Page 47 of Just (Fake) Married (Calloways vs. McGraws #1)

I went light-headed. Did he say Tourism Board? As in the Blue Ribbon Board?

Mr. Sosalski gave a small wave and a smile, then dug back into his ribs.

“I had to travel to Cheyenne to secure a face-to-face meeting with Mr. Sosalski but he’s here today to witness our festival and decide if Last Hope Gulch will win the Blue Ribbon again.”

The crowd cheered.

“I was promised an historic wedding,” Mr. Sosalski said, a smear of barbecue sauce on his cheek. Honestly, the guy looked so damn happy. “I do love a good love story.”

“And you will have it,” Ethan said. “Just wait right there.”

Ethan ran over to me and grabbed my hand.

“Hey!” Darryl J. protested. “I’m supposed to be marrying her today.”

“Seriously?” Darryl H. said, glaring at his husband.

“Sorry, Darryl,” Ethan said. “But I got this.”

“Ethan, what are you…?”

He pulled me around the gallows statue and together we took the steps up to the small platform.

“Now, Ethan,” Mayor Gallup protested. “You know we don’t let people actually stand on the platform. Not after that incident in ’08.”

“This is a special occasion, Mayor,” Ethan said. “And we’ll be very careful.”

There were dozens of people watching us and more coming from the games and food trucks.

Amity, in her flapper dress, and Mac, in his sheriff’s outfit, were there, so were Bliss and Carter looking like they’d just stepped out of the 1940s.

Mom watched us like she would throw her body across mine if it would protect me from more pain.

“Everyone, I can explain!” Ethan said, shouting so his voice could be heard.

“I don’t think I can believe anything they say,” Marion said, standing next to her mother.

“Give them a chance,” Sandra said, smiling up at us. “I have a good feeling about this.”

“All right,” Ethan said. “Let’s start at the beginning, shall we? The whole truth and nothing but the truth?”

“Yes!” the crowd demanded.

“Harmony and I did not fall in love in high school. We did not write to each other. The truth is, I got drunk at a party, we kissed, and she crashed into my face with her head.”

“That’s how you got that shiner?” Tag said, standing off to the side of the gallows. “You’ve got to be shitting me.”

“I shit you not,” Ethan said. Then he turned to me and I didn’t know where to look. I was fixated on the silver toes of his boots. I’d never seen him in cowboy boots. He cupped my cheek in his hand and lifted my face to his.

“Only I was a drunk fool and didn’t remember how amazing it was to spend time with Harmony, so I blew it the next day, and she, being the smartest person I know, and an excellent judge of character, decided I wasn’t worth her time and stopped speaking to me.”

“For good reason!” Bliss shouted.

Ethan smiled. “Yes. For good reason. We didn’t really talk again until I came home for the reading of my dad’s will.”

I pulled on his tux jacket. “What are you doing?” I hissed. “You’re going to blow everything.”

“No,” he said to me. “I’m going to fix everything.

Have some faith in me, please.” To the crowd he said, “My dad wanted this ridiculous feud to end. So much so, that one of the stipulations in his will was that one of his sons had to marry a Calloway. Harmony, who we all know loves this town more than she loves anything else-”

There were cheers from the crowd.

“Volunteered first. And I couldn’t imagine anyone in the world marrying her, except me.”

“Is that because she’s knocked up?” Ida shouted out.

“No, Mrs. Strunk,” Ethan said. “Because something inside of me just knew I should be the one to marry Harmony Calloway. That despite everything in our past we were meant to break this feud. We were meant to be together. I know we lied. But we did it to try and save this town. Harmony loves you all so much she was even willing to marry me. The dumb jerk who forgot what it was like to kiss her.”

“Ethan,” I laughed, tears burning in my eyes. “This is crazy.”

“Why should we believe you now?” Marion asked, her gaze narrowed. “What if this is just more of the same?”

Ethan nodded then. “You’re right, Marion. We need more than just words. We need action.”

He got down on one knee, my hands in his, the expression on his face…was like nothing I’d ever seen in my life. So incredibly sincere. Heartfelt. Honest.

“Harmony Calloway, I told myself I married you to save my family, the ranch, this town. Some people think I have a savior complex.”

“You do!” Carter shouted from the center of the square.

“Shut up and let him finish!” Bliss shouted back.

“And maybe all that was true,” Ethan said, still looking up at me.

“But I know when I picked this ring out, I thought of you.” He pulled the ring out of his pocket, the emerald I’d started to think of as mine, and he slipped it on my finger.

“I know every time I kissed you or touched you in public, I wanted it to be real. I know I desperately wanted to remember what happened in that kitchen pantry all those years ago. And I know that you mean more to me than any job or any place. I love you, Harmony. Will you for real marry me?”

I could feel his eyes on me. Everyone in town’s eyes on me. The man from the State Tourism Board’s eyes were on me.

But I only had eyes for him.

“You can’t be a surgeon in Last Hope Gulch,” I whispered to him.

“I can’t be Harmony’s husband in Phoenix and that’s way more important to me than any job.”

“What’s happening?” Ida Strunk called out. “I can’t hear them. Speak up, why don’t you!”

“They’re having a moment,” Irma told Ida. “Leave them to it.”

“Yes, but if she says no, what does it mean for the wedding reception?” Mayor Gallup asked. “We have all this champagne on ice.”

I laughed and Ethan did too. “Marry me, Harmony. Live with me, laugh with me. Grow old with me. Please.”

“Yes, Ethan,” I finally said. “I will marry you. Again. And for real.”

He got up on both of his feet and the crowd roared.

He kissed me on my forehead. High up on my cheek. Then a little boop on my nose.

Then, finally, he kissed me for real. In front of our families, the town, and maybe most importantly…Mr. Sosalski, who accepted the handkerchief Tag handed to him and pressed it to his eye.

A man who loved a good romance would have to look favorably on our blue ribbon chances, no?

Let the history books show that this Calloway/McGraw interaction did not end in murder.