Page 25 of Avenged

“The resort for boaters?” I asked, still shocked.

“Yeah, but they do repairs and stuff, too. John knows I don’t have any official training, but he’s willing to take me on because I have a lot of experience.”

I wanted to hug him or pat him on the back, but I knew it would come across all wrong, like I was his dad all proud of his son. So, I did what I did best and teased instead. “Well, look at you, putting those years of fixing the boats you destroy to use after all.”

“Yep. Plus, you should see the cigar boat they have to work on there.”

“Don’t,” I said, standing up. “I don’t want to know. That way, when I get asked about you stealing it, I can have plausible deniability.”

I was only partly joking, but Dawson didn’t seem to mind.

“I promise I won’t steal it. Borrowing it is a totally different story.”

“Borrowing, as in you ask and are told you can borrow it, right?” I asked before I could stop myself.

“Sure, Dad.” Dawson smirked.

It was my turn to roll my eyes like Violet had. I turned and made my way down the hall to my room. It was only seven or so, but I was beat. I’d been up since two in the morning. I was going to try to get some sleep before I got up and got married. Those words seemed strange, even though I’d been thinking it all day.

I was getting married.

I felt the need to tell someone, but I was sure if I texted Mac and Eli, they would both try to talk me out of it. They would both say the same thing my brother had. That I had a superhero complex and was trying to save the day. May or may not have been true. But it wouldn’t prevent me from showing up at eight in the morning with a checkbook and my legal documents.

Jersey

CAN’T STOP THIS THING WE STARTED

“You gotta know it’s right,

Can’t stop this course we plotted.”

Performed by Bryan Adams

Written by Adams / Lange

My head was pounding more than my abdomen when I woke. It felt like a blessing, but I still groaned. My body was tight from sleeping on the loveseat in the library. It took several seconds for my brain to catch up to why I was there.

When I finally remembered Travis’s visit, the proposal, and the alcohol, I sat up quickly, ignoring the spinning in my head and the objections of my pelvic muscles. It had to be some weird, pain-med-induced dream, right? But no, there was the bottle of brandy and the notepad with the marriage contract written on it.

Next to it was a separate piece of binder paper with his manly scrawl stating, “I’ll be here at eight to pick you up. Don’t back out.”

I put my hands to my cheeks. The things we’d agreed to were so absurd. I would never have said any of it if I hadn’t been drinking, right? But the tiny bird in my head told me I would have. That what he was proposing wasn’t crazy lunacy. That at least a hundred thousand other people had done this exact thing.

Below Travis’s scrawl was Violet’s flowery one, so small it often made me wonder if it was how she saw herself in real life. Small when she was really huge. A life force you couldn’t deny when she was in the room with you.

Her words read, “I like the contract. You should absolutely do this.”

I saw Travis had signed his name at the bottom of the contract. I put everything down and made my way to the kitchen. A glance at the microwave’s clock told me it was six in the morning. I had two hours to decide what to do, and then I scoffed. I wasn’t doing it. I made coffee and then a batch of blueberry muffins because I couldn’t just sit there without doing something. My brain was too busy processing all the events of the last twenty-four hours in order to sit still.

The ache that hadn’t completely left my body as it usually did when my period was disappearing made me think about what the doctor had said. She was sure it wasn’t cancer, but if I didn’t get care, it could affect my ability to have children someday. That it might be adenomyosis, where the endometrial tissue grows into the walls of the uterus, causing havoc and, sometimes, malignancy. I thought about Violet and the fact that, when she turned eighteen, she might be in the same boat I was in, but with me as her legal guardian, I could probably get her insurance until she was twenty-five under any insurance I had. I thought about the fact that Travis was the kind of man who looked out for others and wouldn’t expect anything from the arrangement. That he was doing this from the goodness of his heart. And maybe he could get some money back from his taxes if he claimed us as dependents.

I thought again about the stupid Marriage For Benefits app.

People all over the country were doing it.

Just because others did something, didn’t make it right. I would never go BASE jumping off a building in the city when others did, because it was still illegal.

But this wasn’t.

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