Summer "He gave you his credit card, right?" Karma hops up and down on her heels. My sister is excited. And she's also right. I hold up the black piece of plastic he’d slipped into my palm. Yeah, hadn’t expected that. Not sure what I am going to do about it either. "I vote we put it to good use." Amelie snatches the card from my hand. I reach for it and she holds it out of reach. "Oh, no, Ms. Goody-Two-Shoes, I am not going to allow you to spoil this fun." I tuck my elbows into my sides, "Christ, Amelie, this is seriously not on. I am not going to spend time being indebted to him." "You already are," Karma drawls from the comfortable leather armchair in the corner, a glass of wine held between her fingertips. She looks at home in the living room, which overlooks the beautiful garden behind the house. The doors are thrown open to allow the warm summer breeze to waft into the house. Large pink and yellow roses bloom to the side; a meadow of wildflowers stretches out on the other side. A path stretches out, leading to the pond in the center of the garden, and beyond that, tall trees overlook a waterfall that gushes down from the wall that brackets the property on three sides. Idyllic. Beautiful. And so wrong. I don’t deserve to be here, soaking in the rightness of the moment, when everything else about this picture is wrong. Wrong place. Wrong time. Wrong groom. What had I been thinking, agreeing with him? Oh! Wait, I didn’t have a choice. If I had refused, I’d have been on the streets, scrambling to save my life and that of my sister’s. The very sister who, right now, pours out wine from the, no-doubt, obscenely expensive bottle, and raises it in my direction. "Salut." I frown. "You’re not supposed to be drinking. It neutralizes the impact of the medications you are taking." "Not what the doctor said," she mutters. "Oh, yeah?" I march up to her. "Why didn’t you call me when you went to see him, huh?" "Does it matter?" She chugs down the wine. "They’re all the same—not able to diagnose what’s wrong with me, only to start me on a different medication, then tell me to be careful about my diet, exercise... As if I were eighty instead of eighteen." "It’s a good thing drinking in this country is, at least, legal at your age." "Which really takes the edge off this rebelliousness." She takes another mouthful of wine, then hiccoughs. "You’ve had enough." "And you haven’t had any yet." She offers me her glass. I stare at it, then purse my lips. "Aww, come on, Sis, indulge me. It’s a time for happiness. Time to celebrate." "You sound strange."
"I know, right?" She stares into the glass, "Must be the alcohol, or the rather pleasant surroundings we find ourselves in. It’s certainly not your temperament, which as usual, leaves much to be desired." She raises the glass to her lips and I snatch it from her. "Hey!" She protests. I drain the glass. Then blink. "Yummy, huh?" She smacks her lips. "So that’s how wine’s supposed to taste?" "It’s certainly a st ep up from my last drink, which came out of a cardboard box." Amelie walks up to us, a freshly- opened bottle in hand, and tops me off. Then reaches for a new glass, fills it up and hands it to Karma. "I think she’s had enough," I mutter weakly. Amelie grins. "Come on, we need the liquor to brainstorm." "Besides the wine is sooo good," Karma giggles. Isla rushes in from the garden, hair tousled, her cheeks flushed. "Guys, the flowers, OMG, there’s a hot house with orchids. Those blooms must be worth thousands." "Try millions." Nothing I have encountered in this house gives me the confidence that their value is anywhere in the area of the numbers I have in my head. Best to add many zeros after any of our guesses. "This man, he’s beyond loaded." Isla flings out her arms so wide, she almost decks me. I retreat to a safe distance. "He’s a gazillionaire, many times over." She walks over to the massive mirror that takes up almost one corner of the entire wall. "And this is one helluva space." Our reflections greet us, with the garden stretching out in the background. It is overwhelming, dominating, yet brutally sensuous, with a tinge of sophistication—very much like the man who owns it. "It’s... ah... something." I swallow. Karma laughs. "Damn, she’s already mastered the art of understating stuff, huh?" "Y ep, have you noticed?" Amelie snickers. "The more money you have, the less you talk about it." "Now, that’s not fair." I turn on them. "I’m a little overwhelmed with the speed of everything that’s happened, that’s all." "Hey." Amelie walks to me, "Didn’t mean it the way that came out. And for the record, I think you’re doing the right thing." "What?" I scoff. "Mock marriage to an obnoxious Mr. Moneybags who’s using me to further his empire?" "Is that what he told you?" She narrows her gaze. "That it's a pretend wedding?" I nod. "I think he’s lying." Karma and Isla move in closer.
I wrap my arms around my waist. "What makes you say that?" "Calling your sister and your best friends to come out and help you plan your wedding." Amelie waves her hand in the air. "Do those seem like the actions of a man who feels nothing for you?" "Oh, he has feelings all right." I snicker. "Aha!" Her eyes gleam. "You fucked him, huh?" "No... uh..." I shift my weight from foot to foot. "Not quite." "Either you sl ept with him or you didn’t." Amelie tilts her head. My neck heats. "It’s kind of complicated." "It always is." Isla nods. "As if you’d know. Miss I’m-saving-myself-for-marriage." I quirk my lips. Karma props her palm on her hip, "And you're not?" "Nope." I jut out my chin. "I’ve been too busy earning a living, to consider wanting to sle ep with anyone. Besides, I haven’t meet anyone I wanted to have sex with, okay?" "Summer, no." Amelie rounds on me. "Tell me that's not true.” I lean back, "Hold on, what’s going on in that head of yours now?" "Are you a virgin?" Amelie frowns. "Now you sound like him." "I knew it." She snaps her fingers. "What are you talking about?" "Bet, that’s part of the attraction. You’re probably the first halfway decent looking woman he’s encountered—" I cough into my hand, "Gee, thanks." "—who’s also never been with another man. Bet it brought out all of his possessive instincts and he decided he was going to claim you." I snort, "Asshole whisperer, that's me." I swipe my hair over my shoulder, "He could have sl ept with me without wanting to marry me, you know. Besides," I jut out my chin, "I told him I wasn't a virgin." Amelie stares, "Bet he subconsciously knew that you were lying." "Like, we have some secret connection, so he can read my mind?" I scoff. "Do you?" She lowers her chin. I stare, "Of course not." "But, you haven’t fucked him yet?" "Jeez what is this, the Spanish Inquisition?" I throw up my hands. "And no, I haven’t. Besides, all of you are forgetting one thing. This entire thing is a pretense." "I don’t know, the oncoming wedding seems all too real."
Isla squeezes my shoulder. Tell me about it. "Karma did mention that there’s a deal in volved." "She did?" I growl. "It’s perfectly okay." Amelie pats my cheek. "You’re finally wising up, leveraging your best assets to earn a living." "Jeez, thanks, with friends like you who needs—" "Enemas?" Karma smirks. "Ugh." I make a gagging sound in my throat. "Hate it when you come up with gross jokes." "Which this wedding isn’t." Amelie frowns at Karma who makes a gesture as if she’s zipping her lips. I sober. "How am I going to plan a wedding in 2 days? I mean, I never thought I’d be walking down the aisle." The entire scenario is fake, but you know what I mean. I wring my fingers together in front of me. Swallow down the tears that prick at my eyes. Why does everything seem so overwhelming all of a sudden? I sniffle. "Hey." Amelie rubs my back, "We’re here for you. I, for one, think you should do exactly what your heart dictates." Which is what? Throw myself at him and beg him to fuck me? No, not that. Rewind. Throw myself at him and demand that he release me from this stupid charade? Better. Which he is not going to do. He is hellbent on taking revenge for whatever my father did to him, which he hasn’t revealed yet. I mean, how bad could it be? Some corporate war gone wrong, no doubt. I’m sure that’s all it was. He’s probably blown it all out of proportion too. "My skills as a wedding planner were clearly honed for this day, huh?" Isla brackets me in from the other side. "Besides, you have one thing going for you." "I do?" "Y ep." She grins. "You have his credit card so..." She raises her shoulder. Yeah. My shoulders slump further. Money really can buy anything, even the arrangements for an unplanned wedding, huh? "Listen, Babe, we are all on your side, even if we are constantly taking the piss." Karma folds her arms behind her back. "Hmm. You sure about that?" "Completely." Her features resolve into an expression of determination. "I promise not to say anything bitchy—" "Hallelujah." "At least for the next half an hour." I laugh, "Thank you for your kindness." "Oh, and leave your wedding dress to me." "I... I'm not so sure Karma." I twist my fingers together. Her eyes gleam. "You do want to catch his attention?"
I bite on my lower lip. "You want to ensure he never underestimates you again? You want to surprise him, huh?" "Yes... but, can you create it in 2 days?" "It's difficult, but not... impossible." She taps her finger to her cheek. "Not if I take the barebones of the dress I had been working on... and...." She brightens, snaps her fingers. "Oh, I think I know just the thing." She squeezes my shoulders. "Trust me." Famous last words. "You won't regret it." She winks. Oh, hell. My stomach plummets. "That's settled then." She grins. "Let’s get this show on the road." Amelie waves the black credit card, "Right, what should we order first?"