Rent-A-Bride Read Online Free PDF Page B

Terry. A thousand dollar commission didn’t land in his lap every day.
    Despite her depressing situation she still had no intention of becoming some guy’s
fake fiancée
or whatever else he had in mind. But a ticket to Michigan was a ticket to Michigan. Her mind made up Amelia answered the phone and spoke before Terry could say a word. “Okay. I’ll do it.”

Chapter Four
    W
hat the hell am I doing?
Ed asked himself the same question he’d been asking for the past several hours. Ever since he’d put this hare-brained scheme into motion.
    Even now as he stood in the boarding area at Metro Airport along with several other people all of whom were waiting for passengers to arrive from Los Angeles. And while holding a sign that read:
Amelia Young
, he quietly wondered if maybe he’d been body snatched because frankly nothing else made any sense.
    He hadn’t had two solid hours of sleep in almost three days but even sleep deprivation couldn’t explain
this extent
of insane behavior.
    For instance, since when had he become a pathological liar? He had no idea when but there was no doubt he had because the wild tale he’d spun of some beautiful, sports loving, nurse fiancée was about as pathological as it got. And then he’d gone out and found someone to help him bring the lie to life. Now to top it all off he was about to take that lie to the hospital and present it to his grandfather as truth.
    I’ve lost my mind.
    But no, that couldn’t be the case either because crazy people didn’t know they were crazy, right? And he was completely aware of everything he was doing and why. And there was the rub…
    Why?
Because the one person he loved most in the world told him that this was his only regret in an otherwise satisfying life.
    Why?
Because ever since he’d mentioned this imaginary fiancée his grandfather’s deteriorating condition had miraculously stabilized.
    Why?
Because as much as Ed wanted to believe it was otherwise his medical training told him that this unexpected remission could only hold for so long and for however long it lasted Ed wanted to see his grandfather happy. And apparently, a fake fiancée was what it took to make that happen. Actually a real one would work better but since Ed didn’t happen to have one available at the moment fake would have to do.
    Just then the doors from the Jet Way opened and passengers began pouring into the airport and into the arms of their waiting loved ones. The brief description Ed had given the Hollywood agent had not included any particular attributes other than talented.
    Other than the woman’s name which he‘d scribbled on a piece of cardboard Ed had no idea who he was looking for. He just assumed he would recognize her. She was a professional actress so she would most likely look…
Hollywood.
    Beautiful, glamorous, diva-
ish
.
    Most of the people entering the airport looked like everyday folks. The kind he saw at the hospital day in and day out. Just your run of the mill T-shirts, blue jean and sneakers crowd. No movie stars.
    Frowning he pulled a slip of paper from his pocket and read the numbers scribbled there. This was the right flight. So where was she?
    The crowd whittled down to the final few stragglers and Ed was just beginning to believe she’d missed the flight when he saw her. He didn’t know how he knew it was her he just knew. There was nothing the slightest bit diva-
ish
about her. Instead of being glamorous she looked like a refugee from the cast of Les Miserable.
    She was probably the most pitiful thing he’d ever seen in her bedraggled crème blouse and peach slack that had both seen better days. She was dragging along a small suitcase with a busted zipper that was only partially zipped as an assortment of colorful clothing items were peeking out between the openings giving the dark case a strange cheerfulness.
    Her raven dark hair was piled on top of her head and being held precariously in place by a peach scrunchy. Her suitcase got