Page 26

“I feel a little bit crazy right now,” I mumble, rubbing my temples as Molly, Lydia, Rae, and Scarlett sprawl out around me on the floor and couches of my new living room.

? Paperwork with to-do lists, table place cards, and scribbled notes are scattered everywhere—proof of the wedding I’ve somehow managed to plan over the past five days. My first real wedding.

“It’s going to be alright,” Lydia says, her voice soothing as she sets a sheet of paper next to me.

“Here’s what my dad came up with for his portion of the ceremony.

Do you want to review it, tweak anything he’s planning on saying?

He knows this isn’t legit, but he still wanted it to feel special for you. ”

I glance at the paper full of promising words about marriage, love and eternity, but the letters blur like waterlogged ink. “Yeah. Thanks for asking him to officiate on such short notice. I’m good with whatever he’s come up with. I don’t think I have the capacity to read that right now.”

She smiles and squeezes my arm affectionately. “He wouldn’t miss it. He loves you, too. And though he hasn’t met Hayes yet, I’m sure he’ll enjoy getting to know him at the reception. Thanks for considering him for this.”

I hum in response because, honestly, I’m not convinced that’s happening anytime soon. It’s not like this is a real marriage I’m throwing. It’s my second, fake marriage which is hilarious considering I never even thought I’d have one.

“Can I get you something to drink?” Rae asks, standing from the couch and adding her perfectly handwritten place cards to the growing pile of things I need to deal with in the next two days before I get re-married to my fake husband.

“Thank you for doing those. There’s whiskey in the cabinet. I’d love a good pour.”

She disappears into the kitchen and returns a few minutes later, sliding a glass of amber liquid toward me like it’s an offering to the gods of fake marriages and make believe love.

“I need to head home, or I’d stay and commiserate,” she says, grabbing her bag. “The foundation and walls for our new house are finally done, but I’ve got to meet with Cash to pick out paint colors before the store closes.”

“No problem. This is fine. This is all going to be fine.” I’m not sure who I’m saying that to because I don’t believe it. I feel like that meme of the dog where the whole house is on fire and yet he’s smiling nervously. This is totally fine.

After Rae and Lydia leave together Molly and Scarlett scoot closer. Molly drapes an arm around my me protectively and rests her chin on my shoulder.

“Babe, it’s okay. No one expects everything to be perfect.

This is just to show it all off, you know?

And seriously, it’s going to be amazing.

You’ve put so much work into this, and we’re all here to help.

Remember, the Marshall’s are great at this stuff.

You all managed to build a whole restaurant with Colt orchestrating stuff from behind bars.

Just try to have fun on Friday. It’s your first wedding, er, I guess your second, but definitely not your last,” she adds with a light laugh, trying to keep things breezy, like there will be more weddings in my future.

I snort. Because how do we know that? How do we know what’s going to happen next with Hayes and me? Is there a record for most weddings to the same person in the shortest amount of time? Because if so, I think I’d beat it.

Things are still up in the air with the property and legal paperwork.

I don’t want to leave this land, and neither does he—not while he’s trying to get his business off the ground and I’m starting the foundation of the Marshall family wedding venue.

Once everything’s finalized, do we get divorced but keep living here together?

What happens if I fall in love with someone new?

Does he stay? Do they move in with us? Do we all just…

cohabitate like some twisted sitcom where two, grown couples live in the same house?

And what about if he finds someone new?

The thought of him bringing home another woman—a girlfriend or a wife—makes my stomach twist. Despite his aversion to marriage, maybe I’m warming him up to the idea.

Maybe his next marriage will be less complicated, and I’ll have broken him into the idea of it.

Maybe I’m his test run into how it could be in a marriage, and he’ll be more open to committing to someone in the future.

I inwardly gasp. What if they have kids? What if I have to see those kids every day while I’m childless and alone.

Okay, I’m spiraling.

I force a smile and knock back the rest of my drink. “Thank you. Are you leaving for your shift?”

She nods. “I am, I’m so sorry. I’m already way too tired to be on parole but I really should go before the chief gets angry.”

I wave her off. “You’ve done more than I could ever ask for. Thank you for coming. It’ll all be over in two days.”

Just two more days.

She gets up to leave after saying goodbye to Scarlett—someone who’s easily become one of my closest friends in such a short amount of time.

Funny how just days ago I wasn’t married, and now I have another sister-in-law that I enjoy spending time with, who likes me back and is somehow rooting for this weird, fake marriage to her older brother.

“Hey,” Scarlett presses her hand on my shoulder, her expression serious. “I’m sorry if I put you in this position by suggesting you guys remarry. It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

I shake my head. “No, this is great. This is going to be good. I’m optimistic that we’ll pull this off, I just…” I trail off, biting my lip nervously.

“Regan, you can ask me anything you want. I won’t betray Hayes’ confidence, and I won’t betray yours either. I get you don’t want to pry into Hayes past, and I really respect that but if there’s any doubts or concerns, you can ask me.”

I nod. “I know. I just feel weird voicing this to his sister.”

“Go for it. I swear I’ll be impartial, and I won’t disclose anything he wouldn’t want me telling you. He can be terrible at letting people get to know him which is a shame because at his core, he’s a solid and loyal guy.”

“Okay… I just—gosh, it’s strange to think about what happens next in all of this.

I’m not leaving the property, and neither is he.

We’re joint owners. Even if we divorce, we could split up the land, I suppose, but how strange would it be to live here, this close to him…

with him and another woman… or vice versa. ”

She nods quietly. “It’s definitely a weird situation, but if you both mutually agree to do that, I think you could be mature about it. It shouldn’t be hard if neither of you has caught feelings.”

“Yeah…” I trail off again as she moves to stand but I’m already thinking about what she said about catching feelings. I like him. We’re not enemies. We’re sort of friends. But we’re also... I can’t describe it.

Unfinished?

Maybe we shouldn’t even start then.

“I’m going to take the golf cart up to the cottage and go to sleep.

But Regan, my brother can be pretty closed off and tough at times, but let me tell you, I’ve never seen him look at another woman the way that he looks at you.

And there’s no one—no property good enough—that he would ever sacrifice his freedom for and marry over.

He must trust you a lot to do this. And I don’t just mean trust you not to fall in love with him and get weird.

He must trust you with his heart and his dreams. His future. ”

Trust me?

She gives me a soft smile and then moves to the door, closing it gently behind her, leaving me alone with that thought.

What does that mean? Why would Hayes trust me?

I don’t have time to spiral, not when I’m staring down the wrinkled to-do list clutched in my hand, half of it crossed out, the rest mocking me with little unchecked boxes and urgent scribbles. My wedding is in two days. Two. And there are still at least fifty things left to do.

I blow out a heavy sigh, one that rattles in my chest and does absolutely nothing to calm me down.

I wrote the damn list during a bout of sleeplessness two nights ago, the kind where your brain refuses to shut off and every small detail feels suddenly life-or-death.

I’ve been crossing things off since morning, but somehow, the list keeps growing.

Whatever. I’ll just stay up another couple of hours, run on caffeine and anxiety, and try to knock a few more things out. Sleep is overrated anyway… right? And I certainly won’t spend the time spiraling over what Scarlett said about Hayes.