Chapter 2 – Love at First Sight: From Stranger to Soulmate

Grumbling under his breath because he knew she would do just that, he flipped the next few pages and read through the conditions of the program. Each woman or man on the website must pass a thorough background check and answer an intense questionnaire before being admitted to the program for consideration. The clients went through the same questions and background check before even being allowed to browse the website. Then, the client created a list of possible candidates, and the compatibility team made of up psychologists, therapists, and counselors picked the one they believed suited the client best. The client and the person they chose would meet at the altar officially for the first time and have twelve weeks to decide if they wanted to stay married or divorce. Three months to see if he wanted to live with this woman for the rest of his life.

“What happens if this backfires?” Vincent asked. “Do you have a plan for that?”

“I have a plan for everything. You should know that by now.” Billy sat down in the chair in front of Vincent’s desk. “So, should we sign you up?”

Vincent closed the binder and shoved it towards his friend. “I guess traditional dating is out.”

“Unless you want everyone snapping pictures of you and following you around everywhere you go, then yes, conventional dating is out.”

He pushed out of his chair and paced to the windows, staring out over the parking lot. The main company building was in downtown Houston. The city used to be a huge pull to Vincent, being amongst so many people and living an exciting nightlife while running the family business based in oil and cattle ranches. Lately though, his heart tugged at him to hit the family ranch far outside the city limits and enjoy a simpler time. He hardly visited and missed the wide-open spaces, putting in a hard day’s ride or working to fix the fences and the old barn. Doris told him time and again they had people for those jobs and the horses were fine without him.

“Vinnie? I need an answer today, man, so we can get this set up.”

“What’s the worst that could happen?” He gave in. “Just tell me what I have to do, I guess, and we’ll see if this plan works.”

Billy clapped his hands together. “Great! I’ll get you set up. All you’ll have to do later is answer the questionnaire. Once they approve you, which won’t be a problem at all, you pay the fee and you’re in!”

“Fee? What fee?”

“Didn’t you read that part? Each client has to pay a fee for services rendered. It’s only ten thousand.”

“Only,” Vincent muttered. “You’re lucky I have that kind of money just lying around.”

“Well, on the bright side, if this ends in a divorce, you get seventy-five percent of it back,” he said cheerfully, scooped up the binder, and darted out the door. “Watch for my e-mail!”

Vincent bowed his head and scuffed his shoe against the carpet. “You really think this will work?”

Doris leaned against the back of his chair, watching her son with a worried gaze. “You’re thirty-three, Vincent, and you’re clearly not happy anymore.”

“It’s hard to be happy.”

“Your father would be scolding you right now if he was here, you know that,” she told him sternly. “You’re stuck in this rut of not being able to move forward, of finding where your life could lead. This campaign is important, but your happiness is too.”

He glanced up at her words. She would say that, but deep down, he knew the campaign was more important. She wanted the family name to live on in politics and to see him take up the mantle left by his father. Liam Cunningham had been a pioneer for Texas and many recent hot-button issues. Vincent followed the same ideas, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to take on this much responsibility. His life was easy, maybe too easy. The company was well taken care of by his board of directors and their newest partners. As Doris put it a few days ago, there was no better time than now to make a push for political office.

He’d expected to start as mayor, but she and Billy went straight for Congress.

“You’ll be fine, you’re a Cunningham,” Doris said as she walked over and patted his cheek. “Now, I have an appointment at the salon. Will you be at dinner this evening? Todd will be there.”

“Todd Green?” he asked, his brow wrinkling as Doris picked up her purse and slung it over her shoulder. “One of Dad’s old friends?” The words came out strangled as Doris’ bright blue eyes shimmered with mischief. “I think I’ll skip tonight. I just lost my appetite.”

“Oh, don’t be like that. Your mother’s been having sex for a very long time, you know.”

Vincent covered his ears with his hands. “I got it but don’t need the details.”

She giggled with mirth as she left his office, closing the door behind her. Vincent lowered his hands and smiled despite the nauseating image of his mother in bed with Todd Green. Shuddering and wishing he’d managed to avoid picturing such a scenario, he busied himself with paperwork and checking with the shareholders about how this quarter was going. May was their busiest month at the ranches, ensuring the fall-born calves were weaned and the ranches had everything necessary for the summer months. He placed a few orders, but his mind wandered and he decided to take the rest of the day off.

“Cheryl?” he said as he left his office.

“Yes, Mr. Cunningham?” his receptionist of nearly ten years said, not looking up from her keyboard as she typed an e-mail.

“I’ll be working from home the rest of the day.”

“Of course, sir. I’ll move your three o’clock today to tomorrow?” she asked, her fingers pausing on the keyboard as she gave him a crooked grin.

“Shit, I forgot about that. Can it wait?”

“It should be fine. They’re usually pretty lenient—it’s just marketing.”

“Good. Thanks.”

She bobbed her head and went back to work as he walked towards the elevator bank. The drive home was quick. He lived in one of the many older stone mansions occupying the outskirts of downtown, but when he parked his Chevy truck in the garage, he made no move to get out of the vehicle. He had his phone if anyone needed him that urgently. He backed out and drove to the cemetery farther outside the city limits.

The stroll to his father’s grave was a long one. The weather was cool for May, but he left his suit jacket in the car. Sitting in the grass, not caring if he dirtied his pants, he rested his hand on his father’s obsidian tombstone for a second and smiled.

“Hey, Dad. Sorry I haven’t been out this week. I’ve been busy. I’m sure you heard, but Mom finally talked me into running for office. Can you believe it? Me, a damn congressman.” His eyes drifted across the empty cemetery as the breeze ruffled his shoulder-length, curly brown hair. “You did such a great job, you know. I don’t think I could ever live up to that.”

Usually, when he visited Liam, he brought along a bottle of whiskey. He passed the time telling his dad about this wife idea Billy had and groused about whether it was even a good plan.

“What if the whole thing falls apart? I mean, I want to be married, but I wanted to meet a woman the old fashion way. Like how you met Mom.”

He grinned remembering how Liam used to tell that story. Doris and he were at the same function for their parents back in the day. They were bored out of their minds, he would tell Vincent, so they snuck up to the roof with a bottle of whiskey Liam pilfered from the bar. They went up there to talk, but they wound up dancing and laughing the night away, tangled in each other’s arms until the sun came up. They were found, of course, by a custodian going up to repair a skylight. Doris panicked. To be found with a man, naked on a roof? But Liam assured her he would stay quiet about it if she would.

“Too bad the custodian didn’t,” Liam would always say, bursting into laughter as Doris would roll her eyes and smack his arm playfully. “That rat bastard tattled and we weren’t allowed near each other for six months.”

“Except you two didn’t actually stay apart, did you?” Vincent would point out. His parents would lean into each other and smirk like two teenagers again.

“Hell no,” he’d say. “Our parents gave up after a while and let us get married. And a few years later, we had you, son. Nothing like a perfect fairy tale story, right?”

In the cemetery, Vincent leaned back against his dad’s tombstone. “Yeah, perfect fairy tale. If only you’d quit smoking, Dad, you might still be here to tell me what to do.”

Liam always told Vincent there had been a spark with Doris, a spark that ignited the strangest feelings inside him, a longing for a woman he spent a night with on a rooftop. Out of all the women Vincent dated and slept with, none of them elicited such a strong emotion. There was pleasure, that was for certain, but never a need to pull her close in the morning and ask her to stay with him.

His phone vibrated in his pocket, and he pulled it out grudgingly, sensing it would be Billy. “Vincent,” he answered.

“Hey, just letting you know I sent you an e-mail with a link. Fill everything out for me tonight if you can, and we’ll get this show on the road.”

“Horror story more like it,” Vincent mumbled.

“It won’t be that bad, and if it is, I’ll owe you steak dinners for a month.”

“A year,” Vincent corrected. “I’ll get to it as soon as I get home.”

“I thought you were home. Where are you?’

“Having a chat with Dad.”

“You’re doing the right thing,” Billy assured him. “You’ll thank me in the long run.”

Vincent sighed as he climbed to his feet, kissed his fingers, and rested them on the tombstone. “I hope you’re right. I really do.” He hung up and tucked his phone away. “What do you think, Dad?”

No answer came to him, of course, but as he walked back to his truck, the breeze blew harder, pressing at his back and messing up his hair until it covered his face. He spun back around to stare at his Dad’s grave as the breeze suddenly died as if nothing had happened. Liam used to tease his son for his longer hair, messing it up whenever they were in the same room together. Vincent took it as a good sign and resigned himself to giving this marriage thing a shot.

Maybe he would wind up on a rooftop, too, making love all night long to the woman he was meant to be with.

He poured himself a whiskey when he returned home and sat down hard in his office chair. He opened the questionnaire and grimaced at the insane amount of questions to answer. Around midnight, Vincent finally finished filling out the questionnaire for the website and leaned back in his leather office chair, spinning casually from side to side as he sipped his whiskey from a highball glass. The website said it would take at least three days to process his answers, and thanks to a last-minute donation made by Vincent to fund more research for their program, they were willing to rush his background check.

Three days before he could start looking for the ideal wife. He shot back the rest of his whiskey and climbed upstairs to bed.

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