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  On him? Who did the bastard think Blake was doing this for? “No, sir. I’d have to be a fool to leave a woman like Sarah at the altar.”

  Gloria Thomas smiled and put an arm around Blake’s waist. “It’s so romantic. Reminds me of when I met your father. We knew on our first date we were meant to be together. I’m so happy for you and Sarah.”

  “Thanks, Mom. We’d better get to it. There’s another group waiting.”

  Harold peered through his bifocals as if inspecting Blake. “Take your shot, son. The question is do you play your best or let your future father-in-law win? Let’s see what kind of balls you’ve got.” He cackled, setting Blake’s lips into a half-snarl.

  This was going to be the longest two hours of his life.

  Chapter 3

  Andrea drove to the Kokopelli Cafe as Sarah had recommended, arriving at eleven twenty. She asked for a table in the back corner, letting the hostess know she had a big decision to make and needed a bit of quiet to think things over. She settled on a chicken sandwich with an ancho chili mayonnaise and a side salad.

  Andrea ate slowly, chewing every bite carefully but barely tasting it. To do her job, Sarah had to be good at convincing people. She’d nearly convinced Andrea to do the most outrageous thing in her life. Was it a scam? Andrea couldn’t imagine it was. This was a prominent person, the CEO of a well-regarded non-profit organization. What woman would skip her own wedding unless she had something really important? Those girls were important.

  Her cell phone rang the Looney Toons theme song—Monica’s ringtone. She pulled it out of her purse. With a deep breath, she answered.

  “Hey, girlfriend,” Monica said. “You never called me back. Did you get an offer?”

  “Yeah, I got an offer all right,” Andrea said drily. She wished she could tell Monica everything. The information threatened to burst through her lips, dragging tears along with it, but this wasn’t the time or place. Besides, she couldn’t divulge the details of her arrangement without Sarah’s permission. Sure, Sarah would never know if Andrea told her best friend, but some things Andrea took seriously. Making a vow was one of them. Her signature on that non-disclosure agreement was a vow.

  “What’s that mean? Aren’t you going to take it?” Monica asked.

  Andrea sighed. “It pays about twelve hundred a year less than I was making at Delmar, but it’s more than I’m making right now, and I don’t have any other leads. Rent’s due in less than three weeks, and without this job, I’ll be looking at late fees at least and possibly eviction, selling what little furniture I have, and moving to Arizona to mooch off my parents until I get another job and rebuild my pathetic life.”

  “Andie,” Monica said with a sigh. She was the only person in the world who called her Andie and got away with it. “I told you you won’t have to move to Arizona. If you don’t want that job, don’t take it. We’ll put your stuff into storage, and you can live in our spare room until you find something better.”

  “Well, I do have this lottery ticket in my back pocket,” Andrea said.

  “Now’s the time to cash in, baby.”

  Andrea considered a hypothetical question for a second. “Mo, what would you do for a million bucks?”

  “Wow. Well, I guess it depends on who was offering.”

  Andrea laughed. “I didn’t ask who you would do. I asked what.”

  “Oh. That’s different.” Monica giggled. “Nothing illegal. Prison ain’t worth it, and I suck at lying. I might bungee jump off the Golden Gate Bridge for a million dollars.”

  “What if you were single? Would you marry a complete stranger?”

  “Hmm. Does he get half of my million when I dump his ass?”

  “No. It’s all yours. He gets a million also, and you have to stay married for... say, at least three months to get the money. Live together, sleep in the same bed, all that.”

  “Does he get to hit me?”

  “Of course not. He has to behave like a decent husband, and you have to behave like a decent wife. And you can’t tell a soul about the deal. You have to act like blissfully happy newlyweds in the presence of all your friends and relatives.” She didn’t know whether Sarah’s fiancé fit this bill, but it was a hypothetical question anyway.

  “Is he good looking?” Monica asked.

  “Yes, he’s handsome and supposedly nice.”

  “Pfft. No brainer, then. Of course I would—if I were single, which I’m not. Because Pete is the best husband in the world.”

  Andrea laughed. “You’re right. You found a good one.”

  “So who’s offering you a million dollars to marry some nice, handsome guy for three months?”

  Andrea coughed, choking on her water and spitting it all over her empty plate.

  “Andie? You okay?”

  “I’m fine,” she choked. “I was just asking hypothetically.”

  “Uh huh. Spill.”

  “Look, I gotta go. I’ll call you as soon as I can, okay? Bye.”

  “Andrea! Don’t you dare hang—”

  Andrea pressed the End Call button, cringing as she did. “Sorry, Mo,” she whispered. Looney Toons played again almost immediately. Andrea let it go to voice mail, but only a moment later, a text message came in: I know you’re reading this. Call me!

  Keeping this a secret from her best friend would be the hardest part. No, she thought, shaking her head. Marrying a guy she barely knew would be the hardest part.

  After paying her bill, Andrea returned to The Lighthouse office but paused in front of the building, her hand on the door’s wooden handle, but still not entirely certain she was ready to walk through. She needed more details, maybe some reassurance. Part of her wanted to be talked into it, but she couldn’t say yes quite yet. Tracy took her up to the CEO’s office, where she was greeted by a wary yet hopeful Sarah.

  “You’re looking a bit more settled than you were when you left,” Sarah said. “Have you come to a decision?”

  Charlotte rapped on the open door with her knuckles and came in, closing the door behind her. “Ladies. Where are we at?”

  “I’m not sure I can do this,” Andrea said. Her whole body trembled with nervousness. Would Sarah retract her job offer at The Lighthouse? “I’ve never been good at lying.”

  “Have you ever been in a play?” Sarah asked.

  “Sure,” Andrea said. “I was a theater geek in high school.”

  “Think of this as a role. You know the opening of Pretty Woman when the Julia Roberts character is waking up and getting dressed, pulling on the thigh-high boots?”

  “Yeah.”

  “That wasn’t really Julia Roberts. That was a body double. You’d be my body double, except that you also happen to be my facial double.”

  Andrea smiled. She could play a role, but this was more than just a role.

  “The marriage license will be real. My vow, said with your lips, will be real, and I’ll honor it. I really will be married to Blake Thomas, so it’s not like we’re out to fool anyone.”

  “You’re out to fool all those people who think they’re witnessing your marriage. What about your fiancé? He thinks he’s marrying one woman when he’s actually marrying another. A million dollars would be nice, but—”

  “Andrea, listen. He’s not marrying a stranger. He’s marrying me. All the guests would be witnessing my marriage to Blake, regardless of whether I say ‘I do’ with your lips or mine.”

  Several long moments of silence ticked by while Andrea considered her words. It just felt wrong to deceive someone like that. He’d be going on his honeymoon with a complete stranger, not the woman he thought he was marrying.

  Tracy knocked on the door, pushing it open. “Courier package for you.” She stepped into the office, offering a thin envelope to Sarah. The logo for Avianca airlines was printed on the exterior.

  “Great, thanks. My tickets.” She set the envelope on her desk, and Tracy left. “Listen,” Sarah said, taking Andrea’s hands. “When the business deal is fi
nished, my father’s going to reward me not only with a pledge to keep The Lighthouse running, but with a ten-million-dollar wedding gift. What if I pay you half? Five million dollars. Would that make you feel better about taking this job?”

  The thought of that much money was enough to make her head swim. She would never have to worry about money again. But was her integrity worth five million bucks? No. It wasn’t. Not five, not ten, not one hundred million dollars. The guy deserved to say his vow to the woman he was marrying, not some doppelgänger.

  What if he knew?

  Andrea chewed her lip. They could tell him. “The money isn’t the issue, but listen. What if we sit him down and explain everything? Tell him your plan and my part in it. If he’s willing to accept a stand-in at his wedding and on his honeymoon, I’ll do it.”

  Sarah and Charlotte shared a glance. “What if he’s not?” Sarah asked.

  “I won’t do it if I have to deceive him. Either he’s on board, or I’m out.”

  “I can respect that. Let me see if he’s free.” Sarah picked up her cell phone from the desk.

  Andrea sat down and crossed her legs and folded her arms, refusing to be swayed away from her decision.

  “Hi, Blake, it’s me... I’m fine, how about you?” Sarah put the phone on speaker.

  “Doing great, babe. What’s up?”

  Hearing his voice made him a real person in Andrea’s mind, a person with a heart that could be broken. Hearing him made everything real.

  “I was wondering if you were free for a late lunch,” Sarah said.

  “I’m on the golf course with my mom and your dad. We’re only at hole three, so it’ll be a while before I’m free. I’ve got a couple of appointments this afternoon. Can we meet for dinner? Around seven?”

  “Um, let me check my calendar.” Sarah raised her eyebrows questioningly.

  Andrea chewed her lip, unsure whether to agree or not. She’d envisioned Sarah introducing them, but Sarah wanted to be on a plane by then.

  “Give me one sec,” Sarah said. She pressed a button on her phone. “It’s on mute. One of us is having dinner with Blake tonight. Which one will it be?”

  She didn’t want to have dinner with Blake alone—at least, not without first agreeing to this scheme.

  “Can you meet us for dinner and catch another flight to Colombia in the morning?”

  Sarah shook her head. “Traffickers move the girls every few days to keep the Policía Nacional off their trail. Rise Up has eyes on them now, but if we delay too long, we might lose them again. Our best shot at saving those girls is for me to get down there ASAP. They’ve lined me up with a pilot in Mexico who can fly me down more quickly than if I go commercial, but he’s on a tight schedule. If there was any other way, I’d never have brought you into this mess.”

  That meant Andrea would have to either talk Blake into it on her own, or bow out now without knowing if he was amenable. And what if he was? She’d be giving up a million dollars, but it wasn’t just the money she would sacrifice. This was her chance to help those girls being groomed for slavery, thinking they were embarking on an exciting new life and new opportunities in America. Could she turn Sarah down, knowing those children would likely be beaten, raped, starved, and perhaps murdered within a matter of weeks?

  “Okay,” Andrea said, unsure why her mouth was taking over when her mind wasn’t yet made up. “I’ll do it.”

  From the phone, she heard a woman’s voice ask, “Is that Sarah? Tell her I can’t wait to see her at the rehearsal on Friday.” Sarah’s mother-in-law to-be sounded so nice.

  And I’m supposed to deceive her too.

  Wait, she started to say. But Sarah had already pressed the button on the phone. “Seven will be fine,” she told him.

  “Great. I’ll pick you up at a quarter til.”

  Andrea shook her head fervently, waving her hands in a calling-off gesture.

  “Um, I’ve got some things to take care of after work,” Sarah said. “How about I meet you at Ruby’s instead?”

  “Sure,” Blake said. “See you there.” Sarah was about to punch the end call button when he said, “Love you.”

  Sarah stiffened, her finger hovering a fraction of an inch from the phone’s surface. “Um, bye.” Her face turned crimson, and she disconnected. “That was awkward.”

  “You’re sure about this?” Charlotte asked.

  Sarah nodded. “It’s not too late to say no.”

  Andrea took a deep breath. “I’ll do it. For those girls.”

  Sarah squealed and reached for Andrea with both hands. Andrea stood, and the two women embraced. “Thank you so very, very much. You can’t know what this means to me. You’re my savior as much as you are those girls’ in Colombia.”

  Andrea loved helping others—it was what made her happy—but most of the time, gratitude wasn’t given so effusively. “I’m glad I can help. I’m pretty nervous though.”

  “Let me get the paperwork.” Charlotte left the room.

  “I can’t thank you enough for agreeing to this crazy plan. Listen, hon, if Blake refuses to go along with this, then go ahead and postpone the wedding. I’ll deal with my father’s wrath when I get back.”

  “I hope I can convince him,” Andrea said. “I really could use the bail-out.”

  Sarah laughed. “He’s a reasonable fellow. I’m sure you’ll make him see the wisdom of the plan. You’ll be meeting a lot of strangers who know me, so try to keep to general topics in conversation—how excited you are, how happy, and so on. You can claim nervousness if you think you’ve said the wrong thing.”

  Andrea thought about her own parents and how they would feel if the situation was reversed. “What about your father? Don’t you hate having to deceive him?”

  “The bastard deserves it,” Charlotte said, returning.

  Andrea goggled at the VP. For her to say that in front of her boss was bold and disrespectful.

  “I didn’t want to tell you this before,” Sarah said, “because I thought it would unfairly influence your decision, but my father is the reason you lost your job at Delmar.”

  “What?” That didn’t make sense. What did he have to do with it? Andrea gasped, remembering that Delmar was closed because of a corporate sale. “He bought our parent company?”

  “Yep. He’s the one who ordered Delmar be shut down. That sorry bastard is so stingy, he wouldn’t pay a dime to see a pissant pull a freight train. If I died or somehow became incapacitated, he would shut down The Lighthouse without a second thought. He calls organizations like ours ‘financial sink holes.’”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Andrea asked, scowling. Her hands curled into fists, and her upper lip stiffened. She was about to take a job that would bring her face to face with the man who’d put her in the unemployment line and a bunch of runaway teenagers into who-knew-where, and she would have to be civil to that jerk.

  “Like I said,” Sarah replied, “I didn’t want to use your personal situation against you. That would’ve been unfair. It’s bad enough I had to tell you about the trip to Colombia. I’d have preferred to offer you the job straight-up and let you take it or leave it on its own merits.”

  “I don’t think of myself as a vengeful person, but I’ll tell you, I don’t feel as bad about it now as I did a minute ago.” The three women laughed.

  “That’s the spirit,” Sarah said. “Listen, it’s really important that he believes you’re me. If he thinks my marriage to Blake isn’t real, he’ll pull the plug on the business deal, not to mention funding for The Lighthouse.”

  “I understand, but won’t he know me for an imposter the second I speak to him? I don’t have your Southern accent or your colorful way of putting things.”

  “You won’t really have to talk to him,” Charlotte said. “Sarah calls him Father when she must, but mostly she ignores him.”

  “To his face?” Andrea asked, shocked.

  With a wry smile, Sarah shrugged one shoulder.

  “I kno
w,” Charlotte said with a laugh. “I thought the same thing. She pretends he’s not even there. Doesn’t answer his questions, doesn’t respond to his remarks, doesn’t even look at him.”

  “And you get away with that?” Andrea asked.

  “Trust me,” Sarah said. “It’s better for both of us that way.”

  Andrea’s stomach churned, thinking of all the people she would have to fool into believing she was Sarah. Why had she agreed to this crazy plan? “What about your maid of honor? She’s surely going to know I’m not you.”

  “She already does,” Sarah said, nodding her head at Charlotte.

  “Don’t worry,” Charlotte said. “I’ll be with you every step of the way, diverting people and questions, making excuses for you. I’ll have your back.”

  Andrea breathed her relief. She had the urge to drop to her knees and kiss Charlotte’s hands. “Oh, thank goodness. I don’t know what I’d do if I had to face all those strangers alone.”

  “While you were having lunch, I ran out and got a duplicate driver’s license, just in case you said yes. The airline ticket to Hawaii is in my name, so you’ll need it to board the plane. The only problem you might have is that it says my eye color is green.” She handed the card to Andrea. “There’s no mistaking your very blue eyes for my green ones.”

  “I’ll need to wear colored contact lenses anyway,” Andrea said, examining the license. “The question is: can I get them before the wedding?” The photo looked enough like her to pass even careful scrutiny.

  “I have an eye doctor friend who’ll get you squared away. I’ll call him and get you in tomorrow.”

  They went over the contract for payment and the power of attorney itself. Charlotte explained how Andrea should sign the marriage license and staple a copy of the power of attorney to the application for marriage license that she would submit to the county.

  Sarah also gave her the information for a small bank account she kept for such things as vacations, toys, and spa visits, along with an ATM card so she could withdraw cash as needed. “Use the money to pay your mortgage or rent, utilities and phone, buy your meals, pay for gas—all that stuff. There’s only about eighteen grand in it, so don’t go crazy, but use what you need.”