It's a Wonderful Cover Life (Chuck Fan Fiction)

Chapter 3

9. Can't buy me, love

"Wait, what?" Chuck was sure he'd heard wrong, but aside from looking slightly uncomfortable, Sarah seemed to be deadly serious. His palms started to sweat. "You want to pay me twenty thousand dollars to marry you?"

"That's not what I meant," she spoke slowly, weighing every word. "I need someone to pretend to be my husband."

"Oh." He blew out a deep breath. "Well, that's a relief." His eyes traveled to the front gate and then snapped back to hers. "Hang on. You want to pay me to pretend to be your husband?"

"Yeah," Sarah answered breathily, grateful that they were finally on the same page. "Like I said, it will be for two or three days, you'll earn twenty thousand dollars and you get time off from the Buy More."

Chuck responded with a blank stare.

"So?" she prodded when the silence became uncomfortable, "will you do it?"

Chuck finally blinked. "Why do you need a husband? Pretend husband," he quickly amended. "Is your mother in town?"

It was meant as a joke, but the question made Sarah jolt. "It's part of a business deal," she replied a little too curtly.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…" He trailed off when Sarah looked away. Ellie might call him clueless sometimes, but he wasn't too stupid to realize when he was poking a proverbial tiger. He decided to focus on Sarah's offer instead. He was not the type to lie, cheat or steal, but the amount made his head spin. All his financial woes could be over by the end of the week and that prospect was very tempting.

He cleared his throat. "What would you want me to do?" he stalled.

Sarah shrugged. "I've never done this before, but I guess you move in, wear a ring and do…husband stuff when the buyer is around."

"Okay, well that sounds easy enough," he replied before he could talk himself out of it. He kept his tone serious so Sarah wouldn't think he was mocking her. Like her, he had no idea what husband duties entailed, aside from the very obvious which he assumed the buyer was not going to be around for. He would probably have to ask Captain Awesome for some tips.

Sarah turned back to him and smiled. "Great. I'll send a car for you and your daughter on Wednesday morning and then we can…"

"Wait," Chuck stopped her. "You didn't say anything about Maggie being involved." He might have been willing to bend his own morals, but there was no amount of money in the world that could persuade him to get his daughter involved in anything sinister. Then something else occurred to him. "How do you even know about her?"

"Your personnel file," Sarah lied. Admitting the truth would have been embarrassing and she'd hopefully reached her quota for the night. "I suppose I should have been more specific," she pushed on, "I need a husband and a child. Is that a problem?"

He bit back his instinctive response and thought it over for a moment before he asked "Would my job be in jeopardy if I say no."

"Of course not," she replied incredulously. "Are you saying no?"

"Yes. I mean, yes I'm saying no." He clasped his hands between his knees and stared down at them. "Look, I'm sorry, but I'm trying to raise an honest, responsible citizen and subjecting her to…to what you're suggesting would be counterproductive." He shot her a sideways glance. "I hope you understand."

"I do." She pushed down a sudden flare of disappointment, grabbed her purse strap tightly and rose. "Thanks for your time," she said lightly and turned. She made it halfway across the courtyard when he called her back.