The Boyfriend Arrangement

“What did he get?” Harper looked at him with wide eyes of concern.

“My great-grandfather’s pocket watch,” he said. “He was a train conductor. It’s not worth a dime to anyone but me. I can’t believe the bastard took it.”

Harper groaned. “Oh, no. I’ll replace anything you lost once I get my money,” she offered. “I know I can’t replace your grandfather’s watch exactly, but I’ll do whatever I can. I’m so sorry to have dragged you into this whole mess.”

“It’s not your fault,” Sebastian said. “But we’ve got to find a way to put an end to it all. Maybe I just need to give you the money.”

“Sebastian, no,” she said, crouching at his knee. She looked up at him with a dismayed expression. “I can’t ask you to do that. You’ve already done too much.”

He shook his head. “I don’t want to pay him. He doesn’t deserve the damn money, but it might be the only answer we have. But if we do pay him,” he said with angrily gritted teeth, “I want all our stuff back.”

* * *

“So what do we know about this Josie?” Lucy asked in a hushed voice over a delicate china plate of tea sandwiches.

They were at Violet’s bridal tea, a ladies-only event. All the men, Sebastian included, had gone to play a round of golf, followed by some day drinking that would likely run until the rehearsal dinner. This was one of Harper’s first real opportunities to sit with her friends without Sebastian or the other guys since they’d arrived in Ireland.

Violet was at another table near the front, being adored by all the ladies in attendance, leaving Harper, Lucy and Emma to sit in the back corner and gossip as they often did. They all shrugged in response to Lucy’s question, Harper included. She didn’t know, or really care much about Quentin’s new fiancée. She had bigger, more pressing worries, but she was interested in why the others were so concerned.

“I hadn’t met her before the trip, but I had heard about her through the grapevine. To hear it told,” Emma said as she gripped her teacup, “the engagement was quite the surprise to everyone. Given his current situation, I think a lot of people felt that Quentin might have chosen a woman with a fatter bank account and better connections. As far as I know, Josie is a broke nobody. She’s a secretary for a financial firm or something. Not exactly what I was expecting. Of course, all that could’ve happened after he proposed and then he was stuck with her.”

Harper perked up in her seat at Emma’s story. “Given his current situation? Stuck? What do you mean by ‘all that’?”

Emma and Lucy shared knowing glances before turning back to Harper. “We hadn’t said anything because bringing up Quentin in conversations always seemed to put you in a bad mood.”

“Yes, well, talking about someone’s ex is hardly a way to perk up their day. Unless it’s bad news. Is it bad news?”

Lucy nodded. Her dark eyes lit with excitement. “Apparently he was cut off by his dear old dad.”

Harper sat back in her seat, her jaw agape. That certainly was news. Quentin was an attorney, but he was a long way from being the successful hot shot he pretended to be. Most of his money had come from his family. When they were dating, she recalled him getting a ten-thousand-dollar-a-week allowance from his father. He’d been twenty-eight at the time, giving Harper a run for her money when it came to being spoiled.

“He’s the low man on the totem pole at his law firm,” Harper said. “Without his allowance, he would be in big trouble. He couldn’t afford his apartment, his car...he certainly couldn’t afford the giant engagement ring I’ve seen her sporting, either.”

“Exactly,” Emma said.

“Do we know why he got cut off?” Harper asked.

Lucy shook her head. “I haven’t heard anything specific, but you know he had to have done something his dad really wasn’t happy about to get cut off.”

“So why would someone in his position propose to a woman that won’t be any help with that situation? There are plenty of rich, single women in Manhattan that he could’ve chosen instead. He could’ve even come crawling back to you,” Emma said.

“Not likely,” Harper said. Quentin knew Harper didn’t have any money or he might’ve tried. She couldn’t tell the others that, though.

“What’s so special about her?”

“I don’t know. He loves her, maybe?” Harper replied with a sarcastic tone.

“Love? Quentin? Come on, now.” Emma snorted. “If he was capable of that, he would’ve married you years ago. Maybe she’s from an important family or one of his clients’ children. No, my bet is that his father disapproves of the engagement and cut him off when he found out Quentin proposed. Unless she’s got more to offer than meets the eye, I think he’s searching for his relationship escape hatch. Once this wedding is over, he’s going to drop her like a rock to get back in daddy’s good graces. You just watch.”

“Why would he propose to a woman his father didn’t like?” Lucy asked. “Could she be pregnant?”

The three turned to where Josie was seated sipping tea. Her dress was fairly tight, showing no signs of a baby belly. “I doubt it,” Harper said.

“I wonder if he just wanted to be engaged to someone at the wedding to make Harper jealous and it ended up backfiring on him.”

Harper turned to Emma and frowned. “That’s silly. Who would make up a fake relationship just to make someone else jealous?” The irony of the words were not lost on her.

“Maybe not jealous. Maybe he just didn’t want to come here and face you on his own.”