Page 45 of The Bride

Later that night, in my bed, I stared up at the ceiling. Sleep eluded me completely.

Ellie was checking out porn. Ellie was hedging around to find out if I had a girlfriend.

This was not good. We were not that. We were something else entirely and she had to know that.

I closed my eyes and thought,I really hope Ellie isn’t thinking about having sex… with me.

* * *

Ellie

That same night

So I was thinkingabout having sex with Jake.

In my defense, there were a number of valid reasons.

He was hot.

He was my best friend.

He was the one person I trusted most in this world.

He had a nice penis. I know because I did compare (sorry Jake) and thought his was way better than anyone else’s.

I liked him.

I also loved him.

I was married to him, so I was pretty sure it was legal even though technically I was still under eighteen.

It was a bad idea. I knew that. I knewhowI was supposed to think about him. I knew how he thought of me.

It was probably a phase. Or a crush or something totally teenager.

I’m sure I would get over it.

Soon, I hoped. You know, before he divorced me.

Twelve

Jake

Christmas Eve

One hundred andeighteen days left.

It was Christmas Eve and we were at Howard and his wife’s open house party. Ellie had said I should buy a bottle of nice wine, so I did. We walked up the steps together and I rang the doorbell and Mirry, Howard’s wife, opened the door with a big smile.

A lot of the neighbors were there. Their heads turned toward us. Ellie got the sad smiles. I got the I-did-the-right-thing smiles. These weren’t the people who thought the salacious things about us, because these were the people who had known us our whole lives.

Howard came up and clapped me on the back.

“How’s the ranch?”

“Fine, sir.”

“Good to hear. And Ellie? She keeping her grades up along with all the extra ranch work she’s doing?”