Finding Hayes: A Small Town, Marriage of Convenience Romance (Magnolia Falls Series Book 5)

There were things that I’d missed about Magnolia Falls.

Abe and Lily.

The people that lived here.

The quaint downtown.

My childhood home, before I’d found out my entire childhood was a sham.

But this relentless snow was not something that I’d missed. Not even a little bit. My car was not equipped for it, and I was sliding all over the place as I took side streets toward downtown to meet with River.

I could barely see out the windshield because the snow was coming down hard, and my wipers were not strong enough to handle the falling snow. I squinted through the bit of opening that I could see and turned the music down so that I could concentrate on the road.

“Don’t fail me, Big Red. We can stay home the rest of the day if you just get me there and back in one piece.” I was grateful that I’d left early because I was driving slow. I pumped my brakes as I took a left turn, but I was already starting to slide, and I whipped the wheel around to try to stop it, but I was spinning.

Completely out of control.

The next thing I knew, I was sliding off the road. I screamed and tried desperately to correct myself, but it was too late.

Please don’t let the car flip.

My hands were still gripping the steering wheel even when the car came to a stop.

I glanced out the window and was relieved that I was upright, even though I was in a ditch.

It was fitting for the current state of my life, in a way.

I groaned and attempted to open my door, but it wasn’t moving. I shook the handle harder, and nothing was happening.

Damn it.

I climbed over the seat and pushed as hard as I could on the passenger side door, so hard that when it flew open, my momentum had me tumbling out into the snow.

This day just keeps getting better.

The sound of a car pulling up had me rolling onto my stomach so I could try to push to my feet, but the snow was deep, and I wasn’t making any progress.

Before I could process what was happening, I was being lifted upright as I blinked a couple of times against the falling snow to see Hayes standing in front of me.

He looked—pissed.

“What the fuck are you doing out here?” he hissed, brushing the snow off me.

“Don’t you dare yell at me!” I shouted, shoving him back. “I hit black ice and slid off the road.”

“Because your car is a piece of shit.”

“Don’t bad-mouth Big Red!” I yelled before storming around him to get my purse and keys.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing now?” he asked, when I started walking past him.

“I’ve got a meeting in ten minutes. I need to find out how I can hold onto the house that Abe loved and get it renovated like I promised him I’d do someday, without having to get married!” I whipped around so I was facing him.

Before I knew what was happening, he moved forward, throwing me over his shoulder, fireman-style, as he marched toward his truck. I pounded my fists against his lower back.

“Stop fighting me. You’re acting like a child.” He tossed me into his truck and bent down to meet my gaze. “This ends here.”

“What ends here?” I said, my breaths coming hard now because I was fuming.

“This. This anger. I don’t know what the fuck I did to you, Sav. But you left me and cut me out of your life. So stop acting like I’m the enemy and let me drive you to your goddamn appointment.” He grabbed my purse, opened it up, and pulled out my phone. Of course, he didn’t ask first, because Hayes just did whatever the hell he wanted to do. He typed something into it and then turned the screen, holding it right in front of my face. “I have unblocked my number from your phone. Do not block me while you’re here. You roll into a ditch, you call me, and I’ll come. Do you understand?”

I nodded because I didn’t have any fight left in me. I was cold and wet and tired.

He tugged my seat belt across my body and snapped it into place before slamming the door and storming around to the driver’s side.

We didn’t speak as we drove to River’s office, and he cranked the heat in the truck.

“You can drop me off, and I’ll find a ride home,” I said, keeping my voice low.

He came to a stop in front of River’s law office and backed into a parking spot right in front. He turned to face me. “I’m coming in with you, and then I’ll take you home.”

I shook my head. “Why are you being so nice to me?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” he hissed.

I can think of a few reasons, but it doesn’t seem like the time or the place.

He climbed out of the truck and hurried around to the passenger side, but I was already out of the truck. I tossed my hands in the air like I was doing some sort of gymnast dismount, and he rolled his eyes.

He always was chivalrous.

Until he wasn’t.

My phone vibrated, and I pulled it out of my back pocket and narrowed my gaze when I saw the text.

Scotty

Hey, babe. Drinks tonight? The band is playing at Whiskey Falls, and I can bring you up on stage if you want.

I sighed and glanced over my shoulder to see Hayes reading the text.

“Nosy much?”

“Whatever. You’re short. You make it easy.” He brushed past me. “I can’t believe you’re starting things back up with that dude. For the record, he isn’t playing at Whiskey Falls. It’s karaoke night. It’s anyone’s stage.” He raised a brow as he held the door open, and I stepped inside.

“Perhaps I should perform there tonight. I never did get a chance to sing that song the way I should have.”

He cleared his throat, but it sounded like he was covering a chuckle, which made me laugh.

I didn’t know how it was possible to know someone the way I knew this man and then find out you didn’t know him at all.

Why was he so familiar? So easy? This connection was something that was just a part of us.

Or maybe this is what sociopathic serial killers do?

They spend years pretending to be someone they’re not, only to get their prey to fall under their spell, and then they slowly suck the life from them.

Hayes Woodson would never suck the life from me again.

Been there. Done that.

“Hello, Hayes,” Cassie said. I recognized her right away as she used to take riding lessons from Abe out on his ranch. She turned toward me and then gasped. She threw her arms around me. “Oh, my gosh, Savannah, it’s so good to see you. I didn’t know you were coming in today.”

“I put her name on the calendar,” River said, as he quirked a brow and made no attempt to hide his irritation.

“I don’t really use your calendar. I prefer my own system,” she said. “Anyway, I didn’t want to bother you at the funeral, but I was hoping to run into you while you were home. Hey, why don’t you meet me at Whiskey Falls tonight for karaoke? I’m old enough to drink now!” she squealed, and Hayes and River both glared in her direction. “I’d love to catch up.”

“How about you catch up when you aren’t on the clock,” River snipped, and I laughed because I couldn’t help it. She was completely unfazed, and I turned my attention toward her.

“I’d love to catch up. I’m having car problems at the moment, but if I can get it fixed, I’ll text you.” I smiled before Hayes placed his hand on my lower back and guided me into his best friend’s office.

“I didn’t know you were coming,” River said to the man beside me as he closed the door and settled across the desk from where Hayes and I sat.

“Her car broke down, so I’m here. What did you find out?” he asked.

“Obviously, inheritance law is not my specialty, but after researching this over the weekend, it appears that you can make up the rules for your own will.”

“Meaning?” I said, leaning forward and tugging off my hat and mittens. I welcomed the warmth after freezing my ass off outside.

“Meaning, exactly what Abe’s probate lawyer, Bert Lovell, told you when you met him in the city. Abe gave you the keys to the house as he wanted you to stay there while you were in town. He made it clear that his hope is for you to renovate the home and make it what it once was. He’d like you to raise your family there, but he didn’t make that a requirement. He doesn’t want to be the one to decide where you live.” River reached for his coffee. Bert Lovell had told me this the day he’d beckoned me to his office. And then he’d handed me the keys, and I’d driven straight to Magnolia Falls. The place I’d grown up in. The place I’d avoided for many years.

“I see. He just wants to decide when I get married?” I asked, shaking my head in disbelief. “There must be a loophole.”

“That’s the thing about wills. There are no loopholes. You can leave your money to whoever you want, however you want. You make the rules.” He shrugged from the other side of the desk.

“That’s ridiculous. You can’t demand someone get married,” Hayes hissed.

And for the first time since I’d arrived in town, I agreed with him.

“Actually, you can. I researched it quite a bit this weekend, and there have been countless cases that were very similar to this. People who have a lot of money do some crazy things. And Abe isn’t demanding she get married. He’s giving her a choice. She gets the keys to the farmhouse and twenty-five thousand dollars to hold her over financially while she begins renovations. If she chooses to get married within thirty days, she meets the first requirement. She’ll receive fifty thousand dollars as a second payment. After she’s been married for three months, everything will be signed over to her, in her name. Savannah, you will receive a million-dollar check at that time, as well as the deed to the house. I had some numbers run on the land, and you’d be inheriting somewhere in the vicinity of six million dollars in total.”

“Fuck, that’s a lot of money.” Hayes raised a brow at me.

“And if I stay married for three months and then the marriage comes to an end?” I asked, my voice shaky, because six million dollars would solve a whole lot of problems for me, as well as providing everything my father needs at the moment.

“He didn’t make any rules after the three months. If you separate, divorce, or never speak to the dude again, the money is yours. The house is yours. You can sell the house and the land after the three months, but he made a special note in here that he would prefer that you kept the house in your family, because it meant something to him. But the option is yours.”

It didn’t feel like the option was mine. Abe was stuck in his ways, and he wanted me to have everything he and Lily had. But forcing me to marry someone was not going to bring me my soul mate. It would be a business deal, and I couldn’t fathom why he’d put me in that position.

“So where does one get a husband for three months?” I asked with a laugh, because obviously, this deal was going to die right here.

Did I need the money? Yes.

Did I see a way to meet a man and fall in love, all in the next thirty days? Hell no. I’d spent years dating every type of man out there. Businessmen. Artists. Cowboys. Playboys. Scientists.

And not a single one had kept my attention for three months.

I always found something wrong with them. Every single time.

Clearly, I had trust issues because I was always trying to figure out what their game was. How the hell would I find someone I liked enough to marry?

“I have some ideas,” River said, clearing his throat.

“Hold up, brother.” Hayes leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, and my gaze scanned his thick thighs before I forced myself not to stare and turned my attention back to River. “She has to get married within thirty days, or what?”

“That land is considered a gold mine. The state has been trying to purchase it from Abe for the last three years. If she chooses to pass on getting married, it’s her right. She keeps the twenty-five thousand dollars, and she can stay in the house for thirty days. Then the land is sold off, and Savannah will donate the money to the charity of her choosing.”

“This is fucked up,” Hayes grumped.

I couldn’t agree more. It was fucked up, but I didn’t know why he was so pissed off about it. No one was asking him to find a bride and get hitched.

“Listen, I never expected anything from Abe. Obviously, I’d love to renovate that farmhouse and make it what he always dreamed it should be. But the bigger struggle is the money because it would help tremendously.” I cleared my throat. “I found this cancer trial that I really want my father to try, but it’s a fortune to get in on a trial, and his insurance only goes so far,” I said, because it was difficult to hold it in anymore. “But I don’t see a way that I can marry someone in thirty days. I just don’t have any options right now.”

I’d lost my job and my ability to help my father.

I was at a loss, and this offer from Abe felt cruel at the moment. But he wasn’t a cruel man. There must be a reason he was doing this, but right now, I couldn’t see it.

Hayes whipped his head in my direction, gaze narrowed and laced with question.

He knew about my father. I’d told him. Could he have possibly forgotten something so devastating? Was he that cold of a man?

“I didn’t know your father had cancer,” Hayes said, and it only made me angrier.

“I’m sorry to hear about your father,” River said, as the man beside me just sat there gaping at me like he was in shock by the news.

“Thank you. Me, too.” I pushed to my feet. “I think we’re done here. Do you have someone who can help me negotiate the land and the house with the city?”

River looked between me and Hayes before he held his hands up. “Hear me out. I have an idea.”

“Are you going to rewrite the will and take out the ridiculous stipulation and let her inherit that money?” Hayes asked, pushing to his feet and crossing his arms over his chest.

“That would be illegal,” he said. “But what if you found a husband and just agreed to be married for three months? It’s a short time in the big picture of your life, and everybody wins.”

“What am I going to do? Offer a stranger money to marry me?” I shook my head at the ridiculous idea.

“No. That would look suspicious.” River chuckled, like this was a perfectly normal conversation. “And they could blackmail you and turn you in. It can’t be a stranger.”

“What are you suggesting?” Hayes asked.

“What I’m about to say never leaves this office.”

Nothing good ever came from a statement like that.