Page 9 of Fate In Fiction

A gentle smiles tugs at her lips as she closes her book, and I find myself smiling too. Standing with the book clutched to her chest, she makes her way over. Her large knit sweater engulfs her body, and her soft waves frame her angelic face. She meets my eyes, sliding into the booth, setting the book beside her. A strand of hair is tucked behind her ear, and the sassiness she spewed yesterday is absent. How many different personalities does this woman have?

“I needed to finish the chapter I was reading before this conversation began.” A soft giggle rests in her throat. "Or I’d spend the entire time wondering what will happen.”

My eyebrows shoot up with uncertainty about how to respond without calling her a nerd. I don’t read unless I’m paid to, or when it had been demanded for a grade. And even then, I usually find a way around it.

“We are supposed to be all consumed by each other, but you seem to be all too consumed in your book world.” I lean forward, resting my arms on the table.

“I am.” She smirks. “But I can fake it with you. If anything, all this fiction has made me even more prepared.”

“Little darlin’, no one has ever faked it with me.” My mouth answers before my mind can process the words, but she started it. “Sorry, too easy.”

“Like the past women you’ve been with?” She doesn’t skip a beat and hands my ass back to me.

My mouth parts with amusement as her face blushes. “So, Josephine Callahan.” My hand reaches across the table to toy with her delicate fingers. I watch her body tense, but she doesn’t pull her hand away. “How can we pull off being a couple if you flinch at my touch?”

“I’ll claim that your touch is electrifying.” She shrugs, her voice wavering.

“This isn’t going to work if you act like my touch is repelling.” Letting go of her hand, I release a sigh, beginning to doubt her.

“It will work, I promise.” Both her hands shoot forward, encasing mine. My breath halts as my stomach does a weird foreign flip. “See? I’m holding you now,” she says quietly, and now I’m the one wanting to jerk my hands away to rid myself of whatever sensation her touch sent through me.

“Josie, you know why I agreed to meet you today.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t risk tainting your new public image.” Her words spill out quickly.

“Well that and a helicopter. That's what all of this is really all about. It's the only reason I'm entertaining this plan of yours."

“Typical.” She huffs a laugh with an eye roll.

“How are you benefitting from helping me?” I lean forward, my face close enough to feel her quickening breaths.

“To drain my fund and spend as long as I can traveling Europe under the radar.” Her eyes dart downward at our connected hands. “I’m not cut out for the desperate housewife life, and among other things....” She trails off. “None of it would be fair to who I’m married off to.”

“Josephine.” I’m aware some families still do the arranged married shit or some type of dowry, but I didn’t think Mayor Callahan would stoop that low in this day and age.

“Josie.” She finally looks up at me.

“My friends call me that.” Even though she’s pouting, a smile reaches her eyes.

“So, by dating me, you’ll get access to your money?” She nods. “What about after? We can’t continue this forever, Josephine.” Nor am I ready for marriage––even the fake kind.

“It’s Josie.”

“Nope. I haven’t agreed to anything yet.”

“He cut a deal with me. I have to prove that I am putting myself out there in the dating world, and trying to find someone to settle down with. Somebody within the proper societal circle.” She rolls her lips inward and swallows.

“Keep going.”

“I need to show him I am serious about becoming a proper high-society wife.”

“And if we don’t work out?” I lean back for a moment and rub the back of my neck.

“If you leave me, I get a couple months on my own to travel with full access to my funds. I can take off to Europe. Go wherever I please.” Her hazel eyes meet mine, full of hope, but there’s a hint of sadness behind them. “The deal is, when I return, I marry someone of his choice.”

“That’s if you return.” I say what I’m certain she is thinking. How bad is her home life to give it all up? “Are you able to make your own income and save money?” I try to lighten the moment.

“I do private tours, lead hikes and morning mountaintop yoga. But it’ll take years before I’m self-sufficient enough to take off and travel like I want to.”