The Arrangement (3 page)

Evie watched Eli walk down the steps and then drive away into the night. She closed her eyes, rested her head on the back of the swing, and sighed.
Maybe Eli isn’t too bad after all.
Now at least he knew where she stood so he wouldn’t make excuses to drop by her parents’ house when he knew she would be home. He knew she was off limits.

Yet something about that thought unsettled her. Regardless of Eli’s opinion of Ben, Evie had a choice to make, and only a few days to figure out what to do.

She stared at her shiny red convertible. She remembered her excitement when her father handed her the keys for the first time. How could she give it up? The car payments and insurance alone would eat up any money she could make from a part-time job. Yet the title was in her parents’ name, so she could not sell it to raise the cash she needed. Could she just give the car back? She had plenty of friends on campus with cars, and Ben had a car. Did she really need it? Before she could finish her thoughts, the front door opened again, and Taylor and Leigh Anna walked onto the porch calling good-bye to her parents.

“Hey, sis,” Taylor called when he saw her. “Looks like Mom and Dad have found the perfect future congressman for you,” he teased.

Evie screwed her mouth into a sarcastic grimace. “So you noticed too, huh?”

“Whatever happened to Ben?” Taylor asked.

Even from where Evie sat she could see the playfulness in Taylor’s eyes. “Nothing happened to Ben. He found a new apartment and is moving this weekend, that’s all.”

“Are you going to tell him Mom and Dad set you up this weekend?”

“Whatever,” she replied as though his statement did not ring true at all.

Taylor crossed the porch with Leigh Anna close behind him and took the place on the end of the swing Eli had left vacant. His eyes turned from playful to serious, “Listen, I know you really like Ben, but sometimes Mom and Dad have a sixth sense about these things. People who don’t grow up in our world don’t understand the obligations that come from being in the public eye.”

“Being in the public eye?” Evie repeated her brother’s words. “What are you talking about? Mom and Dad are doctors, not the king and queen of England or any other tiny island.”

“With wealth comes community recognition. Whether we want it or not, the whole community is watching what we’re doing and imitating us. That brings a certain amount of responsibility. Just consider their point, that’s all I’m saying.” Taylor patted his sister’s legs and stood from the swing.

“Easy for you to say,” she grumbled. “You fell in love with the right person.” She watched Taylor and Leigh Anna exchange glances. “What?”

“Nothing.” He put his arm around his wife to lead her off the porch. “You better get inside before they lock you out in the cold,” he recommended as they walked to their car.

Surely not,
Evie thought. Her brother would never give in to their parents’ demands. Sure, he had always wanted to please them—they both had. But marrying just because his parents approved? It wasn’t Taylor’s style. And what about poor Leigh Anna? Did she know she was a trophy wife?

No, Evie decided, he simply understood what her parents were saying. And maybe he never really liked Ben anyway. As she watched them drive away, Evie considered his words and then the cool night air. She gathered her stuff and headed back into the house.

2

)

vie knocked on the door to Ben’s new apartment. He had shown it to her the week before he and his roommates moved, but this would be the first time she had seen it with all their furniture inside. A moment later, Casey, one of Ben’s roommates, opened the door. His dirty blond hair stuck out in several directions. She pretended not to notice his bare chest and wrinkled shorts. He grunted at her and moved out of the way so she could come into the apartment. The Sunday afternoon sunshine broke through the dimness for only a moment until he closed the door behind her. He walked back to the couch and fell headfirst into a pile of pillows.

Cardboard boxes filled almost every inch of floor space, and from where she stood she could see the kitchen had suffered the same cluttered fate. She shook her head, wondering how long she could force herself to wait before she added a female touch to the bachelor pad.

“Ben?” she called as she walked down the hallway to his room. When she reached the door, he turned from his computer. She ached at the warmth of his smile and the reminder of the news she had to tell him.

“I was wondering what time you would get back today,” he greeted, holding his arms out to her.

She studied every detail of him. His short blond hair almost blended with his fair complexion. A navy T-shirt covered his lanky, broad frame, and khaki pants hid his legs but ended at his bare feet. In two steps Evie found herself sitting in his lap, enveloped in his hug and sharing a long, sweet kiss. Although she had only been away for two days, she had missed the taste of his mouth on hers and the smell of his freshly shaven skin. She nuzzled his cheek with her nose until he laughed and pushed her away.

“Miss me?” she asked with a twinkle in her eye.

“Mm-hmm.” He nuzzled her neck with his nose until she giggled.

Gazing into his brown eyes, she suddenly remembered her unsavory task. She sighed and drew him close for another hug. She needed all the strength she could muster to present her case to him.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, pulling away from her until they looked each other squarely in the eye.

Evie took a deep breath and forced herself from his lap. She paced the room a couple of times, wringing her hands, and finally settled herself into a seated position on the edge of his bed.

“We have a problem,” she confessed. He nodded for her to continue. “When I went home this weekend, Mom and Dad ambushed me. They don’t think we need to see each other anymore.”

Ben narrowed his eyes. “Okay…”

“Actually…” She hesitated. Could she tell him the truth? How could she word it to keep her parents from looking so prejudiced? Did she really care what he thought of her parents? Did it matter anymore? She raced to finish the sentence she never wanted to start. “Actually, they threatened to stop paying my bills if we continue to see each other.”

Ben’s eyes deepened from his usual warm brown to a darker, stormy color. His chair clanged to the floor as he pushed himself onto his feet. “How dare they,” he began, his voice loud enough that Evie was certain the neighbors would call any second to complain. “What right do they have to tell you who you can and cannot date?” He clenched and unclenched his fists.

“I know, I know,” she pleaded with him as she crossed the room and placed her hands over his. “I’ve tried to figure out what to do, but I’ve got nothing. If they stop paying my car payment, sorority dues, grocery bills, and gas bills, I can’t come up with enough money to do that for the next year and a half until I graduate.”

She dropped his hands and paced again, babbling as she walked. “You know I don’t care about the money thing, but they do. Evidently your family’s hard work is not worth the same amount as the money and power their friends have. Even if I drop the sorority and give back the Beemer, I can’t afford an apartment or another car. Anyway, I’ve thought about everything all weekend, and I’ve come to only one conclusion.” She turned to look at Ben. She had to know his real reaction before he spoke. “We should get married.”

He jerked his head in her direction in surprise at her sudden announcement. His eyes widened and then narrowed on her face. “Wha…?” he started to ask but failed to find the words to finish his question.

“It’s the easiest solution. We’ve talked about getting married when you finish with school anyway. If we do it now, I can live here with you and the guys. You have a car we can share so my parents can take the Beemer back. And I’ll work part-time to provide money for food and gas,” she explained.

She had no idea what kind of job she could get or if it would pay enough to provide food and gas, but it sounded good. Evie tried not to think about the sweet taste of the strawberries and cream the French restaurant served that she wouldn’t be able to afford anymore. She pushed away the wind-in-her-hair freedom of riding through town in the spring with the top down on her cherry red convertible. She ignored the certain demise of her perfect manicure from cleaning the apartment and doing dishes. She dismissed the nagging thought that she failed to really plan any of this out with a flip of her hair. She needed to focus on saving her relationship with Ben—even if it meant giving up everything else.

Ben took careful steps toward Evie and placed his hands on her shoulders. “You know I love you,” he said calmly, “but marriage is a big deal. You can’t just get married to get away from your parents.”

Evie frowned. She had spent the entire weekend working out various plans, and this one seemed to be the only one that would work. “That’s not why we would get married. It just speeds up the process a bit.”

“No, Evie,” he repeated sternly. “I can’t let you pull yourself away from your parents like that. You’ve been too close to them. If we get married, they’ll never speak to you again.”

“But…”

“Maybe we
should
take a little a break.”

His words seeped deep into Evie’s already tender heart. Tears brimmed. “They can’t do this to us,” she whimpered into his chest as he embraced her. His shirt grew damp.

“Okay, so maybe we don’t really have to take a break. We only need to make it look like we did,” he offered.

Evie sniffled back a sob.

His eyes softened, and he planted a gentle kiss on the end of her nose. “We’ll pretend we broke up and see each other secretly. Nobody has to know. When your parents see how hurt and sad you are, they’ll come to their senses.”

“Do you think it will work?” she whispered, her hope surging at the thought of keeping Ben and punishing her parents with her secrecy.

“We’ll have to be very careful,” he warned her. “No talking on your cell…they can look at the bill. No being seen anywhere in public where someone your parents know would see us. Maybe I can find some out-of-the-way places so we can meet.”

The plan Ben laid out for her sounded fun in addition to workable. She wrapped her arms around his neck and planted a heavy kiss on his lips. “I knew we’d come up with something,” she gushed, feeling lighter than she had in days. Excitement over the looming secrecy raced through her veins.

“We haven’t pulled it off yet,” Ben cautioned. “First, we have to break up. It should be something public so the word gets back to your parents, and they really believe we are done.” He met her eyes directly. “Then you’ll have to start dating again.”

Evie backed away until she held him at arm’s length. Did he realize how close he stood to falling into her parents’ plan? They would be thrilled to see her going out with someone. “But I don’t want to see anyone else,” she whined.

“I know. The idea of you going out with some other guy drives me nuts. But they won’t believe you are actually trying if you don’t go out with someone else. And it can’t be just anyone else. You have to go out with someone they choose.”

For the first time since she entered his apartment, Evie’s mind slid back to the vision of Eli sitting comfortably at her feet on the end of the porch swing. She could not tell Ben she already had the guy. It seemed wrong to be so ready to jump into the arms of another man. She would give their plan time and then tell him who she had decided to date.

Evie gave a reluctant nod.

“Okay, so about this break-up…,” Ben began.

They decided the break-up had to happen that night. Her parents would be waiting for a quick response. Most of the girls in her sorority would be headed back in right before supper, so they were sure to have an audience. Her sorority’s dining room was the only one on campus large enough to seat all 175 members. And most of the girls made a point to be there for Sunday night dinner. Having a large audience would ensure that her parents and everyone else believed their story.

Evie’s stomach twisted as she pulled into sorority row. A crowd of pretty girls lugged clean laundry and sagging backpacks into the stately buildings around her. She gunned her BMW into the parking lot of Gamma Ray house before screeching to a stop. Ben parked his Honda right behind her, blocking her into her space. She jumped from her car and slammed the door.

“Get out of here,” she screamed at him. From the corner of her eye she watched her sorority sisters pause to stare at the scene. Her hands shook, and she hoped everyone would read it as a sign of anger, not nervousness.

“So I’m not good enough for Daddy’s little girl.” Ben sneered, his eyes clouded with anger Evie was almost certain was real.

If she hadn’t known he was acting, his tone would have genuinely scared her. “Go away,” she yelled in return. “I told you I don’t want to see you anymore. You don’t fit in…don’t you get that?”

Pain shot through her as he flinched at her last words. She forced herself to focus on the plan and ignore her strong urge to assure him she did not mean the hateful things she said. Evie pushed him away and opened her trunk to yank out her bag of clean laundry and backpack filled with unfinished homework.

Ben grabbed her bag of laundry from her. “Maybe I’m just good enough to carry your highness’s dirty clothes,” he yelled.

Evie tried to wrestle it from his grasp. “I told you to leave me alone!”

He turned the bag upside down and dumped her clean clothes into a heap in the dusty parking lot. She jerked her head toward him.
You didn’t have to go that far,
she wanted to hiss, but fear of being overheard tied her tongue to the roof of her mouth. Her heart skipped a beat as the head of the sorority rushed from the front door and almost ran to the parking lot where Ben and Evie faced off. The plan was working better than she had imagined.

“What’s going on here?” The woman in her early thirties considered all the girls her daughters and had no problem interrupting fights with boyfriends.

“Nothing. He’s leaving.” Evie scowled at Ben, hoping he took his cue to leave before the woman called the campus police. Evie tried to wipe her sweating palms on her now dirty towels as she rescued them from the ground.