Page 63 of To Catch a Latte Thick as Thieves

She’d seen her parents fail repeatedly and she was seeing one of her closest friends suffer more of the same. She didn’t want to be one of the failures. She didn’t want to have to get a divorce or an annulment. She didn’t want to add to the depressing statistics that stated human beings were a fickle bunch and incapable of loving anyone more than themselves. She didn’t want to do this.

“I do,” Fisher said.

Annie snapped her gaze up to his. Oh my God, she thought, we’re halfway to married. It’s my turn and I can’t do it! I can’t do this!

“Well, Annie, do you?”

“Huh?” Annie turned to look at Frank. His gray mustache drooped over his lip in disapproval.

“Say, ‘I do,’” Fisher prompted her.

“What?” Annie turned to find Fisher watching her with one eyebrow raised. He was beginning to look vexed.

“Say ‘I do,’” he repeated.

Annie looked into his chocolate-brown eyes. He’d become more important to her than she wanted to acknowledge, but she had to. If they went through with this, things would change between them whether the ceremony was bogus or not. They’d start to feel shackled to one another and it would kill the love they’d shared so freely. She didn’t want that to happen. She was in love with him and she didn’t want to lose him. She knew that if they married, things would never be the same between them and she would lose him and what they’d shared forever.

She felt a tear spill out of the corner of her eye and she gulped back a sob.

“I do,” she whispered.

“There, now that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Fisher asked as they drove away from the Chapel in the Garden of Eden. Annie was plucking loose petals out of her hair and tucking them into the pocket of the matching jacket she’d brought in case she was cold.

“No, I suppose not,” she answered and turned to face him. Bambie had tossed rose petals at them as they’d hurried to the Jeep. A bright pink petal was stuck behind Fisher’s collar and Annie reached up to brush it away. Fisher caught her hand and raised her fingers to his lips.

“I know how hard that was for you,” he said. “Thank you. Let’s hope our plan works and we catch our perp real soon.”

“Yeah, otherwise you might be stuck with me for life,” she joked.

Fisher squeezed her fingers in his and said, “I can think of worse ways to spend the rest of my life...without you comes to mind.”

Annie felt her breath stall in her lungs. He couldn’t mean...nah! She gently pulled her hand out of his. She didn’t want to think about the ramifications of being tied to him for life. She didn’t want to ponder why the thought didn’t distress her more.

9

“So, where are we staying?” she asked as they drove down the Strip.