Page 25

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

corbin

Reversing out of the garage, Oakley screeches down the driveway and away from me. And I can’t catch a break because it’s not thirty seconds before my sister rolls up to the house and slams her Audi into park.

Dixie and I just walk inside. I need a few minutes to compose myself. None of this is attributed to Becca’s actions—that’s all on me.

The door slams behind her. “What the hell were you thinking? Married? Drunk? And at a pool party. I sent you the photos.”

“What’s the difference? We were getting married at the courthouse today anyway.”

“Well, that’s the thing. You’re not married because you didn’t get a marriage license. God, I thought you were smarter than this.”

Becca knew I was proposing so I don’t understand what the big deal is over when and where I got on one knee. “You’re just mad because you weren’t invited.”

She throws her leather tote on the counter. “Yeah, I am. And if our parents see these photos, they’re going to be crushed.”

“It’s fake. I’ll tell them it’s fake.”

Becca takes out her phone. “None of this looks fake.” She swipes through photo after photo of the party and the ceremony. “The way you’re looking at her. The kisses. The hand on the small of her back. The sparklers and limo. How did you get a limo on a whim?”

“I proposed last night to make it look real in front of my teammates, so that her dad will believe it when he hears the guys and their partners talking about how cute and in love we are.” I pause, realizing how crazy this all sounds. “Follow me,” I say as we go downstairs and out to the backyard. I throw a stick to Dixie repeatedly while Becca makes some phone calls.

When she hangs up with the third person, she sighs, “You're lucky you have me.”

“I know.”

“I pulled some strings to get your marriage license backdated. But we need to go to the courthouse and file the paperwork. Where is the glowing bride?”

I can feel my sister's eyes on me, her perfectly manicured brows furrowed in concern. "She left," I tell her, my voice heavy with contradictory emotions.

“When and why?” she asks as her eyes widen in shock.

"A few minutes before you arrived. She said she had a client with an audition today, so she had to leave."

I can see in Becca’s eyes that she can tell something is amiss. “Okay, let’s go get her. She needs to go with us.”

Opening my mouth to tell her everything, I rethink it and say, “I doubt she will. She may be rethinking all of this.”

“Why?”

I shrug with overwhelming guilt. I sneak a peek at Becca, and she throws her hand up like she’s objecting.

“Oh no. No, Corby, no. Did you have sex?” My sister looks at me, clearly not pleased with my actions.

Blowing out a harsh breath, I admit, “Yeah, but she left.”

Neither of us speak for a beat, but she finally says, “For good? Are you still going through with this?”

“I guess. I told her to pick up her stuff and bring it to my house. She’s in my truck so unless she steals it, I assume we’ll go through with it.”

I take Dixie up to her kennel in the guest room, then go to the master bedroom where the sheets are still formed where her body lay this morning. Where I held her waist until I took Dixie out.

My phone rings, I take it out of my shorts pocket, and it’s a number from the Notes. I press the voicemail button and stick it back in my shorts. I can only put out one fire at a time.

Opening my safe, I take out the necessary documents for the marriage license. Only time will tell if I’m going to need them after all.

My sister and I open the door to the salon and when Oakley sees us, she doesn’t say hello and turns the chair around, talking to her client.

We’re sitting in the small waiting area decorated with posters of trendy hairstyles, when her friend Jennie Rae comes by laughing. “Corbin, where’s your wedding ring?”

“Um, it was spur of the moment, and Oakley was taken by surprise.”

Jennie Rae smirks. “I bet she was.”

After thirty minutes, Becca walks over and says something to Oakley, then comes back rolling her eyes. We wait another hour until Oakley is finished. “You’ve got this. Be who you are and sing your heart out,” she encourages her client.

I have to admit, she turned her client into an absolute knockout.

“Thanks, Oakley, and congratulations on getting married.” Her client notices me, and her smile widens. “You hit the jackpot.”

Oakley grins, but I can tell it’s fake. “Yeah, I’m so lucky.”

After she pays, Oakley leaves with me as I drive my truck to Oakley’s apartment in silence. She points to what she wants me to take, and we load up a few things in the truck bed while my sister waits in her car.

Becca arranges for us to meet someone in the back entrance of the courthouse and when we arrive at the massive stone building, the clerk takes us into a small office. We give her all the documents needed. After signing the paperwork, she hands us a marriage license, backdated to a week ago.

Oakley gives me a wry, smug smile and jokes, “Signed. Sealed. Delivered. I’m Yours.”

Her eyes narrow as she purses her lips.

“That’s a song by Stevie Wonder, not a movie.”

“Oh, am I not allowed to quote anything but movies?” she asks, pretending to be offended. Luckily, the clerk leaves the room and doesn’t question the tension between us.

Becca mumbles, “This is going to be a disaster. Can you two find your way home, together?”

We nod as the clerk comes back in. “Corbin, she’s beautiful. I wish you both all the happiness. Michael and I got married after dating a week, and we’ve been married twenty-seven years.”

“Congratulations.”

“Now, I'm not saying it’s easy. There will be times when you want to walk away. And times you wish you had done something differently. But in the end, all that matters is you have good sex, and you listen to her wants and needs.” She looks at Oakley. “And I can tell you're used to doing as you please, but a marriage takes compromise.”

Intuitive.

“Thanks for doing this, Georgia. I’m a hair stylist, so if you ever need a favor, I’m your girl,” Oakley offers with a genuine smile.

The brown-haired clerk with her hair curled under her chin hugs us both and says, “I may take you up on that. Be good to each other.”

Becca admonishes us both on the way out, then with tears in her eyes, she says, “I was supposed to be your best woman.”

“I know, Sis. Oakley and I need time to talk by ourselves. I’ll call you.”