Beth glanced down at the number typed into her phone. This was such a bad idea. Such a bad idea. This was beyond a bad idea. There wasn't even a glimmer of good in the concept of this idea. She pushed the call button and waited for someone to pick up. She secretly prayed no one would. She wasn't so lucky.
"'Lo?" The voice was rough, grumbly and deep.
"M-Mr. Dixon?" Her voice squeaked into the phone. She cleared her throat. "Are you Mr. Dixon?" She received a quick 'mm' into the other end of the receiver. "My name is Beth Greene. I had a business proposal for you…" She paused and waited for him to respond, checking her phone to make sure the call was still connected. "Hello?"
"I'm listening." She took a calming breath. This was a bad idea…and he wasn't going to make it any easier on her.
"Can we meet somewhere? I'd rather not discuss such a…personal matter over the phone." She paused. "Please?"
"Fine. Can you make the diner on the corner of Main and Second in an hour?" She smiled into the phone.
"Sure." She was about to say more, but he cut her.
"Alright. See you there." With that he hung up. Beth looked at her phone and grit her teeth.
"Rosita, this had better be worth it." She grumbled and hopped into her car. It would only take her about twenty minutes to get to the diner, but she figured she could at least sit down and think about what she was going to say to the man when she met him.
Daryl looked at his phone as the screen darkened. This was interesting. He looked off in the direction of the bathroom as he heard Merle inside throwing his guts up. Served him right for getting shitfaced and barging into Daryl's apartment at three in the morning. Daryl walked to the kitchen sink, washing his face off and cleaned himself up. He dried off, pulling on a clean t-shirt and snagging his keys from the counter before making his way to his front door. Without so much as a holler to Merle, Daryl left his apartment and made his way to his car to drive across town to the diner. With the construction around his POS apartment it would probably take him closer to forty five minutes to get there. Better leave now than be late. If there was one thing Daryl wasn't…he wasn't ever late.
Beth satin the booth, watching Daryl drink his coffee, black and strong, trying to string two words together to start her sentence. She just couldn't do it.
"So, how'd you get my number?" He said as he set down his mug. That she could answer. Yeah. Work into small sentences and then do the big ones after she'd calmed down. This was still all sorts of shades of bad.
"Rosita gave it to me. She said you'd be able to help me out."
"Help you out with what exactly?" This was where she took a deep breath, and fidgeted with the straw in her glass.
"Uhm…well…I need…the thing is. I just. It would only be for a week at most. I, uhm," He quirked an eyebrow and looked at her waiting for her to spit it out.
"What are you getting at girl?"
"I need someone to pretend to be my boyfriend so I can adopt a baby." She blurted out. She shrunk in on herself. That could have gone better. He just stared at her.
"Y'want me to do what?" He seemed angry. She bit her lip and looked around.
"Pretend to be my boyfriend so I can adopt a baby…" Daryl was floored. This was not what he had expected when he'd walked into the diner and found the sunny blond girl sitting there waiting for him. He'd known she was there for him because she was the only one in this dingy diner and she was staring off into space like the world was ending. He looked her over. She was a pretty girl, decent enough to get her own real boyfriend for the occasion. It begged the question why she was bothering with this whole thing.
"You could get the real deal y'know." He said and looked at her, "Why're you botherin' with all this anyway?" She looked down her cheeks tinting red.
"It sounds stupid, but I had a bad break up a while back, and I don't really have the time to go out and find a real Mr. Right." She could almost hear him roll his eyes at her. "I just need someone there while the social worker is around. It's just a week, a week and a half tops." Man she sounded so superficial. He lit a cigarette and took a puff.
"Sorry girl, I can't help you." He moved to get up. "I ain't no damn gigalo."
"Please. No sex, just hang around and pretend to be with me. Just until they give me the kid. I don't want to lose her. I'll pay you. You name your price and I'll pay it. I'll give you anything." He could tell she was desperate. He eyed her. He'd been saving to get the hell out of dodge. Away from Merle, away from his dead end job, away from the memories and bad taste this city had given him. With this, he might be able to do that. He looked her up and down. It really would be the easiest pay day he'd ever had. He rolled the idea around in his head for a few seconds and narrowed his eyes at her.
"No sex…for a week and I get my money?" She nodded fervently. "No questions asked. I can just leave when everything is done?" Again she nodded. He shrugged one shoulder, "I can make that work."
"Well, there is one…small detail I didn't mention." She said…her voice soft and a bit nervous. "You'd have to stay at my place. The social worker wants to see two steady adults in the house hold before she'll give me custody." When he looked ready to object she pushed on adding quickly, "You'll have your own room, access to the whole house, wont have to pay any rent or utilities. Really you wont have to be there except to sleep. Please…I'm not above begging." She really was desperate. She wanted this kid and would take any amount of humiliation to get her.
"Fine I'll do it." It was against his better judgment but he just couldn't see this ray of sunshine dim before his very eyes. If he could do something to keep her glowing he would. Hell it was only a week, and he'd be getting paid for it. That was hardly a bad deal. "When do we start?"
