“Thank god.” She flopped back onto the bed.
“What, not planning the reception when we get home?” he asked, looking down at her.
“No. Planning the divorce,” she admitted.
Oddly, her words kind of hurt. Maybe they should give it a try, see if it worked. They seemed to get along well when they were drunk; in fact, she usually had to be drunk for them to get along.
Both their phones dinged with texts at the same time. Both looked at their respective phones, and both groaned. One hour until the wedding.
Grabbing his jeans and shirt from the floor, he said, “I have to go get ready I’ll see you in an hour. We’ll talk about this later.”
“I’m walking. I need fresh air today.” She didn’t get up from the bed, just said the words to the ceiling.
“Then you have even less time. I’ll see you in a half an hour, and I’ll walk with you. No way am I letting you walk alone down the Strip in that dress.”
“What’s wrong with my dress?”
“Nothing, it’s perfect. You would be kidnapped in a heartbeat for your sexy body.” He smiled as her head lifted and looked at him. Turning, he poked his head out in the hallway. It was empty, so he rushed to his own room next door.
After tossing his clothes on the bed, he headed for the shower, where he climbed under the hot spray and couldn’t stop smiling. He was married to Mia Lawson, Mia Brooks. He had no idea whose idea that was, but he didn’t care. It was a great idea. Now he just had to figure out how to stay married to her. That was going to be harder than keeping her in Landstad for the next three months.
CHAPTER15
A mile wasn’ta long enough walk to clear Mia’s mind. Maybe it was because the object of her thoughts was with her the entire time. How could she plan their impending separation and divorce if he was right there? All handsome in his suit. The same suit he always wore to work, but he still was handsome in it. She wished he had worn it last night for their wedding. He was far sexier in jeans, but it was a wedding, after all.
During the ceremony, she wondered if it was the same words she and Rafferty heard last night. Probably. Looking across the happy couple to see if he was paying attention, she saw he was looking at her. Her dress wasn’t as wrinkled as she thought it would be. She could only hope Ruth would think it was because of the plane ride.
Ruth looked beautiful in her off-white, form-fitting dress. It was stunning with her white hair and blue eyes. But it was the look on Anderson’s face when he saw her in it for the first time. It took his breath away, and Mia saw it happen. He was so in love with her. Mia loved that she was a part of this little moment of their lives.
After the ceremony, Mia and Rafferty signed a marriage certificate that was a copy of theirs, but this time, their names were on the witness line The group went out for a fancy supper that lasted longer than any of them actually thought it would. Or maybe it was just longer than Mia thought it would be. She needed alone time to think.
By the time she made it back to her hotel room, it was close to nine p.m. The previous day was catching up with her, and all she wanted to do was climb into bed. So, after taking off her wedding dress, literally, she threw on the T-shirt she had worn that morning, or afternoon, and started to flip through the TV channels for something good. Something that would take her mind off weddings and grooms and sexy guys in jeans.
She never found anything good on since she fell asleep so fast that she woke up to the weather channel the next morning. Her phone was ringing. Rolling over, she saw it was her cousin Mandy from next door. Well, she would be next door if she was in Landstad, but instead, she was in Las Vegas, which Mandy didn’t need to know, so she ignored the call.
With a start, she realized she had about twenty minutes before the car left for the airport. Jumping from bed, she hurried through changing and packing and was only five minutes late meeting Mr. and Mrs. Miles in the lobby. There they were, looking just as much in love as when they had parted the night before. Of course, Rafferty was there too, but he looked anything but in love this morning.
“How is everyone today?” she asked carefully as Rafferty angrily grabbed her bag from her and headed to the car. At his actions, she answered for them. “Grouchy.”
Once at the airport, they could relax since they had over an hour to wait for the plane. Sitting next to Ruth while the guys went to hunt down something to eat, Mia asked, “How’s married life?”
“About the same as single life,” Ruth answered and smiled at her. That’s how Mia felt about it, too. She didn’t feel any more married to Rafferty than she had last week.
“When are you going to tell the dragon?” Mia asked about Ruth’s mom.
The woman was a legend in town as someone you didn’t mess with—or slip anything past, though Ruth had from time to time. Mia had always applauded the woman’s pluck. She never managed to get anything past her own mom, and she didn’t fear her as much as Ruth’s mom.
“I don’t know. I’m starting to think we’re not going to tell anyone. I mean, we’ll get married one day. In town, that is. I mean, we did this for us. Maybe one day, we will do it for everyone else,” Ruth said quietly, To quietly, like she was hiding it.
“Did you just get married so your baby would be born in wedlock? But really, you like living in sin with Anderson?” Mia questioned, wondering exactly how much money the couple had spent on this little trip for nothing.
“More like I feel bad that everyone didn’t get to be there. I mean, Hazel gets married next week, and she’ll have everyone there. The ceremony was beautiful, but I missed my friends being there. I really want to get married with my friends there,” Ruth admitted.
Mia almost told her to try thinking about getting married and not even remembering it. That was a bigger bummer than not having people there.
“I found muffins for us.” Anderson came back toward them with a bag he handed to Ruth.
“Good,” Mia said, grabbing the bag from Ruth. She was starving.