I stayed for a few hours, had dinner with her, and listened to stories from the past of her and Renee's high-school antics.
Apparently, my grandma used to be the rebel type back in her day, black fingernails, and leather jackets, and she explained to me all the crazy different colors she used to add to her hair.I never had nursing home food, and I was happy to know my grandma was at least eating well while staying there.The chicken fried steak and green bean casserole were wonderful, I just had to add a tiny extra salt and pepper. I kissed my grandma goodnight and told Renee that I'd be back to play a game of dominoes with them and headed home.I made my decision. Becoming his bride, all because I signed a contract, wasn't something I wanted to do, but it was something I was going to have to do for my grandma.She is getting worse, and if they called tomorrow for her transplant, I wouldn't be able to afford it.I went straight home and packed a suitcase. I was almost positive he would provide me with a better wardrobe that would tell the world that I was indeed a billionaire's finance.So, I didn't over pack, just picked a few pajama sets, undies, and a couple of sets of day clothes and headed to the address that was on the card he gave me before I left his office.I was now standing in the doorway, drying not to drool all over myself, when Nickolas answered the door. “I assume you agree to the plan, then?” He asked, gently pulled my suitcase out of my head, and motioned for me to walk through the door.“That assumption would be correct,” I informed him, sucked in a deep breath, walked inside his penthouse, and prayed I didn't make a mess of myself in front of this man.“Well, you have come just in time,” he commented and closed the door.“Hmm,” I mumbled as my eyes roamed around the room.Goodness, just how much money does this man actually have? I wouldn't know what to do with all that money.Hell, besides paying back the mountain of hospital bills with the five million I'll be getting at the end of the contract date, I don't really know what I'll spend the rest on.I know some women would go crazy, trips, maybe hire a maid for housework, speak all their day shopping, but that's just not me. I'm the happiest when I'm wearing a baggy t-shirt, and I hate wearing my contacts. They just cause my eyes to cry.I also don't think I look bad with glasses on.A beautiful fire was roaring in front of the dark brown leather couch, a football game playing on the big flat screen TV just above the fireplace, and a glass of scotch or whiskey was sitting on the side table.“I hope I didn't disturb your game,” I told him. “I was visiting with my grandma today, and she is getting worse. That's the only reason I'm agreeing to do this. It's for her,” I explained, hoping he believed me.It wasn't for the money promise of money when the contract ended. In fact, he could not give it to me, and I'll just be as happy with knowing my grandma's transplant was paid for.“I'm well aware of the reason you are here, Macy,” he smiled softly before adding. “I'm sorry to hear that Mae is getting worse.”“Thank you. What did you mean? I'm just in time for what?” I asked, took my eyes off the football game, and focused onto him. “Sorry. I'm a fan,” I shrugged when he caught me staring.When I was little, at first, I was not a fan of the sport itself, but I had a few crushes on some cute players. I only watched games with my grandpa, and after years of watching that on certain days during the week, I became a fan.“I'm having company over-,” he started to explain, but the elevator dinged, letting us know that someone was on the way up. “Okay, listen, I'm sorry I'm having to do this to you. You can go hide in one of the rooms if you don't feel you are ready, but I have to have this dinner meeting tonight. Johnson and I have been talking about becoming partners in a hotel company. Tonight is important,” he whispered, eyes glued to the elevator awaiting his company, and pushed my suitcase around the hall corner, hiding it.“I don't know if I'm ready,-” I started to tell him that maybe tonight wasn't the best night to just throw me to the wolves, but before I could finish my sentence, the elevator doors opened.Crap.“Diavolo, good to see you.”I will not lie. I didn't know what I expected, but it surely wasn't this. They are dressed like they are getting ready to walk on the red carpet in California, and here I am, wearing a sundress with sunflowers spread all over it.“Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, welcome,” Nickolas said, held out his hand, and shook Mr. Johnson's hand. “Please come inside. Shirley is almost finished preparing dinner.”Shirley?Who's that?“No need to rush the old woman Nick, we can have us a glass of whiskey, and discuss the possibility of us becoming partners while our-,” Mr. Johnson paused as he looked down, and I could feel his judgmental thoughts at what I was wearing. “I don't believe we have met your,” he coughed and uncomfortably added. “Date.”“Yes, allow me to introduce my girlfriend, Macy Campbell. Macy, darling,” he said softly, wrapping his arm around my waist. “This is Gerald and Kate Johnson.”I didn't know who felt more uncomfortable, me or Nickolas, and I prayed my body didn't betray how shocked I truly was when he slid his arm around me. My heart was pounding inside my chest, and I wished I had waited until tomorrow morning to come here. I didn't know I'd be thrown into his world so quickly.I, of course, have manners, but the class of people he deals with, well, they are on a different level. I had no idea what to say, how to say, and how to act in front of the man who would possibly be his new business partner. I didn't want to make a full out of myself, nor did I want to embarrass Nickolas before our contract had even begun.“Girlfriend?” Mr. Johnson replied, shocked before recovering his face with an uncomfortable grin. “So you finally settled down. You know, Nick, I never thought I'd see the day that you allowed yourself to be tied down to just one woman.”Nickolas shifted uncomfortably, I felt his back stiffen. “I never thought I'd see the day either, Gerald but the first time I laid my eyes onto Macy, I knew she was the one for me,” he chuckled smoothly and gone was the nervous man, now replaced with the smooth talking business. “She didn't make it easy on me, did you, baby?”What the hell was he expecting me to say? We haven't had an opportunity to talk about any of this. I don't know what he wants to tell people about the way we met. I feel like I'm either drowning or my lungs have stopped working because it's become a struggle for me to breathe.“That's right, love,” I whispered. “When he came into the vet clinic, I knew he was the one for me, too. I just had to make the first move,” I giggled and hoped it sounded genuine.“Oh? You are a veterinarian?” Mrs. Johnson joined in on the lovely, uncomfortable conversation. “That's an honest profession. Those defenseless little animals need all the help they can get. I donate at least a million dollars each year for the poor dears.”“Oh no, I wish I was, but I'm just a vet assistant,” I assured her and regretted it. She tried to hide it, but her lip turned up, informing me she was not very impressed with what I had done with my life.“And she is very good at what she does. She helped me with Beast and now his back eating like a horse,” Nickolas chuckled, but I could see in his face he was not happy that I told them what I did, well-used to do for a living.“But surely, you have given that silly job up?” She questioned and raided her waxed eyebrow. “Being with a man like him will take up all your spare time, trust me, I know.”“Honesty, I won't be giving up my job entirely. I have decided that I will still work as a vet assistant, just a few days a week. I love my job too much,” I explained and felt Nickolas' eyes narrowing.Well, it's not my fault we have not had an opportunity to discuss things further before being interrupted.I will admit, tonight's supper could have gone a lot better and a bit more smooth on both of our parts. The lady continued asking me uncomfortable and unneeded questions, which were just resulting in me becoming apprehensive about myself and would wind up with me shuffling over my words. It also did not encourage me when Nickolas was shooting daggers at me each time I said something he found inappropriate. I was trying my best with what limited knowledge I knew about our contract, but it's not like I could outright lie when one of the Johnsons would ask me something about my home life. I have no shame about anything that has happened to me in the past, and I will not be apologizing because my mother was indeed absent from my life because she became a substance misuser. I'll admit, I could have probably kept that little piece of information to myself. Again, I was not thoroughly prepared when I came here tonight to be thrown to the wolves. That's undoubtedly how I, personally, vi
Today is already starting out unpleasant. I tore my second favorite scrub bottoms, the ones that bore adorable kittens on them. My grandma had struggled to sew the hole shut and ended up giving up because her shaking hands can no longer handle the needle and thread anymore.Then I was at the pharmacy to pick up my grandma's new medication, and the pharmacist tried telling me my grandma's health insurance was canceled. I couldn't afford to pay for her medicine without the insurance. After ten minutes of arguing with the older lady, I stepped aside, called her health insurance company. I then proceeded to be on the phone with a man who sounded very annoyed with his job.And now I am stuck in traffic and have been in the same spot for at least twenty minutes. Twenty minutes doesn't sound like enough time to get someone frustrated, but as I already said, it's been a rough day. It would be so much easier if my brother was still here. Sadly, he passed away when I was just sixteen years o
Macys P.O.VMy alarm goes off the next morning and pulls me out of the pleasant dream I was having; in my dream, my grandfather and I were engaged in a game of cards. After hastily reaching for my phone off the nightstand, I silenced the alarm and fell back down in bed for a few moments to reflect on the past few years of my life.My grandparents have been me and my brothers' primary caregivers for the past twenty-two years of my life. As soon as I was born, my mother began doing drugs because she was unable to cope with the death of my father. One day, she said she wanted to introduce us to my grandparents, so she brought me and my brother over to their house. She lied to them that she needed to go to the store to pick up a few things, and she never came back to get me after she left.At least Mother didn't start using drugs until after I was born, which is a huge relief.Little favors, I guess. They didn't give it a second thought to take us in and raise us. Over the course of the
When I step into the kitchen, I notice my grandmother standing in front of the stove. My grandfather remodeled this kitchen for her many years ago, claiming that she spent so much time in it that she deserved a lovely one. It wasn't even horrible before; I simply think he wanted to do something special for her, and he knew how much she enjoyed cooking. For her, he upgraded the refrigerator and stove. If you don't want a complete tour of her restaurant-style oven, don't even bring it up. She jerked her oxygen tank as she reached for the bowl of sliced strawberries and poured them onto the skillet. "You should be laying down, Grandma." I tell her quietly, a scowl on my lips forming as I wrapped my arm around her and hugged her. "Ava, every morning, you tell me that, and I tell you the same thing. I'd be better off dead if I stayed in bed all day. Let me look after you while I'm still here, okay?" She whispers sweetly, encircling me with one arm and caressing me back as the other hold
I'm ten minutes from the vet clinic and pulled into the convenience store on the same road, needing to get a few things to get my tired body through the long hours of work. I quickly killed my car, grabbed my purse, opened the door and stepped out, and locked it before heading into the store.“Hi Mr. Charlie,” I greeted the elderly man who owned the store and headed straight towards the back of the store to the fridges that held the drinks.I needed an energy drink.“Hello dear. How's Mae doing today?” He asked about my grandma, worry lacing his voice. I actually think he has a crush on my grandma. His wife died years ago due to a bad car wreck, and I am told by my grandma herself that Mr. Charlie was a very funny man. Whatever that means. My grandma though will never move on from my grandpa and the thought makes me both happy that he would never get replaced in her heart and sad for her because that means she will stay alone until it was her time to meet back up with my grandpa i
I made it home a few minutes later, and to my horror, my grandma was standing outside in the light drizzle, holding her portable oxygen tank tightly in her arms and waved me at me when I stopped the car directly in front of her.“Grandma, what are you doing? I would have gone inside to help you,” I complained, leaned over, and opened the door for her. “You should not be outside in this weather.”“Oh, Macy, it's alright,” she gasped and climbed into my car. “Let's go.”“Where are we going?” I asked her, hoping she would give me the answer this time.She didn't answer me again. Instead, she was typing something on her phone, and suddenly, I heard the GPS robotic voice telling me to stay straight for two miles.“Okay,” I exhaled, put the car into drive, and headed down the road, curious as to what was going on. Why is she acting weird about this errand? “Why can't you tell me now? Is something wrong?” I asked quickly, thinking something was wrong.“Just drive, sweetie,” my grandma said,
I can't believe I'm doing this. I'm actually going to meet my dead brother's old fraternity brother, who I have not seen or spoken to in years. He said he had an offer to make me, and I'm drowning right in. Anything could help me at this point. I'm hoping he will give me is a job. That suit he was wearing today didn't look expensive, neither did the watch he had on his wrist that only made the tattoo around his wrist more pronounced. I was nervous as I pulled up into the abandoned parking garage. It's late at night, and it's passed dark out. I had realized I have watched far too many horror movies. It's never a good idea for a woman to be walking around a garage late at night when no one is around to hear her scream. It is unclear to me why we couldn't have had this conversation during the day. Instead, I feel like I'm doing something shameful, sneaking around at night when no one is around to see. I walk towards the elevator and notice a man still sitting inside the small securi
While Nickolas's offer was extraordinarily generous, I told him I needed at least a day to think about it. I couldn't stop feeling like I was prostituting my body out for money. I mean, I incidentally was, just not in the way that, well, the other types of ladies do, and if my grandma ever found out, she wouldn't be too pleased with me.I'm not going to lie. That money is sounding pretty darn good to me right now, I just need to think about it a little more. I would sign myself away for months. My life will turn into chaos with the media hounding us about the engagement and being dragged along to events with boring, stuffy nosed people wanting to make more money.Nickolas explained to me just what exactly he would expect of me during our little contract time. I have to stay at his house. I will have to help him host dinner parties for significant, rich families, and I will always have to look my best while doing it. A CEO's fiancé is expected to maintain a certain appearance, and h