Page 18 of Meant for Me (Magnolia Bay #3)

ten

T he courthouse steps looked taller than usual today.

Linc scowled as he tugged a finger into the tight collar of his blue button-up. He’d worn this shirt for approximately two business meetings and one funeral.

Looks like he was adding a wedding to the list.

Morning sun poured over the downtown building, sending a trickle of sweat down his back. He should have tied his hair up, but the occasion seemed to call for something a little more formal. So he’d left it down, slicked it back.

She’d said yes.

Linc wasn’t in the habit of asking questions he wasn’t relatively sure of the answer to. Maybe he hadn’t been a straight A student over the years, but he considered himself a pretty smart guy overall. Got his business degree with a respectable GPA. Started a successful business from the ground up.

But that yes the other night had caught him off guard.

Amelia stood next to him, wearing jeans, a lightweight hoodie, and a suspicious frown. “I still don’t understand this. You guys said you weren’t even dating.”

“Things change.” Linc motioned for her to climb the stairs. “This is the new plan.”

“Marriage is a plan to you?” Amelia squinted at him, the sun highlighting her dark hair.

“What is it to you?”

She shrugged. “How am I supposed to know? Mom never got married.”

But Kirsten was the last person he wanted to think about today. “Come on. Zoey’s inside waiting for us.” She’d left earlier than he and Amelia, with a bag packed to get dressed at the courthouse, spouting something about it being bad luck to see the bride before the wedding.

As if they hadn’t had coffee that morning on the porch already, discussing the fact they should probably try to keep this elopement a secret for as long as possible. Let the three of them adapt as a family before dealing with the town’s inevitable reactions.

He figured they had two, three days tops before word leaked.

Amelia reluctantly began to climb the stairs, huffing. “You didn’t tell me exercise was involved.”

“It’s good for you.” He started after her, feeling a bit of exertion too, which was weird. Was he nervous? He didn’t get nervous. Then again, he hadn’t felt exactly stable since Amelia had appeared on his porch, either. “Endorphins regulate moods.”

She looked at him over her shoulder, lips twisted. “Is that some kind of hint?”

“If you’ll take it, then yes.”

A welcome rush of AC escaped the building as Linc tugged open the front door. The older security guard in a gray uniform nodded, scanned him half-heartedly with a wand. “Need any direction?”

With this brilliant plan of his? Probably, but—too late for that.

Linc shook his head, motioned Amelia to go past him. “Third floor.” Then he added to her. “I’m assuming you want the elevator.”

“Hey, maybe you’re finally starting to know me after all.” Amelia punched the button on the wall.

Linc flinched. See, that was why he had to go to these kinds of extremes to reach his kid. To show her he cared—enough to change his entire life to be there for her.

To prove he hadn’t abandoned her on purpose like he’d been abandoned.

They rode in silence, Linc’s heart thudding so loud he wondered if Amelia could hear it. Though if she could, she’d probably make fun of him, so he should be safe. Maybe he wasn’t nervous, and this darn collar was just too tight.

“I still think this is weird.” Amelia leaned her upper back against the paneled wall, staring at the row of lit buttons. “Really sudden.”

“So were you.”

She rolled her eyes.

“Like we told you yesterday, Zoey and I have known each other a long time.” Longer than most people realized, which Linc was okay with. Meant people didn’t pry into his past, wondering how he and Zoey met. Better to have everyone think they’d become friends as adults.

“And you just suddenly fell in love?” Amelia looked at him then, eyes questioning. Doubting. “Like, overnight?”

He hesitated. Love didn’t need to have anything to do with this particular arrangement, but he couldn’t get into that with Amelia.

It would defeat the purpose of their forming a unit for her—because this was all for her.

Zoey was someone he enjoyed being with, who he could trust to help parent his daughter.

Maybe that wasn’t enough for a typical marriage, but it was enough for them.

It was safer that way. Less room for getting hurt.

Of being left.

Besides, Zoey didn’t have any interest in him as more than a best friend. She was only invested in Amelia, and needed help herself. Her reasons for saying yes were altruistic and more than obvious.

Even if it wasn’t the reason a rogue part of him half-hoped for.

“That about sums it up.” He cracked his neck. “You really want to hear the mushy details?” Not that they existed. But he and Zoey agreed Amelia needed to believe this marriage was as “normal” as possible.

“Ew.” She wrinkled her nose. “Definitely don’t.”

As he figured. “Okay then.”

“Why so fast, though? Why not plan a real wedding?”

“We’re not exactly the big frilly type, if you haven’t noticed.” Linc frowned. Actually, Zoey might have wanted that. Should he have offered? But there wasn’t time. They had agreed ASAP, for Amelia’s sake. Surely if it was a big deal to her, Zoey would have spoken up.

The doors opened then onto a carpeted hallway, the scent of lemon cleaner heavy in the air. Two potted ferns waited on either side of a set of wooden doors with a plaque reading “chapel.”

This was it. Zoey was in there, waiting to marry him. Or at least, she was supposed to be. His chest tightened. Nah, she’d be there. A few more minutes, and they’d be a family.

For better or for worse.

He rubbed his palm down the leg of his jeans. He didn’t own slacks. And on second thought, he probably should have made Amelia wear something nicer, but that wasn’t a battle he’d wanted to fight. He never knew which ones to pick—something else Zoey was going to have to help him learn. “Ready?”

Amelia raised an eyebrow at him, three parts attitude and one part concern. “Are you?”

Good question. He wrenched the door open anyway.

And there she was, standing next to Judge Morrow in a black robe.

At least, he assumed it was Judge Morrow.

He couldn’t take his eyes off Zoey, wearing a knee-length, casual white sundress—one that showed a few curves she typically hid—her long, dark hair pulled up on the sides with flower clips.

Her bright blue eyes smiled at him before her lips did, and his throat went dry.

“Hey.” It was all he could push out. Maybe it was time to admit he was a little nervous, and it wasn’t just the shirt collar.

“Hi.” Zoey pursed her lips, hiding a smile. “Fancy meeting you here.”

He snorted. A weird urge to give her a hug flooded his limbs, and he hooked his fingers in his pockets. It was Zoey . And this was business.

No need to confuse the matter.

She reached over, picked up a bouquet of pink and yellow flowers from the first row of chairs lining the other vacant room. Then she did a double-take at Amelia’s outfit, raised her eyebrows at Linc.

He shrugged. “Don’t ask.”

Judge Morrow dipped his head as he moved behind a small podium, gray mustache lifting in a welcome smile. “Lincoln. Ready to get started?”

He started to correct him, but since Lincoln was the name on the official marriage license they’d secured yesterday, not much point. He nodded, cleared his throat. “Yeah, let’s go.”

Amelia slumped into one of the chairs in the front row.

“Want to stand with us?” Zoey inclined her head toward the podium, which Linc just then realized had been draped in some kind of white lacy cloth.

Amelia’s face said no, but to Linc’s surprise, she grudgingly stood and moved to stand just offset of Zoey.

Zoey tugged a few pastel flowers free of her bouquet and handed them to Amelia with a wink.

A small smile tilted his daughter’s lips as she looked down at them, and for a moment, it was like the sun had come out.

Full blast. She was in there, his kid—somewhere under the layers of baggy clothes and attitude. And Zoey was helping her emerge.

If that didn’t confirm they were doing the right thing, well. Linc drew a looser breath than he had all morning, and turned to face Zoey as the judge instructed. They could do this.

This was going to work.

“Wait.” Zoey pulled another flower from the bouquet, bent off the bottom of the stem to make it shorter, and reached to tuck it into the pocket of his shirt.

The scent of roses, mixed with whatever citrusy perfume she wore today, wafted toward him, her hands warm on his chest as she patted to make sure the blossom would stay. “There. Perfect.”

She looked perfect, but he couldn’t say that. Could he? It was their wedding day. Should probably say something nice. Linc cleared his throat, eyes flicking to meet hers, then bouncing away. “You look…nice.” He dared a glance back.

Amusement danced in Zoey’s face. Amelia groaned.

“I mean.” He shifted his weight, loafers pinching his big toe.

“You look pretty. Really pretty.” Ugh. Would this awkwardness be the new dynamic of their life together?

That’s not what he wanted. He wanted everything to stay the same, just as they’d discussed.

He cut his eyes to Amelia. Regardless, he’d do whatever it took.

He had a lot of time to make up for.

Thankfully, his edited compliment seemed to land, because Zoey’s eyes softened and she smirked at him. “You clean up halfway decent, yourself.”

Whew. There she was. The teasing eased his nerves—he had to admit that’s what it was at this point, collar be darned—and his shoulders loosened. He and Zoey had always made a good team. Now they were just going to level up the commitment a notch.

Nothing else had to change. Well, except one thing.

He adjusted the flower in his pocket. “Ready for a new last name?”