The scroll blurred in my hands; the words wrapping around my brain like a vise.Two years.How was this possible? There had to be a loophole. Something we could do.
The man cleared his throat. “If you’ll wait here, I’ll have someone collect you and return you to your resort. In the meantime,”—his smile was maddening—“you’re free to notify your friends and family of the happy occasion. All phone restrictions have been lifted.” With a solemn bow, he gathered his robes, strolled down the steps, and vanished into the trees.
Valerie wasted no time. She yanked the card from her pocket, punched the number into her phone, and hit speaker.
A cheery recorded voice chimed,“Thank you for calling our customer service line. Your marriage is very important to us. For questions about annulments, press one. For questions about renewal packages, press two. To book your honeymoon, press three.”
Valerie jabbed one.
“I’m sorry. That option is currently unavailable. Please hold while we connect you to a representative.”
Hold music filled the pavilion, a tropical remix of the Wedding March that made Valerie’s teeth grind.
Her nostrils flared. “This can’t be happening. People don’t just get married by mistake. It’s absurd!”
“I guess you’ve never been to Vegas, then.”
Valerie closed her eyes as if she was counting slowly in her head.
I think she’d made it to eight when the recorded voice returned, almost gleeful.“Thank you for holding. Your estimated wait time is… two years. Goodbye.”
The phone disconnected with a firm ding. Valerie tossed it onto a chair as if it was cursed, though I suspectedwewere.
“This is a disaster.” She pressed her palms into her eyes and groaned. “My entire life revolves around finding love, and thanks to a real-life wedding trap, I end up married to a man who thinks commitment means eating the same breakfast cereal every morning. If they even think of sending us a bill—”
“Relax, Big Spender.” I leaned against the arch, rubbing my aching hand, irritated that her words landed with a different kind of ache somewhere behind my ribs. “I’ll handle the resort. No one knows what happened. There’s no clause that says we have to tell anyone. Trust me, that’s the last thing I want. My grandfather would go ballistic.”
Valerie peeked between her fingers. “You’re right. We can take a vow of silence and pretend this never happened.” She lowered her hands, noticed my ring still circling her finger, and slipped it off. “We need a few stipulations of our own.”
“Like what? Never go to bed angry. Too late. That’s been our default setting since the day we met.”
Valerie flattened her lips. “It’s simple. When we get back to the resort, we won’t breathe a word of this. Then tomorrow morning, we leave this island and continue as normal. We work, we live, and we date separately.”
“And what if I meetthe onewhile we’re still contractually hitched?“ I said, unable to keep the sarcasm out of my tone.
Her face faltered for a second, and I almost took back the question, until I realized she was probablyimagining the perfect man she was always one spilled latte away from meeting. My jaw clenched.
“WhenImeetthe one, I’ll let you know.” Her chin tilted higher. “Until then, nothing has changed.”
“It will,” I muttered. “You’re on track to join the new team. We won’t just be passing snarky emails back and forth across time zones. We’ll be in the same building. The same floor.”
She went still at that; her gaze searching mine as if she hadn’t thought that far ahead. The ring sat heavy in her palm between us. Finally, she pressed it into my hand and pulled back.
“This will be easy, Delaney. Nobody will ever know, and then it’ll be over. Like that.” She snapped her fingers. Then she paused, glancing away as the sun dipped below the horizon. A strange note threaded through her voice. “Just… don’t fall in love with me.”
“Sure, Spells.” I shoved the ring into my pocket with a sharp breath, darkness sealing the deal on our pact. “I’ll fall for you when they put a Christmas tree on the moon.”
Part 2
Till Death Do Us Merry
Chapter 10
Valerie
One year later…
Three Weeks Until Christmas
