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“Wow, the whole unit? What’s the occasion?”

“Do I need one?”

“For a party?” I laugh through my nose. “No, not usually.”

“I’d invite Vera and Nate, but I heard they’re staying another week.”

I make a face. “They’ve already been there for three weeks. Is it a honeymoon or a sabbatical?”

“God. Them eloping was not on my bingo card.”

“If you recall, itwason mine.”

“Yeah, yeah. You haven’t let me forget it.”

The elevator doors slide open to the fifth floor, and Ezra keeps his hand wrapped around mine as we move through the wide hall that leads to the county clerk’s office. “What case was this for again?”

“I didn’t say it was for a case,” he answers cryptically.

I cock my head at him. “What’s it for then?”

He doesn’t answer right away, just flashes me thatlight-up-a-room grin, tugging me forward until we’re outside the county clerk’s door.

“Ezra, what’s going on?”

“It’s June,” he says.

My nose wrinkles. “Yeah?”

“And tomorrow is a random Tuesday.”

“Are you having a stroke right now?”

He holds out his envelope, gesturing at it with a tilt of his head until I take it from him. I slide it out of his fingers, still thinking he’s hit his head or something until I crack it open.

Then all of the air leaves my lungs in a rush.

“Ezra, what…?”

“Did you know in the state of Texas, the seventy-two-hour waiting period to file a marriage license can be waived by a judge?”

I swallow around the growing lump in my throat, running my fingers over the embossed letters of the thick cardstock readingMarriage Certificateacross the front.

“Ezra, what is this?”

“I know a guy,” he says with a grin.

Ezra reaches out to open the envelope, and there, sitting on top of a blank certificate waiting for two signatures, is a diamond ring. He picks it up with nimble fingers, gently taking my left hand and holding it while my right still clutches the envelope, trembling slightly.

“So?” He holds the ring inches from my fingers. “What are you doing tomorrow?”

“Ezra…are you sure?”

He grins. “As sure as I am that you’re going to say yes.”

“You are so fucking sure of yourself,” I can’t help but laugh, even if it is a little manic.

He slides the ring on my finger like it’s a foregone conclusion, bringing it to his mouth and brushing his lips there. “You love that about me.”