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I give a short laugh and wave goodbye, walking to my Porsche with Alex.
“So, two-thirty p.m. tomorrow at the airport?” he says.
“Yeah, okay.”
He grins. “Come on, it’ll be fun. We’ll have a nice meal and celebrate the fact that we’ve made sure Leia will be yours.”
“I hope it works,” I say.
“If it doesn’t, you haven’t lost much,” he says. “Well, I mean apart from a million dollars and two years of freedom.”
I blow out a breath. “I don’t care about that. I just don’t want to lose Leia.”
Because if I lose Leia, I’ll lose Aroha too, and I’m not ready to let her go.
I don’t say it. But I think it.
“You won’t lose,” he says. “Nobody can prove the marriage is fake, right?”
“They could subpoena you all and make you testify.”
“We’d just tell the court you’re madly in love.”
“You’d lie under oath?”
His lips curve up. “Yes, James, it would be a terrible lie.”
I don’t quite get why he’s amused, but I’m touched. My friends are decent, upstanding guys who would always do the right thing, and the thought that they’d lie for me brings a lump to my throat.
“All right,” I say. “See you tomorrow.”
“What suit are you wearing for the ceremony?” he asks.
“Ah…” I haven’t even thought about it.
“Don’t tell me you were going to wear jeans,” he says. “You’ve got to act the part. So bring a suit.”
“All right. See you.”
I get in the car and start it. As I reverse out of the parking space, I wonder what kind of outfit she’s bought, and if it includes underwear.
*
The next day dawns bright and sunny.
All morning, Aroha is flustered and keeps walking in and out of the living room putting things into bags and taking them out again. I think it’s because we’re staying the night, and so she has to make sure Leia has everything.
“I can manage,” she says when I try to help. “Go on, I’m sure you’ve got work to do.”
“Anyway we shouldn’t really see each other on the morning of the wedding,” I joke.
She blushes. “Fake wedding,” she corrects.
“Yes, of course.”
We study each other for a moment. She’s been a little cool since she signed the prenup. I’m not sure why. I know she wasn’t expecting to get half of everything. Maybe it’s the notion of divorce she doesn’t like. She told me, Marriage isn’t something two people should enter into lightly. It’s a solemn and binding relationship. Perhaps the talk of ending it before it’s even begun upset her.
I didn’t think about that. Prenups are common, especially when one or both parties are wealthy, but now I come to think of it, it doesn’t say much for modern society’s attitude toward marriage, does it? Let’s get married, but when it all goes wrong, let’s make sure that what’s yours is yours and what’s mine is mine.
