He nodded, pulling out his wallet and setting several crisp one-hundred-dollar bills on the counter. My mouth fell open slightly before I caught myself and closed it again. We were definitely different people. That amount of money would get me by for weeks, months if I were careful. Life on the street had taught me how to live frugally. I had no intention of blowing through it or doing anything extra for it. I glanced at him.
“I believe the company charges the card you have on file,” I said.
“I know, this is just your tip. Listen, I’ll tell them you did a great job cleaning, but you really don’t need to. How about a cup of coffee?”
“Sir, why am I here if you didn’t want me to clean? This whole thing seems a little inappropriate.”
“Can you please just talk to me for a few minutes, not as my employee?”
“If I’m not your employee, then I’m nothing to you. We don’t know each other at all. We come from two very different worlds. So whatever idea you’ve got in that head of yours –
“We aren’t that different,” he snapped. “You just don’t know anything about me besides the narrative you’ve created in your own head.”
My mouth snapped shut as I glared at him. “I don’t need to know anything about you. I’m just the hired help.”
Leaving the money on the counter, I grabbed my purse and stormed towards the door. If he wanted to tip Gwen that much when she came back later, more power to him. I wasn’t going to take his money or any of the connotations it might come with. Before I could react, Henry darted in front of the door and blocked my exit. I glared at him, and he stepped aside.
“You can leave, of course. I have an offer for you, though, if you’re interested.”
“Why do I get the feeling it doesn’t have anything to do with folding your laundry and ironing your shirts?”
“Well, it might a little. I don’t know, I haven’t really worked out the fine print yet.”
“I’m going to pass.”
“You don’t even know what it is yet!” He said.
“And nor do I care. If it involves you and me together, no good can come from it.”
“I’ll give you fifty-thousand dollars just to sit down and hear me out for the next thirty minutes. After that, the money is yours, whether you take the offer or not.”
I eyed him warily. My youth had taught me to spot a lie from a mile away. Something about Henry told me he was equally as skilled at hiding the truth when he wanted. Yet he seemed earnest. There was no reason for me not to trust him besides my own paranoia. If he really just wanted a little bit of my time for that much money, I’d be a fool not to take the offer. There was always the question of his motives, though. What did he want for that thirty-minutes and a considerable chunk of money?
“I’m not going to sleep with you.”
“That was never on the table. I promise this is all business, but I think it will help us both.”
“Fifty grand, and I can still say no?” I asked.
Henry nodded, pulling a check from his pocket. “I just want a little bit of your time. No funny business, no sex or commitments. Just hear me out.”
“Is this some sort of sick prank?” I asked.
He chuckled. “No, no prank, no joke, no trap. No police, no mob, no law-breaking.”
“You seem to cover all the bases there. Have you done this sort of thing before?”
“No, but as I said, we have a lot more in common than you think. I grew up on the streets of El Paso. My mother's probably dead by now, I wouldn’t know. I haven’t seen her since I left at twelve. I had no family until John found me and took me in here.”
I couldn’t string together a single sentence. At least now I understood why I’d felt a kinship with him. His life hadn’t been one of rainbows and fairytales like most of the area's ranching elite. I’d met a handful of owners while working with Gwen and every one of them seemed to have a brood of children more entitled than they were useful. None of them would fare well in an apocalypse scenario.
“So what do you say? Fifty-grand for thirty minutes?” He asked.
“That’s the offer, no strings.”
“Fine,” I said. “Your time starts now, so I’d talk fast.”
Snatching the check from his hand, I spun around and went to the living room. He’d said it himself, I was off the clock, so I wasn’t going to pretend like I was his employee anymore. Sitting down on the plush material, I nearly drifted off in a blissful moment of comfort. It made sense that even his sofa was something right out of a dream. Henry watched me as he sat, his lips a constant smile. I felt a blush again as I looked down at my hands. When our eyes locked, I let them linger for a moment.
“As you may have noticed, I run a pretty successful operation around here,” he started. “I’ve grown this place over the years and made Hannover a powerhouse in the industry.”
“It sounds like you’ve got everything then. A really zero to hero story.” I said.
“There is something else that I want,” he said in a low voice.
My heart skipped. A new heat was moving up from my core as his eyes pooled into mine.
“I want the land that flanks me to the south. It’s a property that could change everything.”
“What the hell does that have to do with me? Do you want me to sneak in and steal the deed or something? Pretty sure that’s not going to work.”
He laughed and shook his head. “No, nothing so dangerous. The old man will only sell it to me if he thinks I’ve become a family man. So I need a family real fast.”
“I told you I wasn’t having sex with you.”
“I don’t want you to sleep with me,” he said. “I just want you to be my wife.”
8
Jennifer
“I’m sorry, can you say that again?” I stammered. “I don’t think I heard you correctly.”
“No, you did. I need a wife. Not someone to sleep with me or make a family. Just someone who can come live here for six months while I convince him to sell me the property.”
“Is this some kind of joke? What makes you think that I’d even consider an offer like that?” I asked.
“Because I would give you ten times that check in your hand. I’m not looking for someone to sleep with me or take care of me. I’m a grown-ass man. All I need is someone to play the part for a few months so I can secure this land.”
“Really? Because it sounds like you want to con an old man out of his property.”
“If you knew his son, you’d see that my offer is the best thing that’s ever happened for that land. The second Callus dies, Scott will sell it to a developer. It’s good land.”
“If it’s such good land and you’re such a nice guy for buying it, why do you need me?”
Henry sighed, “Callus believes that ranching is a trade that should be passed on down through the family. He would rather that land sit and he died on it then see it go to another generation that will sell it off like his son.”
“Basically, if he thinks you’re a family man, you’ll get the land. If not, you’re out of luck and stuck with the millions of dollars and hundreds of acres you already have.”