Page 31 of It's Holy Matrimony, Baby

“So what are you going to do?” she asks. “Are you going to leave?”

“No.” I put my coffee down and reach for my laptop. Leaving won’t help my problem. For all I know Nox will follow me to the ends of the earth at this point. I almost smile at the idea. Almost. But I can’t want that. No matter how much common sense I throw at the problem, inklings of doubt force their way through. It isn’t just my own luck I’m worried about. I don’t want to see him hurt just because he’s misguided about what this marriage should be. This isn’t how things are supposed to work out. “I have to make him sign the papers.”

“Okay.” She questions me with the lift of an eyebrow.

“Do you remember the Anti-Cupid project I worked on for the Bella website?” I open up the blog and click into the archives.

“It was hilarious,” she says.

“It was.” I pull up the article about how to get your man to dump you. The one I had planned to use before I thought he might have changed his mind. “I’m going to get him to want to sign them by being everything he can’t stand.”

The smile slips from her face. “I don’t think that’s going to work.”

“Why not?”

“Because that’s a humor article. It’s not based in reality.”

“I have to try something.” I close the lid on my laptop. “I can’t sit around and wait.”

Liv’s quiet for a long moment. She twiddles her thumbs. Eventually she clears her throat. “You know this isn’t the same as—”

“I know,” I snap. I don’t want to talk about it. Don’t want to remember being sixteen and thinking I was invincible. I flirted with love, flaunted it. We were the ones who were going to make it last. Until it didn’t. I shut my eyes and push all that sentimental bullshit down deep, where it belongs. I can’t do it again.

“And there really is no curse. Sometimes things happen for no reason.”

“I know that too.” I exhale. I don’t believe in fairy tales, so why would I believe in a curse? Just because my parents are serial monogamists doesn’t mean it’s real. That’s a choice they make, as much as I make the decision to travel with Liv and spend my nights alone.

“Are you sure this is what you want to do?”

“It’s what I have to do.” I glance around the hotel suite. “But I can’t do it here. Time to take this show on the road.”

“You’re moving in with him,” she says.

“Exactly.” I jump up. I need to pack and organize everything. “I need to find out where he lives.”

“I know someone who can help with that. The bartender, Jack, is Nox’s brother.” Head tilted to the side, she taps her pink fingernails on her chin until I start to squirm. Her smile grows, taking over her face and making her eyes suspiciously sparkly. “You’re actually moving in with him.”

“Don’t get any ideas,” I tell her as I march toward the bedroom. This isn’t about getting closer to the man who is my husband. It’s about finding a way out of this mess I put myself in. I still have no idea why I did it in the first place, but I will end it.

Dragging my suitcase behind me, I trudge up the dirt road to the cabin. Jack had handed over the address to Liv without a second thought. He’d even told her where the spare key was. The wooden steps echo under my feet as I climb them. There’s a small plaque hanging on the vertical wood cladding by the door, with the name Casey Cabin burned into it. I stroke my fingers over it before lifting it up to get the key.

This is crazy. Moving in with a man so I can push him away is crazy. But then so was marrying him. I shove the key into the lock, twist it. The door swings gently inward. Taking a deep breath, I hesitate, but drastic measures are needed if I’m going to get Nox to sign the divorce papers.

Stepping inside the empty cabin, I glance around the living space. My suitcase thuds on the wooden floor as I put it down in the kitchen. Placing the key on the island, I murmur into the silence, “Honey, I’m home.”

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