Page 19 of All Bets Are Off

“Not even close.” I shook my head and folded my arms over my chest. “This place is a tourist trap.”

“I’m well aware.”

“Why would you want to get married in a tourist trap?” I just couldn’t wrap my head around it.

“I don’t really, but you’re the one who said that it’s not real. I had this dream when I was a kid about getting married here, and I thought it was the height of sophistication because I saw it on an episode of television.”

“What show?”

“I think it was that showLas Vegas. I was obsessed with that show.”

“You know that show isn’t real, right?”

“So?” She made a scoffing noise. “No show is real. I liked seeing the external shots of places I recognized. I liked imagining all of that stuff happening in a real casino. Back then, I was convinced I was going to become a famous card counter and be rich.”

I was taken aback. “Can you count cards?”

“I’ve never tried, but probably not. Counting into a six-deck chute takes a lot of brain power. I’m good, but I’m not that good.”

“Huh.” I was impressed despite myself. “And you really want to get married here?”

“It’s not a real marriage, right?” she pressed. “We’re doing it so it will be mutually beneficial, and in a year, we’ll get divorced. Why not have the dream fake wedding? I’ll always be able to say I got married here, even if I know the marriage isn’t destined to last forever.”

She made a very good point. “Fine.” I gave in. I honestly didn’t care where we got married. Would it have been more dignified to go to City Hall? Absolutely. This was going to be quick, though. “Do you have any preference on rings?”

“Oh.” Olivia’s forehead creased in concentration. “Well, I don’t want anything too expensive.”

“I’m covering it.”

“Yeah, but … you shouldn’t have to go into debt for it.”

My laugh was dry. “I think I can cover anything they’ve got here. Just tell me what you like.”

“I’m not a fan of yellow gold.” She cringed when looking up at me.

Did she think I would be offended by that? Or was she worried I believed she was being too picky? “So … white gold or titanium?”

“Is that too much?” She looked genuinely worried.

“Livvie, it’s fine. You’re doing me a huge favor. I can cover the ring.”

“Yeah, but you’re covering my dental surgery.” She gripped my wrist so suddenly I almost yelped. “You don’t think I’ll die when I’m under, do you?”

The question seemed so absurd I didn’t know what to say. The look on her face told me she was deadly serious, though. “You won’t die. I’ll be there with you the whole time.” I didn’t know why I offered it—I had zero interest in watching somebody poke around inside of her mouth—but the mere thought of her being afraid because she was alone when they put her under was too much. “I’ll be sitting right by your side.”

She looked dubious. “Why?”

“Because that’s what a husband does.” I pointed toward the rings. “Pick two.”

She sighed before taking in the options. “There.” She pointed toward two white gold bands. They were somehow simple and strangely elegant at the same time. Basically, they were massively understated given where we were getting married.

“Sold.” I pointed toward the rings as the clerk grabbed them. “Okay, it says here we can get married by Miss Elvis.” I frowned, convinced I’d misread that. “There’s a Miss Elvis?”

The clerk bobbed her head. “She has character.”

I shook my head. “No way. Oh, hey, we can get married by Batman!” I don’t know why that appealed to me so much, but I was suddenly excited. When I risked a glance at Olivia, I found her grinning. “You probably don’t want to get married by Batman, do you?”

She shrugged. “Quite frankly, I want to make this as surreal as possible so I’ll always have a funny story. What are our other options? I just want to have the whole picture before we decide on one.”

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