Page 23 of Sparks Still Fly

Are you ever going to answer me?

That’s a hard no from me.

Charlie let slip last night that Mum’s divorced her latest husband. I believe this was number five. So typical. She leaves a man and comes crawling back to her daughters for money, affection, attention.

I learned a long time ago not to fall for her bullshit, and that’s not changing anytime soon.

There’s a quick succession of knocks at the door. I get up to see who’s impatiently trying to bring the door down, and I see Bon through the peephole, Charlie and Taylor standing directly behind her. Something must have happened. I open the door quickly, ready to ask what the emergency is.

“You married my brother!” Bon’s eyes are wide, her face a little pale.

Oh fuck, how does she know?

“Uh, hi. Come in?” I open the door a little wider as all three of them stalk into the room, Charlie giving me a knowing look as she walks past.

“Maevey! We’re sisters! It’s official!” Bon darts toward me, and I instinctively grab hold of my towel to prevent any potential embarrassment. This is definitely a situation we don’t want turning into a real Vegas showstopper.

“Owen just told me. He’s a bit freaked out by the whole thing, and I know you two haven’t sorted through your issues yet, but I mean, this is classic forced proximity, right, Char?” Bonnie’s so excited. I need to stop this. She seems happy that Owen and I got married, but it’s not going to stick. No way.

“Mae, can you tell us what happened?” Charlie takes a breath and somehow remains perfectly calm, a quality of hers I very much appreciate right now.

“I-I-I I don’t know. I don’t really remember. We woke up this morning with these rings on and?—”

“Woke up where, Mae?” Charlie’s no-nonsense tone makes me feel a little like I’m being interrogated, but I still prefer it to Bon’s giddy excitement.

“Here. I was in my bed and Owen was on the chair. Fully clothed. Nothing happened! I don’t know why we got married last night.”

“What do you mean you don’t know why? Owen’s—” Bon is cut off by the sound of that stupid song coming through my phone speakers again.

“Who has ringtones anymore? And what is this song?” Taylor looks down at my phone, which happens to be right next to him. “Hubby?” He lifts an eyebrow and holds up the phone to show the girls.

Who the bloody hell did this to my phone?

“Owen, it’s not exactly a good time,” I say as I pick up.

“I’m sorry. I freaked out. I told Lainey. I’m sorry.”

Something is very off with him. He’s not the type to profusely apologize, and why did this freak him out so much? We can just get it annulled and go on with our lives as normal. Separately. Very much unmarried.

“Yeah. She’s here. I’ll call you back later, yeah?”

He lets out a sigh and hangs up the call. My phone rings again immediately, no love song streaming out of its speakers this time. Seeing it’s my lawyer, I pick up right away.

“Lauren. Hi.”

“Hello, Maeve. So you got yourself in quite a pickle, huh?” She sounds poised, not at all rattled by my news.

“Uh, yeah. You could say that. So how quickly can we annul this thing?”

“Well, Maeve, that’s tricky. You see, we would have to prove that there are grounds for annulment, such as fraud, forced consent, or mental incapacity. I understand that you were under the influence when this happened as you explained in your message, but I think your publicist will ask me not to use that as the reason for canceling this marriage.”

I scoff, knowing quite well Jen will be none too pleased with this little turn of events. I’ve always kept a clean image. I don’t give her much trouble. She mostly has to clear up unfounded rumors. But this... this will be an interesting one.

“Okay, so what are my options, Lauren?” I feel all six eyes on me as I pace around the room, staring at my feet as they move across the floor.

“Well, if the person you married agrees to admitting they were too inebriated to make an informed decision, we can go ahead with this. I’m afraid that doesn’t make either party look very good though, and this will be public record, so it’s really important you think about this.” She clears her throat and I know she’s about to say something I don’t want to hear. “Would you consider staying married for a little while? At least until we can settle on a no-fault divorce in a couple of months.”

“A couple of months?” I practically screech the words, halting my pacing. “I can’t stay married to him, Lauren. He’s my best friend’s brother!” I whisper yell into the phone, but I know these nosy Nellies are listening.

---