Page 36 of Honeymoon Phase
We follow the signs to the clerk’s office and check in for our appointment, not even able to sit down before being called tothe desk to fill out the paperwork. Colorado is a self-solemnizing state, meaning we don’t need witnesses or a judge or an officiant of any sort to get legally married. In my research, I actually discovered that Colorado is the easiest state to get married quickly in. We just fill out some paperwork, show our IDs, pay the thirty-dollar marriage certificate fee, sign our names, and that’s that. We are man and wife.
“Will you be changing your name?” the clerk asks me, her tone flat. “If so, I can get you those forms as well.”
“Oh... um...” I look to Luke with wide eyes. “I forgot about this.”
He shakes his head. “You don’t need to mess with that, do you?”
“Yeah, I don’t think so. You don’t care, right?”
“Why would I?” Luke asks and I feel weirdly rejected, but obviously that’s the right answer. He’s already signed my predrafted prenup and we’re going to dissolve the marriage in a year, so no need to go through the headache of a name change just to change it back.
“Keeping my name,” I reply to the clerk.
“Okay, then I just need you two to sign here.”
I feel Luke’s eyes on me as I sign first and then I watch him nervously as he signs next.
“Would you like me to notarize this today?”
“Um... yes?” I state with a frown. “Why wouldn’t we.”
“Well, you have thirty-five days to file your marriage license if you want to wait.”
“We don’t want to wait,” Luke says immediately, taking the words right out of my mouth.
“Great. I’ll head to the back to get this notarized, then. It will be just a moment.”
“We need you to notarize this as well please,” I say, handing over the prenup.
She eyes it and compares Luke’s signature before nodding. “I’ll be right back.”
She disappears and Luke and I stand at the counter all dressed up in the drab county clerk’s office.
“It’s wild we’re actually doing this,” I state, trying to fill the silence.
“My family is going to lose it.” Luke blinks back his disbelief.
“Are you sure you want to keep the secret from all of them?” I ask as I think about our text exchange from yesterday. “The fact that this is just a temporary thing is kind of a big secret to keep. And you’re already so close with your family.”
Luke’s jaw goes tight as he shakes his head. “If I tell my mom this isn’t real she will make it her life’s mission to figure out how to make it real.”
“Oh shit.”
“Yeah, and my niece is a self-proclaimed matchmaker so she can’t be trusted either.”
“Yikes.”
“We’re better off faking it with them or they’ll just make our lives miserable.”
I swallow the knot in my throat. “You’re really not doing a good job selling Fletcher Mountain right now.”
Luke’s brown eyes snap up to meet mine and he reaches out to grab my hand in reassurance. “Oh, don’t worry, Roe. You’ll love it up there. Fletcher Mountain...” He pauses for a moment before adding, “It feels like finding a secret that the whole world should know about, but you’re the only lucky one.”
I smile as he begins rattling off all the things he loves about living up there with his brothers and I try to focus on the fact that this is just for a year. I can do anything for a year. Even maybe, possibly, make friends with his brothers’ significant others.
I just hope everyone doesn’t hate me when Luke and I have to end this in a year. That is yet another thing I didn’t consider.
But the lumberyard is the rest of my life. I have to do this. I just hope Luke will help me manage the fallout with his family that’ll come when our one year is up.
