Page 26 of Four-ever Single

“I can’t believe this is even happening,” Bella muttered, rubbing her hands down her face.

“I’m sorry. I know this is a lot to take in and process and that there’s a looming deadline facing you. I wish I could have gotten in touch with you sooner. Unfortunately, it seems your grandmother had accidentally transposed two numbers in your phone number, which created some delays for me. I tried getting the correct number from your family, but they were reluctant to help after learning they weren’t getting anything from the trust.”

“Do my parents know that I’m...”

Burt nodded.

“And that I have to...”

He nodded again.

“Speaking as a friend of Margaret’s and not an attorney, I strongly recommend getting things handled as soon as possible.”

Bella looked up at him, head cocked to the side in confusion.

“What do you mean?”

“Make it official. Wear a ring. Make sure everyone in town knows about the new bride and groom. Small towns love to talk, and an upcoming wedding would be just the chatter we need right now. Nothing makes a marriage more believable than the people in town talking about it,” Burt said, closing the folder he was looking at and resting his hands on top.

“Great, now I just have to find someone to marry...” Bella said, looking in a daze. I couldn’t begin to imagine what she was feeling.

I swallowed hard, hating the thought that whatever was going on between us would be over just like that. Sure, we were having fun, and it was a no-strings-attached situation that Bella wanted. But now that she had to get married, surely this would be when she realized she could do so much better than me.

Sixteen

Bella

“You’re getting married!” Lia shrieked, drawing attention to us as we sat around a table at Surf ’N Shack. She was on a very short lunch break, and it happened to be close to the hospital where she was doing her clinical rotations.

“Yes,” I said quietly, trying to calm my racing heart. I still couldn’t believe it myself. It was like I was sucked into this warped universe.

“To who?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged, trying to keep the raw emotion out of my voice. Just because I was panicking and in full-blown shutdown mode didn’t mean everyone needed to know about it. I looked around helplessly until I spotted Jones talking to Capshaw and Kensy at the front register. Just the sight of him and the soft smile he gave when he locked eyes with me was enough to slow my racing heart and give me a sense of peace.

He’d driven me here after we left Burt’s office, though we hadn’t talked about what had just happened. My head had been spinning while I fought off the urge to vomit everywhere.

“I don’t get it,” Lia said, leaning back and folding her arms over her chest as Jones, Capshaw, and Kensy headed our way with trays of food. “Why are you getting married if you don’t even know who you’re getting married to?”

“In order to claim the inheritance my grandmother left me in the trust, I have to be married before my 25th birthday,” I explained for what felt like the hundredth time. For Lia, it had only been the first time, but I had been obsessively thinking about it since I found out.

“That’s in less than three weeks.” Her eyes looked like they were about to pop out of her head—same, girl.

“I know.”

“So what are you going to do?” Lia asked, taking the plate of food Kensy handed to her.

I’d sent a group message, begging everyone to meet us here so I could talk to them. I could tell by the strained expression on Capshaw’s face that Jones had already told him.

“I don’t know. I either get married to someone in the next three weeks and inherit a bunch of stuff from my grandmother, or I don’t do it, and my cousin Todd has a chance of taking what he’s always wanted. I know I shouldn’t say it because he’s family, but I wholeheartedly hate him.”

“Sounds like we’re planning a wedding then,” Lia said, popping a french fry into her mouth.

“You make it sound like it’s so easy,” I grumbled, running my hands through my hair again.

“That’s because it is. Now if you told me that you had stuck a glass toy up your ass that wasn’t meant to go up your ass, and we had to spend hours trying to retrieve it—that would be a problem.”

“Eww.” I scrunched my nose, even though I was appallingly curious about what they had used in the first place. “Also, having a toy stuck up your ass isn’t the same as finding out you have to get married in the next three weeks. I’m not in any position to be getting married!”

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