Page 70 of Be My Wife

The whole desk vibrates as the ringing starts again.

With a sigh, I pick up the phone, checking to make sure it isn’t the hospital.

It’s not.

“Elizabeth?” I whisper, my brows knitting in confusion. She’s the last person I expected to hear from. The woman huffed, glared and danced around me all afternoon. I thought she’d ignore me until the wedding.

Curious, I answer.

“Hey.”

I hear the sound of tires rushing against the highway in the background. The tussle of the wind. The roar of an open engine.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

“Yeah.” She hesitates. “I need a teeny favor.”

“How teeny?”

“On a scale of one to ten? I’d say twenty-three.”

“What?”

“It’s just for a few days.”

“What is.”

“Just until I figure something else out.”

“Elizabeth…” I warn.

“I need to move in with you.”

My pen slips out of my hand and goes rattling across the desk.

“Also, my family is stopping by to bring my stuff as we speak.”

I leap out of my chair.

“And,” she adds, “my parents want to talk to you.”

“Tonight?”

“Yup. Well, right now.”

“Right now?”

“Mm-hm.”

“Right this minute?”

“Fifteen minutes.”

I groan. “You broke the scale.”

“I told you it was at twenty-three.” She sighs. “I’m not happy about this either, but I couldn’t shake them. You know my family. Well, you’re about to know my family.”

Full panic erupts in my brain. Elizabeth’s description of her very close, very involved Caribbean clan was intimidating. I thought I’d have at least a couple weeks to prepare myself for the onslaught at Novah’s wedding.

---