His Paradise Wife (3 page)

Chapter 3

“
Sherita, you may as well go
home. It’s pretty slow today.”

“
You sure? I don’t want to
leave you here by yourself.”

“
It’s fine, Rita...won’t be
the first time I’ve been left alone between these four teal walls
and I’m sure it won’t be the last. I’ll survive.”

“
All right, Emily. Oh, and
if the roads ice over tonight, I will be a little late
tomorrow.”

“
That’s fine. I’m sure I
will be too. This April snow is killing me.”

“
Girl, you and me both.
Anyway, hopefully I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Once Sherita was down the sidewalk, Emily
took her laptop from the glass countertop and walked quickly to her
back office. She logged into her Grieving Hearts Connect account
and signed into messenger.

Armand was online as indicative by the
bright green dot next to his name. That brought a smile to her
face. He told her that he stayed online since he spent every day of
his life on a computer, describing himself to her as a serial
workaholic. That’s something he told her he wanted to change about
himself. He wanted to settle down and not work so hard, now that he
didn’t need to.

The thought of him being online and ready to
talk to her instantly gave her a feeling of elation. That was a
good sign – to feel a level of excitement and a release of
endorphins at the mere notion of talking to a potential boyfriend.
But was he her boyfriend? Were they in an exclusive online
relationship? Those were questions that had never been asked,
although they needed to be answered.

Emily rubbed her eyes and wondered how long
it would be before Armand noticed she was online today. She didn’t
message him first because she didn’t want to seem desperate and
needy. Besides, workaholics, by definition, usually had work to do.
However, she didn’t want him to think she wasn’t interested and
excited to jump at the chance to talk to him.

Hmm...what to
do
, she pondered, balling a fist and
resting her chin against it. Then she saw a message window pop up
on the screen.

Armand
:
Hey, you.

The smile that came to her face made her
glow more than the bronzer she applied on top of her foundation
this morning. She instantly felt her worries ease away.

Emily
:
Hi, Armand.

Armand
:
How are you?

Emily
: Okay...a
t the store, bored. It’s
been dead in here today

Armand:
Probably due to this crazy weather.

Emily:
I think you’re right. How are you today?

Armand
:
I’m well, dear. Thanks for
asking.

Emily leaned back in her chair. She knew it
was about time that they met face-to-face, talked on the phone or
called it quits. She didn’t want to admit it at the time, but
Melanie was right. There was no sense falling for a computer.

Armand
:
You are especially quiet
today.

Emily
:
Sorry. Just have a lot of things on
my mind.

Armand:
Like my proposal?

The proposal! How had she forgotten that?
Emily clicked over to her email so she could reread the flier that
Armand had sent to her. Grieving Hearts Connect was hosting a mass
wedding for online lovers who knew they loved each other and was
ready to make a commitment. It was taking place this weekend in
Pleasure Island, North Carolina at the GHC resort there. After the
ceremonies, the newlyweds were to remain at the resort for two
weeks where they would receive free marriage counseling,
participate in couples grief counseling and group therapy sessions
where they would help each other cope with grief, share their
stories and learn from each other. A week ago, Armand had asked
Emily to take a leap of faith and attend this event with him, in
essence asking her to marry him. Today, he was seeking an
answer.

Armand
:
Emily, are you still
there?

Emily
:
Yes.

Armand
:
The proposal?

Emily
:
Yes, about that...don’t think it’s
a good idea...

Emily cringed when she typed those words,
knowing that they would disappoint him. Her heart raced, awaiting
his response.

Armand:
Why not?

Emily
:
Because we haven’t met
face-to-face, nor have we spoken to each other on the
phone.

Armand
:
And that bothers you?

Emily frowned. Was he for real? Of course it
bothered her! What woman would just marry a man she hadn’t even
laid eyes on?

Armand
:
Emily?

Emily
:
Yes, it does bother me, actually.
You know my story...know I have no intentions on remarrying. You
know how much Melvin meant to me. We’ve talked about those
things.

Armand
:
Yes, we did.

Emily
:
Yet, you’re asking me to marry you
in a passive way and I’ve never met you in person. Before I would
even consider marrying you, not that I want to get married, but if
I did, I would at least need to meet you in person, talk to
you...get to know you, Armand.

A minute passed. Then two. Three.

Emily tapped her nails against the desktop,
waiting for Armand to respond. She’d told him straight up what was
on her mind and wasn’t holding anything back. Maybe he was not the
kind of man who could accept the truth so bluntly but she needed to
be open and honest about this.

Armand
:
Considering all we’ve been through,
I think we owe it to ourselves to give this a try. I like you. A
lot.

Emily
:
I like you too, Armand, but I can’t
just up and marry you.

Armand
:
Then you have no faith in us or
this process.

Emily
:
It’s not that. It’s just the fact
that I don’t know you.

Armand
:
You know me very thoroughly, Emily,
as I know you. We’ve spent hours communicating about almost every
aspect of our lives. You know things about me that my family
doesn’t know.

Emily
:
But it’s just not the same as
talking and interacting in person.

Armand
:
So you want to end this?

Emily threw her head back in frustration
staring up at the ceiling, feeling a sour feeling at the pit of her
stomach. She didn’t want to walk away from her computer casanova,
but she really didn’t know him that well. How well can you know
someone you’ve never met? Never spoken with? And why was he
pressuring her to get married, knowing her desire never to do so
again?

Emily drew in a deep breath, gathering the
courage to do what she knew she needed to do – to type the words
she needed to say to him.

Emily
:
Yes. I think that’s best. Goodbye,
Armand.

Armand
:
Emily

Emily folded her laptop closed and buried
her face in her hands. She hoped what she had done was for the
best, but why did she feel so bad about it?

Sitting at his desk, in his
presidential size office on the eleventh floor of the building,
Dante formed a steeple with his hands and rested his chin on them
while staring at the computer screen, at the last words Emily had
typed:
I think that’s best. Goodbye,
Armand.
He should’ve stopped while he was
ahead and gave Emily a little more time to warm up to him,
to
Armand
rather,
but he was rushing things because he knew she was the woman he
wanted. The quicker he could convince her of that, the better. His
plan, however was falling apart and the woman his heart desired was
slipping away.

Chapter 4

As soon as Melanie walked into Emily’s
living room, Emily immediately handed her the flier that Armand had
sent her about the mass wedding. Melanie silently looked it over as
she sat on the couch.

“
So what do you think?”
Emily inquired.

“
I think it is the absolute,
craziest, most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard of. Now, with that
being said, it may be just the thing you need.”

“
What?” Emily couldn’t
believe what she was hearing. She was sure Melanie would have her
back on this, especially since she was against online
dating.

“
Hear me out, Em. According
to this flier, you would get married at this resort with other
couples, you spend two weeks there, practically in paradise, and
then you go home. So you get a man, a marriage and a honeymoon all
rolled up into one neat little package.”

“
Yeah...but there’s a
problem. Two actually.”

“
Those being?”

“
I never want to get married
again, ever, and I don’t know this guy.”

“
Oh,
now
you don’t know him, but you’ve
been defending your relationship with Armand for weeks.”

“
I have, but when you said
what you said the other day about how Armand and I have never
spoken on the phone, I got nervous. So I brought it up to him again
just to see what would happen and he just glossed over
it.”

“
Well, you have been talking
to him online for three months. You’re just getting cold feet, or
shall I say, cold fingers.” Melanie grinned.

Emily blew a distressing breath. “I feel
like I know him, but I don’t really know him. And no one could ever
replace Melvin. He’s my heart and will always be my heart.”

“
Yes, sweetie, I know but
Melvin has been gone for two years now.”

Emily’s eyes brimmed with tears. “So I’m
just supposed to forget about Melvin? Is that what you’re telling
me?”

“
No.” Melanie scooted closer
to Emily and rested her hand on her forearm. “You’ll never forget
Melvin. None of us will. He was a good man, but he’s gone, Emily. I
know it’s been hard on you, sweetie, but you have to let Melvin go
and move on. I’m sure he wanted you to be happy. Do you believe
that?”

Emily nodded.

“
Then this may be the leap
of faith you need to find that happiness.”

“
But what if I don’t like
Armand in person as much as I like him online?”

“
That’s just a risk you have
to take.”

“
A pricey risk...if I’m
going to do this, I have to sign a contract, Mel, before I even
meet him.”

Melanie snapped her head back. “A
contract?”

“
Yes. That’s supposedly how
they make you stick to your commitment. So if I change my mind, get
cold feet and decide
not
to marry him, I have to pay thirty-thousand
dollars.”

“
To who?”

“
To the Grieving Hearts
Connect company, and I don’t have that kind of money. I’m just
barely able to cover the lease payments on the store and business
has slowed down drastically—”

“
Emily, stop panicking. All
you have to do is
not
back out. Do it.”

“
Gosh...you’re such an
enabler.”

“
I’m serious, though. Do
it.”

“
Why? Why should I do this
when everything inside of me is telling me not to.”

“
Because you need this. You
need a man, girl. And, not only will you get your groove back.
You’ll get your parents off your back in the process.”

“
Well, that’s true,” Emily
agreed, because, as it stood, she couldn’t get on the phone with
her mother without hearing about how they wanted grandbabies. They
were so insensitive to her feelings for Melvin, so much so that
they had been trying to set her up with a guy three months after
Melvin passed. Three short months!

“
Sure is,” Melanie said. “If
I hear one more conversation between you and your mother about
grandkids, I’m going to scream.”

“
So am I,” Emily said.
Melanie had given her the boost she needed to go through with this,
even though doing something this outrageous was so not her. She
felt sick again just contemplating it. At the same time, she felt
that this might be what she needed to start living again. Besides,
she liked Armand. If they could get along online, then surely they
could get along and have pleasant conversation face-to-face. Her
only concern now was that Armand was who he said he was and not
some psycho, preying on lonely, heartbroken women on Grieving
Hearts Connect.

Chapter 5

“
What’s bothering you,
Dante?” Desmond, his youngest brother had asked, staring at his
brother as he sat in front of his desk for their weekly
meeting.