Page 73 of Six Wishes

“You’re from Lake County?” My eyes bug out of my head. I would’ve thought she was coming straight from California with her looks and attitude. “Oh, maybe you meant New York,” I nod to myself.

“No,” Lexi gives me an amused look. “Definitely Lake County. We live on the lake.”

“You do??” It’s like I got the Kardashians in my backyard or something. Who knew important people lived in my town. Other than Van, of course. “Wait, aren’t you the girl with the workout programs?” I knew she looked somewhat familiar.

“I sure am. Do you follow them?” I have to put my head down in embarrassment at that because, no, I don’t follow her programs.

“You’ve met their babysitter,” Van comes to my rescue. “It’s Maci, Allison’s sister.”

“Oh my goodness,” I break into a smile. “Really?? I am good friends with Allison!”

That seems to break the ice a bit more, and it all goes smoothly after that. I get whisked away and fitted with the workout apparel Lexi envisioned for me to wear. They take pictures of me by myself, and some with Van.

Someone is filming the entire process as well as they want to run a special on their website that showcases me and Van as we film a couple of videos. They turn out quite funny. Van is just not capable of being serious sometimes, and I have no choice but going along with him.

I am shocked when I realize that it is eleven hours later the next time I have access to my phone.

“You guys are amazing,” Lexi hugs me with a lot more excitement than she had when we first started. She was friendly this morning, but maybe a touch standoffish. Now her arms are wrapped around me, and the happiness flowing from her is almost overwhelming. “I thought we’d need tomorrow as well,” she explains. “But I think that today we got everything we need for now. I can go home to my baby today! Thank you!”

She is shorter than me so I have to bend down a little when I hug her back. “I was so nervous,” I admit to her. “I’ve never done anything like this in my life. Thank you for the opportunity!”

“You were perfect,” Lexi assures me. “I’m so happy I got you both,” she almost giggles at that last part, and it throws me off. She doesn’t seem to be the type of person who giggles.

Van comes to my rescue just as I am, once again, at a loss for words. I so suck in certain social situations.

“Ladies,” he wraps his arms around us both. “This was a great day. Lexi,” he leans his head down toward her, and I notice the photographer snapping a series of pictures of all three of us. “Would you like to have dinner tonight with me and my bride?”

“Your bride?” Lexi gasps in excitement. “You guys got married?”

“No,” I laugh and elbow Van in the ribs. “Stop talking crazy, Van.”

“What?” he laughs back. “It was not for lack of trying, right?”

I know I have a huge grin taking over my face, and the photographer is walking around us taking all the pictures, but I can’t seem to care about anything else anymore.

“It was awesome,” I raise on the tip of my toes and kiss him on the lips.

We did hit the jackpot last night, and in more ways than one. When the slot machine stopped spinning, my heart also stopped. The machine started ringing like crazy, and Van had to rush and put a plastic bucket under where coin was spilling out.

“Van,” my face was in my hands, and I had his name on repeat. “We hit the jackpot…”

“We hit the fuckin’ jackpot, babe,” he laughed nervously when the machine finally stopped making noise. People were clapping their hands and laughing around us, unaware of what actually happened here.

I watched in amazement as Van debated what to do with the bucket of coins. He was looking around in confusion when his eyes landed on a little old lady who had sat down at around the same time as we had, but had no winnings to show for it.

“Here,” he shoved the bucket in her surprised hands, then took it a step further and kissed her on the cheek. “Enjoy!”

He then grabbed me by the hand and pulled me away from all the chaos. We found a relatively quiet spot in a corner and stopped.

Van grabbed my face in his hands and pulled me closer to him. “I love you so fucking much, Chloe!”

“I love you, too,” I whispered back, hoping he could see it on my face that I meant it.

“Are we going to do this?” His lips were so close to mine, I could feel just a whisper of their softness.

It was just a turning point in our relationship. I was scared to answer with what was in my heart, but then I decided to risk it. Not being honest with each other should not be the way to start a marriage or continue our current relationship.

“I’m scared,” I finally replied, and I saw the relief in his eyes.

“I’m scared too,” he started laughing, then dropped his head on my shoulder. I put my arms around him, and we just rocked side to side for a few minutes, chuckling every so often.

“I want to wait,” I whispered. Van didn’t say anything for the longest time, leaving me to hold my breath in anticipation of what he might have to say about it.

He lifted his head off my shoulder and kissed my forehead, hands spread on the back of my head, under my hair. “We’ll wait,” he whispered back.

We still had an awesome pretend wedding night though, just saying. Which is why we were almost late this morning.

“I want an invitation to your wedding when it does happen,” Lexi tells us now as she starts walking backwards toward her makeshift office in the far corner of the room. “I will accept nothing less,” she points a finger to the both of us, then turns around, and we are free to go.

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