The Temporary Wife by Jeannie Moon

have the money to fight them, you’ve taken away their main arguments. You now have a husband and Molly is with family.
Amazing.
”
    Shit. Why did she have such smart friends? She really needed to find some dumb ones. “I hadn’t thought about it, but that is coincidental.”
    “I call bullshit, Meg. This is a setup to keep the Campbells from challenging the will and getting their paws on Molly. It’s not a bad thing, but it’s pretty drastic.”
    She couldn’t say anything. She’d lied to her family, she’d lied to everyone, but Jill was dead on. Meg had sworn to keep this secret. She had to. If they were found out, they’d lose Molly with no chance of getting her back.
    But when Meg looked up and saw Jill’s eyes, she knew she couldn’t lie. Without a word, she gave a single nod.
    “Oh, Meg,” Jill said. “Was there no other way?”
    “I don’t think so. I tried to think of alternatives, but he posed the only option that would keep them from taking her.”
    “So you’re going to be stuck in a loveless marriage?”
    “Not stuck. It’s only for a year or so.”
    Jill froze with a piece of the black and white cookie touching her lips. “What’s to stop the Campbells from reinitiating the suit after you split up?”
    “We’re adopting Molly. I won’t just be her guardian. Neither will Jason. We’ll be her parents.”
    Jill leaned back in the chair and considered her. “That’s brilliant. Was that Jason’s big idea?”
    “Yup. We signed a prenup and a prearranged custody agreement. Once we get through the adoption, and after a reasonable time, we can call it quits and we won’t have to worry about anyone trying to take her from us.”
    “So it protects the spirit of the will and Molly and—”
    “All I have to do is give up my life.”
    “Aww, honey. You are too good for the rest of us, you know that?”
    “I feel like such a fraud.” Meg’s heart broke thinking about what her colleagues had done for her. “Everyone was so nice giving this shower and the gifts; it’s wrong. I didn’t want to drag the world into this lie.”
    “It’s just me; let everyone else be happy for you.” Jill reached over and wrapped her arms around Meg’s shoulders. “I have to ask: What’s part of this agreement between the two of you? Are you getting any?”
    Meg rolled her eyes. “I don’t know. We’ve had a couple of close calls, but I think we’re going to keep it platonic.”
    “Platonic?”
    “Yes. As in we’ll be friends.”
    Jill sat still, a look on her face that Meg couldn’t quite read, and then she burst out laughing. Not a giggle or a chuckle, but a full-blown
bwahahaha
belly laugh.
The bitch.
    “This is not funny,” Meg said.
    “Oh, yes it is. It’s hysterical. The two of you may have issues, but you’re attracted to each other. There’s no denying that. When I saw you together at the house, there was just something.”
    “No, there wasn’t,” Meg argued.
    Jill popped open a can of diet soda and took a sip. “Yeah, there was.”
    “No, that’s not true. We’re going to keep things friendly. It’s the only way. No emotional messes, no complications.”
    Meg stood and started putting boxes into the bags Jill had brought to the room. She didn’t want to have to answer questions about this or about Jason. The issues between them were too big for her to explain. In some ways, Meg was humiliated by the way she had been treated, and no matter how good a friend Jill was, she wasn’t telling her about it. Jason didn’t want to be married, but more than anything, he didn’t want her.
    “Are you listening to yourself? You can’t help but be emotional, and you don’t need sex for things to get messy. You care about everything. And I think you still care about him, but you aren’t so sure what he feels.”
    “I can’t get emotionally invested in this, Jill. He doesn’t want to be married in the first place. His commitment is to his company, but he’s willing to do this