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“Nicole?”
“The one and only.”
“You could use a drink.” I turn away and move to the bar. “What’ll it be?”
“French Martini,” he says.
I grab a martini glass and start mixing vodka and Chambord. “So obviously no sex trade, but a loss of time.”
“Which I’m sure was the point.” He unbuttons his coat and takes out an A4 envelope. “And then I went back to the courthouse to retrieve this.”
I open the envelope and pull out the document. Inside is a document with both Ivy’s and my signature on it. Or at least Adira’s version of our signatures. “It looks real.”
“That’s because it is.” His lips press together in a slight grimace. “Officially. You and Ivy applied for a license. You could take that in tomorrow and have them issue a legitimate marriage certificate.”
“Thank you.”
“I have a contact with a contact at the courthouse I now owe a favor.” He sighs. “This better not come back to bite me in the ass.”
I hand him the pink drink. “It won’t.”
“Hmm.” He takes a sip. Glances around me and through the huge windows. “Where is Ivy?”
“Sleeping.” I reseal the envelope. “We have another problem.”
“What is that?”
“She’s lost part of her memory.”
His eyes widen. “Are you talking about amnesia?”
“The doctor said it’s a trauma response. There’s no obvious damage to the brain. All the memories should still be there. But the events she’s been through were so traumatic that she’s hidden them from herself so she doesn’t have to deal with it.”
“That’s…” Adira reaches for the closest stool and drags it over so he can sit before his knees give out on him. “Wow.”
“She doesn’t remember me,” I say. “Us. Any of it. I don’t think she remembers seeing me when she was in the facility where my mom lives. She doesn’t remember being together. Or how we broke up. She asked me if I cheated on her.”
“You kind of did,” he reminds me.
“It was a kiss. That Alec set up to cause trouble between me and Ivy.” And dumbass that I am, I was inebriated enough that I handled it as badly as I could have. “I don’t even remember it.”
“Still kind of cheating in some books,” he says.
“And I will regret getting drunk enough that I didn’t know what I was doing for the rest of my life. But the point is that she didn’t remember why we would fight about Alec.”
“Seriously?”
“Ivy thinks we’re married. For real.”
His eyes widen. His lips curve.
“Don’t laugh. It’s not funny.” I figured it would be before I found out about her memory. Expected her to laugh at the idea that we’re married.
It might even have ended up as a joke we would tell our grandchildren one day, long after a real marriage took place. But there is nothing funny about the fact she believes it’s real. Or that I could see it in our future. Perhaps not straight away, but not too far off either. She already has a beautiful dress just waiting to be worn. The gown that she wore to the alternative wedding expo had made my heart somersault when I saw her in it.
Any future seems uncertain right now.
“It’s a little funny.” Adira pinches his fingers together. “Only because I can see on your face that you’ve thought about it and now you want it.”
