Back then, Chloe had kept herself separate from most people, and I’d understood that and respected it, even if it was the opposite of how I operated. I knew she’d had a completely different experience than I had growing up, and there were reasons for her aloofness. She was my quiet, bookish friend who spent her spare time studying. Kemp was a jock, a popular guy, the polar opposite of Chloe, and I appreciated both of them for what they were. Always had.

“It’s a long story,” I told him now. “You probably better sit down.”

He finished the last of his beer, then went to the fridge and pulled out a second one for each of us. He took out two clean glasses, as he was a stickler for not mixing different beers so as not to bastardize the flavors, then hurriedly poured us both a stout. After sliding them across the counter, he came around and took the stool next to me.

“Tell me.”

“A week and a half ago, Chloe walked into Henry’s,” I told him.

“I didn’t think Chloe ever came back to town.”

“Correct. She hadn’t been back once since I drove her to college, so you can imagine how stunned I was to see her sitting at the bar.”

A skeptical look crossed Kemp’s face. “And she just stopped by to give you a quarter of a million dollars to make your dreams come true?” he said, dripping with sarcasm.

“Not quite.”

“Why would Chloe Abrams give us 250 big ones? I have never seen evidence that she has a big heart,” he said.

I hesitated.

Chloe and I had agreed that I’d be completely honest with Kemp, just as she had been with her friend Presley, and those were the only two people who would know the entire truth behind our marriage.

“I’ll tell you everything, but you’ve got to keep it to yourself.”

“Of course,” Kemp said with a look of annoyance, like he couldn’t understand why I had to say that out loud. I wasn’t going to leave anything to chance though. The stakes were too high for Chloe.

I explained to him about Chloe’s job and her boss and her reasons for pretending we were in a relationship. Kemp listened intently. When I finished the story, he narrowed his eyes and said, “That is seriously twisted.”

“I can’t disagree with you on that. There’s more. Pretty sure you’ll think it’s even more twisted.”

I told him about the deal Chloe and I had made—that she would invest in our company and I would marry her for a year.

He’d been taking a drink, and he slammed the glass down noisily on the counter. “You have got to be kidding me.” He stared at me with his mouth hanging open, like I was the biggest fool alive.