She smiled softly.
“I will. But I’m not sure.”
“What can I do to convince you?” I would do literally anything, including singing karaoke, which was my greatest fear.
“I don’t know, Lo.” Cara set her cannoli down and put her head in her hands. “It’s just... who does that? Who has a marriage of convenience?” Oh, was that what we were calling it? I kind of liked the sound of that. Even if being married to Cara would be a little more than convenient.
“People have been doing what we’re doing since the dawn of time. I can print you out a list if you want. But it’s gonna be a damn long list. We’re not doing anything wrong. That money is just sitting there, waiting to be used. It wants to be used. ‘Spend me, please!’ it says.” That made her laugh, and I felt like I was getting through to her.
“Are you sure you want to give it to me? I mean, I’ll pay you back. I promise. I have a payment plan.” She jumped up and grabbed a folder from her desk that sat in the corner of the room under the eaves.
“I knew we wouldn’t get through this without a spreadsheet,” I said. Cara was just so cute and predictable.
“I mean, it’s just a general idea,” she said, handing it to me. I barely looked it over, but I pretended to scan it.
“This looks good. But you don’t have to pay me back. It’s only if you want to, and if you have the money.” If she could get through school, she would make decent money as a PA. Much more than I could ever hope to make with my current career trajectory. Maybe I should go back to school. Everyone in Boston seemed to have at least a Master’s. I was always surrounded by so many educated people.
“I will pay you back. That’s non-negotiable. With interest.” I wanted to protest the interest, but I would agree to anything if only she would say yes.
“Okay,” I said, and she inhaled deeply.
“Okay, then. Let’s do this.”
I jumped up.
“Are you serious?” I wanted to tackle-hug her.
“Yes. Hell, I’m going to regret this later, but right now I want to do this so you don’t have to worry. Me getting the money is secondary.” Of course it was. I’d feel the say way, in her shoes.
“So, we’re getting married?” I needed confirmation.
“We’re getting married?” It sounded like a question.
“Oh, we can’t do it like this. Come on.” I grabbed her hand and started dragging her toward the front door.
“Where are we going?” she said, stumbling along behind me. It didn’t hurt that I was a few inches taller and she was a little bit clumsy.
“Rings. We need rings, obviously. And I’m not turning down this opportunity to propose. Don’t worry, I won’t do it in public.” I let her gather her stuff and I grabbed my bag before we dashed to the closest train station and I looked up a cheap but nice jewelry store.
“We don’t have to do this,” Cara said at least five times before I dragged her into the store.
“Where are your lab-created stones? We need two rings,” I said to the woman standing behind the lighted cases. She blinked a few times at me and then looked at Cara, who was red-faced.
“They’re right over here,” she said, gesturing to the back of the store. All the expensive shit was front and center.
“Are these for a special occasion? Are you sisters? Friends?” I opened my mouth to correct her, but Cara spoke first.
“Friendship rings,” she said, stepping on my foot just enough to get her point across. Was she having an issue that this woman would think we were a real couple? Or was she still worried about the whole “marriage” part of what we were doing?
“Very nice,” the woman said, visibly relaxing. I wanted to roll my eyes at her, but a look from Cara stopped me. She was going along with my plan, so the least I could do was make things easy on her.
“So these are the rings we have. Not sure what you’re looking for.” I was struck immediately by a ring with a round emerald with cubic zirconia on either side. It was pretty and green and simple. Perfect.
“That one,” I said, pointing to it. That was the ring I wanted. The price was right and then it was up to Cara.