Page 84 of What I Should've Said

“Great.” The officiant’s smile is nervous, but it’s there. Surely he’s also starting to worry about the waves of anger emanating from Josie’s stern face. “Then how about the rings? Do we have rings?”

Bennett pulls the rings we got from Peggy Samuel’s pawn shop out of his pocket and hands them to Clay.

“Fantastic,” the officiant remarks. “We’ll do the rings with the exchanging of vows. Clay, why don’t you go first this time?”

Clay grabs Josie’s hand and squeezes it, ignoring completely her efforts to pull it away. “Josie Ellis, my heart, my soul, my life. I’ll always love you. I know we’ve been through a mountain range of ups and downs, and that I’ve made a mess of mistakes at every turn, but you are, unequivocally, the only woman for me.”

Okay, yikes, this isn’t a good start to the fake vows that aren’t supposed to be making waves. This is a freaking tsunami of a start if I’ve ever seen one.

“I always knew we’d renew our vows one day, but I also imagined you’d like me a little more than you do now while we were doing it.”

“Renew our vows? Clay, we’re divorced! There’s nothing to renew,” Josie interjects, the last inklings of her façade slipping.

The wheels are coming off a little here, so I step up and to the side, ready to pull the secret knife my sister might be carrying out of her hand if I have to.

One good thing—Summer’s glee is still written brightly across her tiny face, her eyes bouncing back and forth between Josie and Clay like a ping-pong ball that doesn’t want to miss a thing.

“Actually, Josie, we’re not divorced. Not officially.”

A resounding gasp from the crowd is the only thing that keeps me from hearing my own.

“What?” Josie yells. “What do you mean we’re not officially divorced?”

“I never signed the final paperwork,” Clay says, and I start to fear for his life. “You and I are still married, and you know what? I don’t regret it.”

“You…you didn’t sign the paperwork?” Josie’s voice is a dangerous screech that goes up in pitch to a level only dogs can hear at the end.

“No, woman. Because despite your constant yellin’, I still love you. So, I’d do it again!”

In the blink of an eye, Josie lunges, her hands going for Clay’s throat, her touch not loving.

I jump toward her, wrapping my arms around hers as they scrap for purchase on Clay’s vital organs. Bennett grabs him and pulls him back too, and Sheriff Pete and Breezy come running to help me when I start to lose control.

Half the town stays in their seats to laugh and watch the shitshow, and the other half files out, confident their obligation in this little favor is done.

Josie wriggles free from my hold with the strength of something superhuman and takes off at a run for CAFFEINE. I start to follow her, obviously, even though it likely means walking straight into my own homicide, but Breezy stops me with a soft and kind hand on my elbow.

“Why don’t you stay here? I’ll go make sure she’s okay, and you know, cool her down a little.”

I bite my lip, at war with myself over what the best option is. Sure, I don’t want to die, but not going myself to check that she’s okay seems like the kind of cold shoulder she might not forgive.

“I promise I’ll tell her you want to know she’s okay,” Breezy adds, correctly reading my dilemma. I swear, she’s one of the smartest women I’ve ever met, and she’s shown it from the second she arrived last week.

“Okay. But please come get me if—”

Breezy nods before I can even finish and squeezes my hand affectionately. “You take care of my brother and niece. I’ll take care of your sister.” One small smile later, she’s off like a flash, out of the square and down the road toward my sister’s coffee shop. Bennett and Clay are arguing heatedly about Clay’s over-the-top behavior, and Summer looks on from her spot as people funnel in and out all around her.

I check on Summer first since she’s basically helpless in the middle of the chaos, but I’m shocked to find she’s more than okay.

Her eyes are alight, and her cheeks are flushed as she rushes a ramble worthy of one of my own. “Oh my gosh, Norah, that was the best thing I’ve ever seen! It was even better than I thought! So much drama, so much excitement! Are all weddings like this?”

I snort through a chortle. “No, baby. No. Weddings are not usually like this.”

“Well, they should be!” she asserts. “That. Was. Awesome!” Her excitement pauses then, her words spilling into a cough that won’t stop and won’t let her catch her breath.

I grab the oxygen mask from her tank and switch it with the tubing in her nose, encouraging her to take deep breaths to get herself back under control. Bennett and Clay appear immediately, their arguing no longer the priority.

Bennett squats down to check Summer’s pulse, his eyes tearing the air between us as they jerk to mine. I nod.

---