Page 119 of Just (Fake) Married
“I suppose that means I die in Normandy,” Carter drawled. He walked over to the costumes and pulled at the WWII Army uniform. He eyed it skeptically. “Is this thing going to fit?”
“Make it fit,” Marion told him.
I had to swallow a chuckle at Carter taking direction from a teenager.
“And finally, you two will need to change into your wedding reception outfits for the grand re-enactment. So, what are you thinking?” Marion asked, looking between me and Harmony. When we didn’t answer immediately, she added, “To be historically accurate, you probably should wear what you wore on your wedding day.”
“I wore jeans and Harmony wore her sweater inside out,” I noted.
“Ethan,” she scolded me.
“It’s a regular occurrence, babe,” I pointed out. “You should own it.” I reached up to squeeze her shoulder and she carefully stepped sideways like she was making room for Marion, but I knew she was avoiding my touch.
“Jeans and a sweater won’t do,” Marion said, shaking her head. “This is like the big finale. What about an actual wedding dress? I talked to your mom and she has her old dress-”
Harmony sucked in a breath.
“Uh, Marion,” Amity interjected, trying to cover for Harmony’s reaction. “Mom’s dress was very ugly.”
“Agree,” Bliss added. “And wedding dresses are so…passe.”
“Since when?” Marion asked us.
But my eyes were pinned to Harmony. I took a step in her direction, not sure how I felt about any of this either. But I couldn’t deny the thought of seeing her in something white and puffy with me in a traditional black tux played at the edges of my imagination.
“Harm?” I asked, picking up her hands in mine, forcing her to meet my eyes. “We could go all out, no? For the festival. For the town.”
I was gutted when tears sprang to her eyes. She was shaking her head, her throat swallowing hard. I could feel her increased pulse under my thumbs along her wrists.
“I can’t,” she blurted out. “I’m sorry, I can’t.” She looked at Marion. “I can’t wear my mother’s dress. I’ll just…we should be historically accurate anyway. I’m sorry, I’m not feeling well. Is it stuffy in here? I need some air.”
With that, she pulled herself away from me and took off down the stairs. In the silence in her wake, everyone turned to look at me.
“I should go check on her,” I said.
Harmony
“Do you think I blew it?”I finally asked Ethan. “Do you think Marion suspects something?”
Ethan had found me sitting (hiding) under the gallows. He’d suggested a drive out of town might help clear my head, so weleft the animals in the store and took his rental car north to Chuck’s BBQ.
“No,” he said, but he was lying. What a ridiculous thing to freak out over. A wedding dress. But it wasn’t really the dress. Or it wasn’t just the dress. “But, just so I’m clear, it was the dress, right? You don’t want to wear your mom’s dress for the festival reception? Because it’s ugly?”
“It’s beautiful. It’s the most beautiful wedding dress ever,” I said. Wearing my mother’s wedding dress would be a dream come true. But not for this sham of a wedding.
“It’s just so much lying,” I whispered, the tears coming back. “It’s not real. None of this…” my breath caught in my throat and I forced myself to look at him. Really look at him.
He’s not yours. He’s leaving.
I watched his jaw clench and he’d worn his glasses today, too. Which of course, only made him look sexier. And someday his hair would go grey and he’d get smile lines around his eyes and he’d be so handsome…for another woman.
Asshole.
“Can’t you feel it, Ethan?” I asked him. Hoping I wasn’t alone in this crazy marriage miasma where it was getting harder and harder every day to decipher what was real and what wasn’t. “Can’t you feel how utterly fucked up this is all getting?”
“Yeah. I can. But I have an idea,” he said, his voice thoughtful. “What if we-“
Without warning, a full-grown male elk ran out into the road.
