Page 58 of A Montana Fake Marriage

Sammie groaned and rolled her eyes at Hallie’s question. “I wish people would stop asking me that.”

Katrina snickered. “Yeah, what do you think she’s going to do? She’s gonna take us all on a big fat shopping spree.”

Though Sammie could hear the teasing in her friend’s voice, she hated how much those words grated against her. Even her cousins-in-law were intrigued with the idea of so much wealth.

Katrina’s smile faltered, and she nudged Sammie. “Everything okay?”

They were having a girls’ night. Sammie had wanted an evening to regroup, to figure out how she wanted to go about backing out of receiving her inheritance. She’d avoided her father’s calls,which had started up again. She’d even done her best to steer clear of Caleb after he’d gotten done with work.

Tonight, she wanted to sit back and watch a movie with her friends, eat some junk food, and just pretend that her future wasn’t so uncertain.

“I’m fine,” she murmured, her eyes pinned to the television.

“No, she’s not,” Hallie interjected. “If she was, she wouldn’t be avoiding the question. And she definitely wouldn’t be eating her weight in gummy worms.”

Sammie’s hand paused, a gummy worm poised at her lips. She scowled at Hallie, who only laughed.

“Come on, girl. What’s bothering you?”

They’d already been interviewed. Apparently, the interactions were short, and the girls hadn’t even hesitated to tell the woman asking questions how much Caleb and Sammie were in love. From what Sammie could tell, there was only one interview left. She’d had an individual interview, as had Caleb. They had one more that they’d do together. It felt like overkill, but at this point, Sammie couldn’t say she was upset about how long it had been dragged out.

She had a feeling her father was to blame for how long it was taking, and she almost wanted to thank him for it.

Another nudge from her friend caused her to shift her focus to Hallie. Sammie dropped the worm back into the bowl. She sighed as she pulled her legs to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Resting her chin atop her knees, she took in both women and hesitated. They could know the truth now. There was nothing they could really do—and something deep downtold Sammie that this wouldn’t jeopardize the friendship they had.

“I didn’t marry Caleb because I loved him.”

The women froze. It was almost comedic the way they looked as though they could no longer breathe. Curiosity, shock, confusion, it was all written on their faces. Katrina was the first to speak.

“Then why did you marry him?” she whispered.

Sammie buried her face in her knees and groaned. “Because my dad was threatening not to give me my inheritance. After college graduation, he was going to cut me off. I didn’t have anything.”

Hallie gasped. Or maybe it was Katrina. Both of them remained eerily silent for a few moments, and Sammie had no choice but to continue.

She peeked at her friends. “He said I could get the money by being married for a year or by working for him for a year to show mymaturity.” She spit the last word out with bitterness.

Katrina scowled. “That’s ridiculous.”

Hallie nodded. “So stupid. It’s your money. There shouldn’t be rules on how you can get it.”

Sammie shrugged. “He’s always been a little controlling. It got worse after my mom passed away.”

“So, you married Caleb…” Katrina breathed out. It wasn’t a question. They all knew the reasons.

“He offered,” Sammie murmured.

Her friends exchanged looks, and a small smile crept on Hallie’s lips. “Are you sure he didn’t just want to marry you because he had secret feelings for you?”

Sammie flushed. “He never had feelings for me… at least not until recently.” She let out another groan. “It’s all such a big disaster, now.”

“Why?” the women asked in unison.

“Because I don’t even know if he really has feelings for me. My dad said that he might have only married me for the money. We’d always planned on getting a divorce after I got my inheritance, but my dad pointed out that we’d never gotten a prenup. He could take half of it.”

Hallie’s mouth fell open. Her eyes cut to Katrina’s, and Katrina shook her head.

“Nope. Caleb wouldn’t do that. He’s not that kind of guy.”

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