His Marriage of Convenience

By every measure it was going to be the the most fancy date of Annabelle Winter's life so far! Jaxon had brought Anna's favorite flowers, orchids. He had brought them in a clumsy clay pot, the whole plant. Anna supposed that was part of his charm, little things like that seemed to evade him. Where others got jewelry or vacatuons she had an unusual growing collection of random things Jaxon got her. Jaxon seemed a bit awkward when it came to love, especially with her.

She had always seen her best friend's older brother be smooth and swave when he dated other women. Around her, he would often stumble over his words and end up doing things like bringing a whole pot of orchids instead of a bouquet. Anna supposed it was because she was different. Different from his past girlfriends.

"So, you like them?" Jaxon asked, rubbing his neck.

Anna gave a genuine smile and nodded, sitting the heavy round plant aside at an entryway table, "It is thoughtful. You remembered about the orchids."

"Yeah, Maddie reminded me. They didn't have a boquet so ..."

Anna smiled to herself at this. Even the name Maddie made her smile. Madison Bailey, Jaxon's younger twin sister had been the best friend Anna had ever known.

A quick touch up in the mirror beside the door. Mousy brown hair that fell mid-back in layers. She has swpt it back and pinned it up. Grey-blue eyes from her mother she found plain. She was not a slip of a woman, but by her measure - too curvy. Her glance from the mirror fell from her face to inspect the rest of her reflection. She was healthy, but told herself in that moment she was probably a few burgers short of the plus-size section. Anna could only see this version of herself in the mirror. As she fetched her coat. She missed the light gold highlights her hair. She ignored how thick her lashes were. She didn't even notice that her lips were found resting in beautiful effortless pout. Instead she fussed over how her black dress fit over natural flesh. Pulling her mind from the warping image in mirror she glanced to Jaxon's reflection.

The radiance of her smile returned as she watched him. He was respectably tall, with a lean athletic build. With brown hair that fell just past his full eyebrows and whiskey brown eyes. The entire Bailey family, except their father Brent, looked this way; as if some artist took a particularly careful time sculpting the perfection in their classical features. Sliding her arms into her coat she told him so,

"Angel's are probably jealous of you. You look so handsome. "

Jaxon glanced at the mirror and took his time to admire himself in the mirror before opening the door for them both. Anna saw his first smile of the evening as he looked back to the car awaiting them, "Thanks. I just picked this suit up today."

Anna took his elbow as soon as the door shut behind them and he was finished fussing over his suit. By Anna's estimation it was probably worth more than her family made in a half a year. She glanced at her off-the-rack dress before smoothing his sleeve. She made sure his expensive watch looked just-right. Anna knew appearance was important to the Baileys.

"I wasn't talking about the suit, silly. Jack, you know you're handsome. Attractive people know."

"Yeah, but it's always nice to hear. I don't feel like I'm handsome all the time. Jaxon flashed a winning smile at her as a driver opened the back door to the black luxury car. Annabelle could never tell what they were but the Bailey family seemed to own a fleet of neverending luxury sedans. They always smelled new, looked new. Anna wouldn't be surprised if they bought a new one every time they needed to go anywhere.

As they settled in silence grew between them and Anna couldn't help but wonder if something wasn't wrong. Maybe she was just nervous expecting reporters, cameras. Minutes drew out their distance from another until it was unsettling. Her thumb went to her lips and she reminded herself not to bite her nail. So she straightened out her hem of the dress and glanced to Jaxon once more,

"You havent told me much about the big event tonight." Anna tempted, trying to listen to anything except the silence.

"Yeah, you could say that. It's important." Jaxon responded pecking away at his phone.

Anna tried again. "Thanks for inviting me. I hope the dress is okay?"