Hard Choices

The sun shone brightly on me as I closed my eyes and tilted my face upward into its rays while sitting on a warm lawn. I so love the sunshine.

I felt a light breeze brush my skirt against my legs, and wisps of hair across my face while my bare feet relished the feel of the fresh grass. Then I felt something else.

Something wet.

I looked down and found that a little Australian Terrier, not unlike the one I'd had as a child, had come over and started licking my fingers.

"Well, hello there, little one." I said with a smile as I began to pet it.

I glanced at it's collar. Lacey. That's funny. That was the name of my terrier.

I glance up and see her owner running toward us, calling her name.

But it sounds funny.

It doesn't sound her owner is saying "Lacey". It sounds more like... an alarm clock.

No, not an alarm clock.

A ringing phone.

Whose phone?

Mine.

My eyes opened wearily, protesting the action, and were greeted by the familiar gray of my ceiling. My phone had woken me up.

I reluctantly sat up a bit in order to reach for it. Somebody was calling me.

Why?

I pressed the little green button uncertainly, my eyes too bleary to read the caller ID.

"Hello?" I answered groggily.

"Maddison? You'll never guess what's just happened!" It was Sheri, my best friend.

"There are very few reasons that I will forgive you for waking me up at dark-o-clock, so this better be important. What time is it, anyway?"

"3am. Anyway, so you know that guy I told you about the other day? The one I met at my gym? Randall?"

My brain slowly caught up with itself.

"Yeah, kind of. Why?"

"Well, we've been talking on the phone for the past five hours, and you'll never guess what happened!"

"I think I can guess pretty accurately, actually. Neither have you have gotten any sleep, and so you want to make me suffer in the same way."

Ignoring my quip, Sheri continued.

"He asked me to marry him!"

That made me sit up in bed.

"What?!" I'm fully awake now.

"I know!! We started talking about this and that, and all the sudden he asked me! And I said yes!" She squealed.

I ran my hand down my face, wondering how to word what I was about to say.

"Sher, I really don't think this is a good idea."

Silence for a moment.

"Well, why not?" Her voice sounded distant, like she'd maybe walked away.

"Where do I start? You only met the man less than a week ago. How on earth is that enough time to know if you want to spend the rest of your life with him? He could be a serial killer for all you know!"

"He's not!" She yelled, defensively. "He's too nice for that." She trailed off.

Then I thought of something else.

"Sheri... Does he know about your inheritance?"

She hesitated.

"Yes." She replied slowly.

"Did you tell him before or after he proposed?"

"Before." She admitted timidly.

I let the silence hang for a moment.

"Do you still think this is a good idea?"

"Yes!" She'd apparently rallied her emotions. "He loves me, Mads! Believe me."

"Three million dollars can win a man's heart very quickly, Sheri." I paused for a moment before continuing.

"Are you even sure how you feel about him? What if you marry him, and then realize you really have nothing in common at all, and you can't stand to be around him? You'd be stuck with him until death do you part. Please, Sher, think about this. Is he even a Christian?"

Another silence ensued.

"You could meet him," She began quietly. "and then you'd see what I mean. You'd see how much he loves me."

I considered it for a moment. It really wouldn't be that bad of an idea.

"Alright. Where and when?"

"Today, at that coffee shop you and I always like to go to. Say, 12:30?"

"Sounds good. I'll see you then."

"Good." She hung up.

I stared at the wall in front of me for a moment, seeing it but not seeing it, my phone resting limply in my hand.

Sheri couldn't see it yet, but I could already tell what a bad idea this was.

From here on out, only one thing could possibly come from this:

Pain.

***

I walked into the coffee shop, and Sheri waved at me from across the room. She sat alone.

I ordered my coffee and joined her.

"So where is he?" I began.

"He's coming. I told him to come at 12:45 so we'd have a few minutes to ourselves."

"OK."

She hesitated for a moment.

"Please don't grill him. He doesn't like to be asked a lot of questions."

"Alright." I said, fully intending to do exactly that. I was so gonna grill him. Hard.

A few minutes later, he showed up.

As he walked through the door, my breath caught. I recognized him.

He had hired me to cater a birthday party. For his wife.

I could tell he recognized me too.

I was speechless as he got his drink and silently sat with us.

Sheri made the introductions, apparently oblivious to the tension growing between me and Randall.

I smiled, greeted him kindly. I didn't know what this man's plans were, but I decided then and there that there was no way on earth that they were going to succeed. Because I was about to rip them to shreds.

"So, what do you do?" I began.

"I'm an investor. I take other people's money and double it for them." At least he was honest about that.

"That sounds interesting," I decided playing like we didn't know each other was best for the moment, "you must get all kinds of clients."

"I do." He said, a bit warily. He couldn't quite get a read on me. I was perfectly fine with that.

"Do you have any family?" Sheri gave me a warning glance that I completely ignored.

"A sister. My father is still alive, but my mother passed a couple years back."

Before I could ask him something else, Sheri intervened.

"Why don't you tell her about your latest deal?"

As the man spoke, I took the opportunity to study him once more, in this different setting.

I couldn't blame Sheri for being starstruck. He was very good looking. His jet black hair was short, but not too much so. He was tall, fit, lean. As I glanced over his khaki cargo pants and nice shoes, with his white shirt, over which was a black blazer, I couldn't deny he had a good sense of style.

His winsome manner and easy smile were certainly attractive as well.

But he was a married man. And he had no business toying around with my friend.

"Well, good luck with that." I said when he had finished speaking.

"Thank you." He replied amiably.

"So, what kind of wedding were you two thinking of having?" I asked, picking up right where I had left off.

"Quiet. Small. Courthouse wedding kind of thing." He answered, taking Sheri's hand across the table and holding it gently. "I want her to be my wife as soon as possible." He grinned at her. She smiled back. She was in love. He was in love with the idea of her money.

"Is that what you want, Sheri?" I asked her.

"Of course." She replied.

She would do anything Randall asked of her, and he knew it. It made my blood boil.

"I think I need to take a trip to the little girl's room. You two just go on and get to know each other." Sheri said sweetly as she got up and walked away.

My eyes never left Randall.

As soon as Sheri was out of earshot, I spoke.

"What are you thinking?"

He leaned back in his seat, irritatingly arrogant.

"I'm thinking you better not spill the beans. I know my wife's party is the only business you have right now, and I have the means to make it your last." His eyes turned hard as flint.

"You wouldn't."

"Try me." He took a sip of his americano as if he didn't have a care in the world.

"And after you marry her, what then? This isn't ancient Rome, she'll still have sole access to her inheritance."

"Not once I convince her to give it all to me."

"And why would she do that?"

"Because I'll make her see the wisdom of investing that three million. And in letting me do the investing. It'll just never make it to the bank."

"And then what? You'll divorce her and leave her high and dry? What about your wife?"

He started laughing.

"I won't even have to bother. The marriage won't be legitimate, of course. And my wife won't discover a thing. As far as she's concerned, I'll be on a two month long business trip."

My insides turned to ice.

"That's all Sheri is to you then? A two month long paycheck?"

"Why, of course." He smiled like a cat with a mouse trapped under it's paw. Sheri was that mouse.

"You won't succeed, Randall. I'll make sure of that."

He took a long swig of his coffee.

"Watch me."

My fists clenched, and my stomach knotted. I tried to come up with a good comeback, but before I could say anything, Sheri came back.

She saw the look on my face. She knew me too well.

"Mads, is something wrong? You don't look so good."

I looked at her, my heart wrenching.

"I have to go. I just remembered somewhere I need to be."

I stood, gathered my things, and left, not even bothering to bring my latte. I couldn't drink it now if I wanted to.

As I got into my car, I leaned my forehead against the steering wheel and began to cry.

There was no good option.

If I stayed quiet, my friend would be ruined, in more ways than one.

If I talked, not only would her heart be broken, my career would be over.

I started my car and slowly backed out of the parking lot.

On the lonely drive home, I could hardly pay attention to the road.

My thoughts were consumed by one thing.

How would I get Randall away from my friend?