Page 55 of One and Only

A knot of nerves wedged tight in my throat, and I worked to swallow around it. The tip of the pen hovered over the paper, the blank space over the thick black line getting larger and larger in my head. Greer sensed my hesitation, and she smoothed a hand over my back.

My breathing evened out. My heart rate calmed.

The pen skated over the paper, the neat tidy lines of my own signature looking small and compact next to hers.

“Oddly nerve-wracking, isn’t it?” the pastor asked. “Almost all my couples find this part a little daunting, even though the ceremony is over.”

She exhaled a laugh, the color high in her cheeks when I glanced over at her. “A bit,” she admitted. “I’m not sure why.”

“This is what makes it official, my dear. Without this paper, it’s just a nice party.”

The words dropped into the room like a bomb, and Cameron cleared his throat. “Where do I sign?”

“Right here.” He tapped the paper again. “Oh, but we need one more witness, Greer.”

She sighed. “Of course, sorry.”

Right as she said it, the front door to the house opened, and the young cousin popped his head in. “Am I interrupting?” he asked.

Cameron and I shared a look.

“Perfect timing, Jay,” Greer said silkily. “Can you sign as a witness real quick?”

The pastor’s eyebrows popped up in surprise. “You don’t want your sister to do it?”

She smacked the cousin’s back, a little too hard to be considered polite. “Nah. He’s just fine.”

The kid finished signing his name. “Uhh, Pastor Bill, someone out there started asking questions about performing exorcisms.”

He said the words in such a nervous rush that we all paused, no one moved, not a single sound could be heard in the entire house.

“What now?” Pastor Bill asked, his head tilting to the side.

“Is that like, a thing people do? I don’t know if they meant now or for future reference or if there’s an actual”—he swallowed, his face getting red and blotchy—“demonic possession happening. Maybe you should take some holy water out there just in case.”

Cameron swiped a hand over his face. Greer rolled her lips together, fighting a laugh.

I, on the other hand, was feeling mildly nauseous.

Paster Bill blinked. A few times. “Well … I’m not that kind of pastor, I’m from a nondenominational church, son, but I think maybe I should see what’s going on.”

Jay nodded wildly. “Right now, I think.”

He ushered Pastor Bill toward the door, and Greer snuck her hand over the marriage license, sliding it toward her as the two vanished into the front yard.

“What thefuck,” Cameron breathed. “That’s what you told him to do?”

Greer wheezed in shocked laughter. “No. I just told him to make something up to get Pastor Bill outside for like, two minutes. I told him I’d pay him a hundred bucks if he could manage it.”

I sank down onto one of the kitchen stools. “This is a nightmare.”

“Holy water,” she said around her breathless laughter. “Oh, Pastor Bill’s face. He’s never going to come back here again.”

“Now what?” Cameron asked.

Greer straightened. “Now Beckett and I are going to hide in my bedroom until he leaves.”

I leaned forward. “We’re … what?”

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