I’m not gonna lie … when Shane made that joke about marrying me so I could get the house, I’d felt a weird tightening in my chest. Sure, I’d played it off, but a small part of me had wanted to stick out my hand and shout, “Deal!”
If only he weren’t such a sexy playboy.
It’s not like I could blame him. With that face, body, and accent, women had been throwing themselves at him since the second he’d landed on US soil.
Hell, I’d had a couple fantasies about him myself.
The first time Gabe had brought him home from college, I’d thought for sure someone had snatched him right out of my dreams and formed him just for me. Then he’d opened his mouth, and I swear, I’d come a little right there in Aunt Annabeth’s kitchen.
Luckily, no one had noticed, because it had soon become very apparent that the man was a huge flirt and fucked anyone with tits.
My young teenaged heart had been devastated when I’d seen him moving from girl to girl at Gabe’s welcome home party, lavishing them with the same charm and smiles that I’d thought had been only for me.
As the years went on, we all grew up, but nothing changed.
Shane was still quick to charm the pants off every woman he came in contact with. I’d learned to ignore it, joining the fun and flirting back whenever we hung out, but never being foolish enough to take anything he said or did seriously.
Still, the first emotion I had at the thought of marrying him was surprisingly … joy.
“Thanks so much for helping with the dishes. I’ve been feeling so tired lately that I probably would have talked myself into waiting until morning to do them, then I would have been kicking myself when I woke up to a mess.”
“Dillon would have helped, he’s always been good in the kitchen,” I replied, wiping my hands on the kitchen towel before turning to Laurel. “Unless you’re letting him slack off. Don’t do it, Laurel. You know Dillon, he’ll take any inch you give him, and turn it into a mile.”
Laurel laughed.
“Don’t I know it,” she said with an affectionate smile.
She’d been in love with Dillon since we were nine years old, and I was really happy Dillon had finally been able to look past our childhood pranks to appreciate her as a woman, and realize they belonged together.
Now, my best friend was my sister, and I couldn’t be happier.
“No, he does help a lot, I just knew he wanted to talk to Shane about the whole visa thing, and said we’d give them some time alone.”
I scrunched up my nose and asked, “What visa thing?”
“You haven’t heard?”
I shook my head.
Laurel tilted her head toward the breakfast nook and went to sit down, letting a little sigh escape once she was off her feet.
When I joined her, she leaned in a bit and told me in a hushed tone, “I guess since he finished his Masters, but doesn’t have a job lined up, he can’t get a new visa, or an extension on the one he had or school. He’s going to have to go back to Australia … for good.”
“What? No, no one has said anything about this to me. I had no idea. Poor Shane,” I said, then thought about my cousin, Gabe, who was still close to him, and added, “And, poor Gabe!”
“I know, all the guys are really upset over it. Shane’s great … everyone loves him. Cherry Springs won’t be the same with him gone.”
I nodded, imagining what it would be like to walk into the bar and grill for dinner and no longer see Shane flirting with the customers, or giving me one of his signature grins. The vision sucked.
“This is terrible.”
“Yeah, I wish there was something we could do to help, but Reardon has been looking into it for a few weeks now, and hasn’t been able to come up with anything.”
We sat at the table for a few more moments, catching up on other things, but I could tell she was exhausted, so made my excuses and decided to go home.
Dillon and Shane were talking in his office, so I just shouted out, “Good night,” before I left and let them finish their conversation.
The whole drive home I couldn’t stop thinking about Shane’s predicament, and mine, and as I drove I realized there was one way for us to both get what we wanted.
With crazy ideas running through my head, I let myself into my apartment and went straight to the TV. Once there, I searched Green Card and The Proposal and added them both to my que.
Mind still scrambling, I grabbed my laptop, then decided to open a bottle of wine.
Once I had my favorite throw, a glass of wine, with the bottle next to it for easy access, and my laptop fired up, I snuggled into the couch and pressed play. I watched one movie, then the other, only pausing to run to the bathroom, and to grab a notebook and pen, before rushing back to the couch and finishing the films.
Once they were over, I opened Chrome and began doing research.
The movies were good for surface info, but being fictionalized romances meant they weren’t very realistic. No, I needed to read the regulations and gather as much pertinent information as I could.
I’d never actually seen anyone outside of the big screen enter into a marriage of convenience, but knew they must happen all the time.
I searched the laws, looked into the consequences, and researched timelines.
It was after two in the morning before I shut my laptop, closed my notebook, and turned off the TV.
When I laid my head on my pillow, there was a smile on my face.
I was going to get that house, and Shane would be staying in America, because tomorrow … I am asking him to marry me.