“I want to be able to help my sister,” she says quietly. “I want to feel fulfilled with my career, appreciated, and I know I can do that with Kelsey. She’s my person, my best friend, and working with her would be a dream.” She glances at me. “But she can’t afford to hire me, and I need to make money.”
“What does she do?” I appreciate the vulnerability in her voice. When she’s not hiding behind the snark and sarcasm, she’s the most unselfish person I’ve ever known. Here I am with the proverbial Aladdin’s lamp, and she wants to help her sister. True altruism. Wow.
“She has her own organizing company. Think The Home Edit, but doing it sustainably.”
“What’s The Home Edit?” I ask, confused. Is that something I should know?
“Ugh, men,” she mutters before saying, “The Home Edit is all about organizing your house, paring things down, and making sure you live an organized life rather than a chaotic one. They turn pantries into havens, fridges into masterpieces. It’s spectacular. Kelsey is on the cusp of being able to push forward and be more than a one-person show, but she’s having a hard time keeping up with the business side. That’s where I would come in.”
“I see.” I stare down at her. “You know, I have a lot of connections. My brothers alone could use someone to come into their house and organize. Our offices could use an overhaul. I can make sure your sister’s business is not only seen by the type of people who would spend a lot of money for her services, but I can make it thrive as well.”
“We don’t want your charity.”
“It’s not charity. I’m not telling people to use her, but if you want to go anywhere in business, Lottie, you have to know connections mean everything. Sometimes, just one person is all you need. One person to ignite the flame, because that one person might know five people, and those five people might know five more people, and that’s how a business grows at first, word of mouth. I’m that first person and I know way more than five people.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I want to help you.” How do I make her believe me? “How about this—you pretend to be my fiancée and go to these business events with me, and in return, you can stay at my house—”
“I’m not living with you. I can move in with Kelsey. There’s no way I’m living with a stranger I don’t know.”
“Fine. You take the job with Kelsey and move in with her, and I help you two with some connections.”
She mulls it over, her lips twisted to the side.
“And you know,” I add, clearing my throat, “if you could be pregnant as well, that would be ideal.”
“What?” she says, sitting up completely. “Have you lost your mind? I’m not letting you get me pregnant.”
“Fuck, no, I didn’t mean it like that. Pretend to be pregnant. Pretend. I’m not going to be fucking you or anything like that.”
Her brow knits together. “Why on earth would I pretend to be pregnant?”
“Because I told the guy I’m trying to do business with that you’re pregnant.”
“Why? Why would you say that?”
I sigh and grip the back of my neck. “His fiancée is pregnant. I was trying to form a connection with the guy.”
“By making up the fact that you have a pregnant fiancée? Wow, Huxley, you really are in some deep shit, aren’t you?”
“I am. That’s why I need you. So, name it, Lottie.” I hold my arms out. “Name what you want and it’s yours.”
“I don’t know what I want.”
“Okay.” I stand from the bed and pace her room. “In a perfect world, what would you have right now?” I face her and hold my finger up. “Working with your sister, right?”
She nods.
“Not living with your mom and Jeff.”
She nods again.
“Showing up this boss of yours, the one that let you go.”
“A lifelong friend who has been toxic from the start. Would love to just shove it up her ass.”
I chuckle. “Okay, that can be arranged. What else?”
“Perfect world?” she asks with hesitation.
“Perfect world.”
Her teeth roll over the corner of her mouth as she says, “Well, I’d be working with my sister, out of my mom’s house, could stick it to Angela, my student loans are paid off, and every time it rains, I have a place where I can lie in the rain without judgment.”