Page 72 of A Chance for Us
Her eyes find mine, and she gasps. “Oh my God! You had sex with Oliver!”
“Will you be quiet?” I say quickly as I clamp my hand over her mouth. “The door is wide open.”
She pulls it down. “You did?”
“Yes, but it’s fine.”
“Oh, this I have to hear.” Devney walks over to the couch and hesitates before sitting. “Is this spot safe, or are there questionable body fluids on it?”
“You’re ridiculous.”
She shrugs, choosing not to sit. “I knew this would happen.”
“You knew what?”
“That you’d have sex with him,” she says while shaking her head. “I saw it the second you two were together in front of everyone. Oliver is not that good of a liar. You guys have feelings for each other, and last night . . . was inevitable.”
She’s insane. We are only feeding off the emotions we have been forced to fake.
“That’s not true. But things have changed.”
“How so?”
I sigh. “Well, we had the whole wedding, and afterward, my dad asked to go with us to sign the marriage license.”
“No!” She covers her mouth with her hands.
“Yeah.”
“Did you sign it?”
I nod. “What option did we have?”
“Okay, that’s true. But . . . well, it’s fine if you don’t file it, right?”
“That’s what we think, but Mark is going to look into it just to be sure.”
“You know,” Devney says, taking my hands in hers. “This is kind of brilliant. You signed the papers. Everyone thinks it’s real and you love each other. If you can void the whole thing by conveniently forgetting to file the paperwork, then when you guys decide to”—she lifts her fingers in air quotes—“get divorced, you won’t actually have to do anything. It can be a clean break.”
I never even considered that. “You’re right.”
“I am, but that doesn’t change the fact that you and Oliver had dirty sex on your wedding night.”
Of all the conversations in the world I thought I’d ever have, this isn’t one. Nothing about this weekend has gone to plan. Having the wedding, the groom, and then this morning has been a complete mind fuck, and I can’t make sense of it yet.
Honestly, I don’t really want to overthink this. I want to enjoy it.
“Maybe not, but we’re both adults, and we’re fully aware that it’s nothing but sex.”
“Oh. Sure. What you should say is that you’ve figured out a way to rationalize the feelings and dismiss them.”
“I am not rationalizing anything.”
She scoffs. “Please. You’re the queen of it. It’s what landed you in this situation to begin with, Mare. You were going to marry the other guy because of your dad, and you rationalized that it was worth it even though you didn’t love your ex. Now, you have the feelings you didn’t have—”
“I don’t!”
“—for the other guy, and you’re again, making excuses.”
