Page 20 of All Bets Are Off

“Dolly Parton?”

She cocked her head. “I would prefer Batman to her.”

“Me, too. Elvis?”

“He is the standard.”

“Yeah, but come on, it’s Batman.”

“I’m fine with Batman.” Her smile did something strange to my heart. Here we were planning a wedding—one she hadn’t even known was a possibility two hours before—and she was smiling and giggling as if we were about to have a pillow fight at a sleepover. She was so beautiful it momentarily took my breath away.

“Batman it is,” I said finally, handing the clerk my credit card.

“You’ll want a video, right?” the clerk asked.

I froze. That was an interesting question.

“That’s the norm,” she said.

“Um … can we just get photos?” I asked once I’d worked my mind around it. “I think photos will be good enough.”

“Definitely,” Olivia agreed. “There’s too much potential for a video to come back and bite us.”

“That’s just what I was thinking.”

She smiled at me and warmth suffused my very being. The smile disappeared in an instant. “What about a witness?”

“I have that handled,” I assured her, inclining my head toward the door as Rex barreled through it. He was dressed in his security suit and looked a little flustered.

“I can’t believe you’re getting married here,” Rex said on a laugh as he glanced between us. His arm went protectively around his sister. “I told you I’d figure out a way to help you. Are you happy?”

Olivia gave him an odd look. “I know you think you genuinely swooped in wearing a cape and all—and I’m weirdly grateful—but this was a very strange idea.”

Rex shrugged. “You both need help. This works. We’ll keep it between the three of us, and it will be fine.”

For a split second, I was flooded with panic. What if this wasn’t fine? Then I saw Rex say something to Olivia, and she burst out laughing. Whatever had clutched inside me relaxed. For better or for worse, they were my family. Yes, even Olivia, who had irritated me like no other when I was a teenager.

Family was there for one another. Olivia needed the surgery, and she wouldn’t allow me to just pay for it as a gift. She was definitely an appropriate love interest in my father’s eyes. This really was a win-win for all concerned.

“Let’s do this,” I said, tearing my gaze from Olivia and smiling at her brother. “We’re going to get married by Batman.”

“Of course you are,” Rex said, not missing a beat. “Who else would you get married by?”

“THIS IS SAFE, RIGHT?” I ASKED THE DENTALtechnician at my father’s high-falutin dental practice. I knew they were the best because my father wouldn’t go anywhere else. Despite that, when they’d prodded Olivia into a surgical gown and forced her to get comfortable in the chair, I’d been seized by a completely different sort of panic.

“It’s perfectly safe,” Tess the technician assured me. “Just try to relax. We’ll be back in a few minutes.”

I watched her go, annoyance bubbling up. Then I remembered Olivia was watching me, and the last thing she needed was my anxiety to spike her anxiety.

“So, the wedding,” I prodded when I turned back to her. “Was it all you dreamed it would be?”

She smiled. The dental sedation was already taking effect.

“I think my favorite part was when the guy dressed like Robin raced in and claimed Batman was stealing his thunder,” she said on an adorable giggle. “Holy thunder stealer, Batman!”

“That was actually my favorite part too,” I conceded. Then I thought better of it. “Actually, my favorite part was when they dusted off the old Prince music from the 1990sBatmanmovie and everybody did the choreography forBatdance.”

“Ooh.” Olivia solemnly bobbed her head. She was high as a kite. “I liked that too.”

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