“Thank you, Max,” she said, but just kept staring at the flowers.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” I asked, my throat thick. I was sure. I’d never been surer.
It took a second for her to nod and finally look at me. “Yes.”
I managed that smile I’d perfected over the years. The friendly one that hid how I’d always felt about her.
“After you,” I murmured and held open the door to the courthouse.
It was a few minutes past eight. I’d hoped by going first thing, we wouldn’t have to wait long or run into too many people who might ask questions. I wasn’t wrong.
The ceremony took twenty minutes. The clerk sat in a chair in the corner of the room as our witness. Judge MacDonald tried to look excited as he repeated the script he’d said hundreds of times. I didn’t realize how much I’d expected Daisy to change her mind right up until the moment she said,“I do.”
When it came to the end of the vows, and he declared I could kiss my bride, I reached for Daisy, cupped her face, and then just before my lips reached hers, I veered them to the side and kissed just next to her mouth. Close enough to feel the swift catch of her breath like she’d just dodged a bullet.
Because I wasn’t the one she wanted. Not really.
I embraced the pain that slammed through my chest, expecting it to be my constant companion until our arrangement came to an end. It was a safety measure, the airbag that went off to save me from making a mistake that would irreversibly injure my heart.
The second I started blurring the lines of this convenient marriage was the moment I sealed my own downfall. I couldn’t blur the lines but keep the emotional boundaries clear. If I kissed Daisy, I wouldn’t be able to let her go. It would be like jumping off a cliff and expecting to fly. I wasn’t the exception to gravity. And I wasn’t the exception to falling for Daisy when her heart wasn’t ever—had never been mine.
“What now?” she asked when we climbed back into the truck, her face as white as the marriage certificate in her lap.
“We’ll stop for breakfast, and I’ll call my health insurance rep, and then we’ll do our route for the day.”
I’d thought about dividing up the deliveries to the other drivers to give us the day off, but I stopped myself. This marriage wasn’t real, not to her, so the only thing that mattered was making good on my vow to take care of her. In order of priority, that was feeding her, getting the ball rolling on getting her on my insurance, and then driving. Lots of driving.
“Do we have a lot of stops?” She curled deeper into the seat, her fingers playing with the fabric of her dress on her stomach.
“Yeah.” I pulled my printout from the driver’s door and passed it to her.
She scanned over the list, and her shoulders slumped. “Perfect.”
My grip on the wheel tightened, another blow of pain hitting my chest. I should be grateful for the distraction too.
“Meatball parm subs.”I set the delivery bag on the counter.
Daisy’s eyes widened eagerly and then snapped to the second bag in my hand. “What’s that?”
“Blueberry honey ice cream.” I stuffed the dessert into the freezer and then pulled two plates from the kitchen cabinet in the apartment. When I turned back, she was staring at me cautiously. “Harper collaborated with Cool Beans on a special batch with her honey. She asked me to swing by and pick up a pint for you.”
All true. It was also true that while we’d spent the better part of the day pretending things were the same, the reality was everything had changed.We were married.Even if it was only a temporary arrangement, only out of convenience, the longer we avoided mentioning the elephant, the bigger it would become.
“We got married this morning, Daze. Figured a little dessert wasn’t a bad way to end the night.”
Her gaze dropped, guilt flushing her cheeks. “Yeah.” She offered a weak smile. “You’re right.”
I started to unpack the bag with the sandwiches, unwrapping each and placing them on plates. There were a dozen things I wanted to say, but I could tell there was something on her mind, and I didn’t want to be the reason she never spoke it.
“Did you tell her…tell Harper?”
I stopped. “That we got married?”
Daisy nodded.
“No.” I handed her a plate.
“Are you going to?”
