Page 15 of Unravel Me

“Thank you for making me feel safe. I love you Lydia.” Taylor said with the most emotion I’d ever heard in his voice.

“With the power given to me by the state of Illinois, I pronounce you husband and wife.” The judge scribbled his signature. It was anticlimactic. But I was married now. I was married to Taylor Hirano. “You may now kiss the bride,” the judge said.

I leaned close and tapped his wrist twice. He leaned in at the touch and our lips met. It was deeper than last time. He wasn’t as hesitant. Part of me wanted to go even deeper, but we broke apart as quickly as we moved together.

“Congratulations,” the judge said and left to find the next couple.

“Woo!” Virgo said moving closer to us. “Should we go out drinking?”

“It’s not even ten thirty,” I said dryly.

“Yeah and? You just got married! Let’s go somewhere fancy, get some mimosas. I’ll be your photographer. We’ll have everyone who’s everyone talking about your surprise marriage.”

“Taylor?” I looked at him.

“Not for very long.” He replied. His voice and face were back to their neutral, unfeeling state. I wouldn't hear emotion again until we met with his grandfather, and then after that, probably never again.

***

Getting mimosas wasn't a huge disaster like it could’ve been. Virgo took some really good photos. At least I got a nice breakfast out of the marriage ceremony. Virgo, Michael, and I went back to my apartment so we could pack everything I couldn’t live without. For the time being, Virgo was going to move into my room. Really, it’d be more of a storage for her clothes while she used Michael’s room for everything else. Taylor decided not to come, citing needing to do some more work.

I had changed out of my wedding dress and put it back into the box it came in. You can’t really return designer dresses. “What am I going to do with this?” I held up the box to my friends helping me fold my clothes.

“Keep it for the laughs?” Michael suggested.

“If he wasn’t a billionaire, I could have gotten married in any of the nice dresses I own. It feels like it was wasted.”

“It wasn’t wasted.” Virgo sounded almost offended. “You looked hot as hell. I took lots of photos of just you. Use it for your modeling portfolio. Or your dating profile after you’re free.”

“I didn’t even think about that,” I said shoving the box in a tub with some of my other things I was taking over. “What am I going to tell the next guy I date? Or any of the guys I date?”

“Tell them it was a mess.” Virgo shrugged. “The right guy won’t mind.”

“You always know what to say.”

“I have lots of experience.” She winked.

Michael and I looked at each other. We didn’t want to know.

I got a text from Taylor. “He’s sending over movers.”

“We’ve almost got everything,” Michael said. “I’m going to miss you Lyds.”

“Mike. We still work together. And on Monday we’ll have the two million. We’re going to be so busy I might be sleeping at the office more than not.”

“We’ve been roommates since junior year, it’s the end of an era.” He sighed.

“Stop being dramatic.” I rolled my eyes, but something about those words rang true. This was the beginning of something, my life was going to be different from here on out.

***

When the movers arrived, we got everything packed up. I got my hugs goodbye, even though I’d see them soon. I rode with the movers all the way from the city to Glencoe. I was going to have to get used to the thirty-minute commute on top of everything else.

We arrived at his house, no, his mansion. It was an older style house, Victorian looking spires and circular windows. It looked like it was several stories and it had a few acres surrounding it covered with dense trees. If it wasn’t so brightly lit, and the trees weren’t bright green since it was in the middle of summer, I could’ve thought it looked like a vampire’s lair.

I stepped inside and couldn’t help but spin around. I’d been in a few mansions for parties for some of our customers. But when a house this big is filled with people it’s hard to see how much empty space there could be. Each of my footsteps echoed. I understood what Taylor meant: we wouldn’t have to see each other much at all.

In fact, I didn’t see him at all as the movers brought everything in. They seemed to know where my room was, so I followed them. It was a bedroom on the second floor, and it had a full bath attached and a walk-in closet. I unpacked once the movers left. I put on some music and got everything settled. As I hung up some of my clothes I stopped suddenly. I remembered I had gotten married that morning. Here I was folding some clothes alone in a mansion. I giggled a little, knowing I sounded mad. The final thing I put away was the wedding dress box. I shoved it into a corner of the walk-in where I couldn’t see it.

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