Page 34 of Ride By Your Side

Veronica

Nothingruinsaroadtrip quite like accidentally getting married to your best friend’s older brother. Or was it when I broke down and cried in his arms? At this point, it’s probably fifty-fifty.

That’s why, as soon as I pulled myself together and went back to my original hotel room, I sent him a text suggesting we make our way back home to Evergreen Grove. I’m not ready to see Pete or to deal with the vicious gossip I know is circulating, but you can only hide for so long—especially when you run into an even bigger problem along the way.

I’m no stranger to wild and often reckless ideas, but this feels like a new low, even for me. Thankfully, it’s fixable—or at least I now know how, considering I spent the first hour of our drive home frantically Googling divorce and annulment options for a Vegas marriage. Despite my mortification, I found some comfort in knowing we weren’t the only ones to make such a monumental mistake. Online forums overflowed with peopledealing with the exact same issue, their stories offering minor solace in solidarity. Apparently, I’m not the only screw-up out there.

“So, what’s the verdict?” Miles asks from the driver's seat, and I look up from my research.

“So, from what I’m seeing, if we want an annulment, the sooner we file the better, but we actually have up to two years.”

“Two years? How long were you planning on staying married to me?” he asks, the corner of his mouth tilting into a smirk. “I may own my own business, but I promise I’m not rolling in cash if that’s what has you so interested.”

I give him a steely stare. “I liked it better when you were the grumpy one,” I decide. While I can somewhat see the humor in our situation, the nerves of going back home have me on edge, especially given our newly married state.

It doesn’t even matter that I know this is only temporary. I made a reckless, life-changing decision, and while I’m sure my loved ones back home will understand why I ran away from Pete, I’m not so sure they’ll be as understanding about me randomly getting married in Vegas.

“Sorry,” he says, trying—and failing—to wipe the smirk off his face. “I'll be sure to go back to my regularly scheduled programming of brooding stares and sarcastic remarks. I mean, come on, they don’t call me Broody Bennett for nothing.”

“Thank you, I’d appreciate it,” I huff, an involuntary smile spreading across my face. “Now, back to what I was saying...” I trail off, giving him a quick, playful glare. “It really does seem like the sooner we get things moving, the better, because in Colorado, it still looks like it will take a couple of months before everything gets taken care of and our marriage becomes officially annulled.”

“Really?” he asks, his smile finally disappearing as it fully registers that, while we both know this was never real to beginwith, we’re going to have to be married for at least a few months. “I always thought annulments were quick.”

“Same.” I sigh, the dull glow of the screen fading to black as I tuck my phone away.

“But at least it’s not like we’ll be getting divorced. That has to count for something, right?” he asks, his eyes flicking toward me for a moment before returning to the road ahead. “It will be like this never happened.”

“I guess. It’s better than nothing.” I agree, doing my best to be as equally positive as he’s trying to be, even if I know he’s only doing it for my sake. Surprisingly, he's kind of good at this. Who knew?

Too bad my brain can't seem to let it go. The law might pretend it never happened, but with Evergreen Grove being such a small and gossipy town, it won’t be long before everyone finds out about our crazy Vegas wedding. We’ll forever be known as the fools who got married on a drunken whim. I thought being known as the runaway bride was bad, but now I get to add this to my résumé.Yay me!

“I’m sorry, Vee,” he says, his fingers ghosting over my bare knee and giving it a gentle squeeze before returning his hand to the steering wheel.

“Don’t apologize. It is what it is at this point. I just...” I sigh, trying to figure out how to put my thoughts into words. “I’m not sure I’m ready to face everyone back home just yet, and have them see how I’ve somehow turned into an even bigger disappointment than they already thought.” I groan, my shoulders slumping in defeat.

“First off, we don’t have to drive all the way back to Colorado tonight. We can stop somewhere if that’s what you need” he reminds me, shooting me a quick glance. “Second, nobody in Evergreen could or would ever think badly of you. Honestly, it never made sense to me why everybody loved you, even with thecraziness you seemed to put everyone through. But you’re the town sweetheart, and I’m sure when everyone inevitably finds out what we did, it will somehow only endear you to them even more.”

I roll my eyes. “Not everyone loves me. You should know that better than anyone. Then, when you add the fact that I left a jilted groom at the altar, only to come back home with a new husband, it's likely not going to be the best look. I mean, can you even imagine what Pete is going to have to say about this?”

“Fuck him. The guy is an asshole. Nobody cares what he thinks,” Miles growls.

“Did you forget that he got voted into the city council? He’s loved and adored by lots of people, and I’m pretty sure they’re all going to have a lot of interesting opinions and things to say about what happened and what I’ve done since leaving him.”

“Fuck them, and fuck what everyone in our small-minded town thinks.”

“That may be easy for you to say, especially since you’ve always been good at brushing off what everyone thinks about you, but I’m not built that way. I was born with the gene that makes me desperately care about other's opinions,” I admit, my voice laced with anxiety as my bottom lip pulls into a small frown. “Why do you think I tried so hard for so many years to get you to like me when you constantly made it obvious that you didn’t?”

“And what did me not liking you actually do? Did it cause any actual pain?” he asks.

I shrug. “Maybe not actual physical pain, but that doesn’t mean I enjoyed it, especially with you being someone who was so important to my favorite person in the entire world.”

“And look, you finally did it. You got me to like you, so there’s always hope,” he adds, once again trying to be optimistic, which, coming from him, is kind of weird, yet oddly sweet. “Look, I’m not saying going home is going to be easy. I’m sure things willfeel off for a bit, and people will be gossiping, but eventually it will all die down, and everyone will forget about all of this. They’ll all eventually find something new to gossip about.”

“Maybe.” I give in, even if I’m not fully convinced. Sure, I might not always be the center of the gossip, but I have a feeling that after what happened these past few weeks, the labels of ‘runaway bride’ and ‘Vegas wedding’ will stick with me forever. It will always be a part of my story, whispered in hushed tones whenever my name is mentioned.

“So, what are we going to do? Do we want to spend the night driving all the way through to get home, or should we make one final pit stop and make this crazy adventure of ours last one more day?” he asks, leaving the decision up to me.

I tilt my head, weighing my options. Part of me wants to go home and start figuring out my new normal, but another part wants to delay the inevitable, even if it’s just for one more day.

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