charlotte, you are one of the most determined, successful people I know. Has there ever been anything you wanted that you haven’t gotten?”
His question hits me right in the solar plexus, because up until a couple of months ago, I’d have cockily said no. That there isn’t anything I’ve wanted that I haven’t gotten. But looking at Colin now, I’m terrified that that’s changing. That I want him more than I’ve let myself admit, and he’s 100 percent, entirely unavailable.