He grabbed my hand and laced our fingers together.
“So, this is actually a pretty simple decision for me, knowing that by signing a paper and filling out a form, I’m keeping you healthy. Plus, it would be kind of fun to check out the wedding Dean really wanted.”
“Too bad we can’t tell him about it.”
“This is the chapel Dean told us about.” He turned the screen to face me, ignoring what I’d said. “It’s a few minutes from the Strip and open all night.”
“Is that the officiant?” He was in a full white jumpsuit with thick sideburns and oversized sunglasses.
“One of them, I guess. My mother would have gotten a kick out of this. She loved Elvis.” His grin shrank to a wistful smile.
“I didn’t know that. I don’t know if she’d be thrilled about you not marrying for love.”
“Who said I’m not? I can promise you on this our wedding day, that I have never loved a woman as much as I love you.” He kissed the top of my wrist. “And that is why you’re going to let me do this.”
He snatched the phone from my other hand and scrolled to the bottom of the screen.
“It’s legit? Like we can really just walk in, get married, and it’s legal?”
“Looks like it,” he said as he kept scrolling. “We’ll walk out with a marriage license, and you will be Mrs. Landon Clark. I mean, in theory.” His lip curled as he shot me a glance. “You have your driver’s license on you, right? I’ll get us an Uber, and we can be there in fifteen minutes.”
“I do.” I grimaced when his head shot up.
“You do? Meaning, yes, you’ll marry me?”
“Meaning I love you too.” I swallowed, trying to ward off the burning in my nose. “And unlike the other time I was planning to do this, I trust you completely.” My pulse kicked up as I sucked in a long breath and slowly let it out.
“So, yes.” I took a deep breath and offered up a silent prayer that thissolutionwouldn’t blow up in both our faces. “Yes, I will marry you.”
9
LANDON
As it turned out, with a few more clicks of research, we couldn’t simply walk into the chapel and get our license. We had to stop at the Clark County Marriage Bureau, which, as luck would have it, was less than twenty minutes from the hotel and was open until midnight. We picked it up, jumped back into an Uber, and headed on our way to make this fake marriage official.
“It doesn’t even look real,” Julie mused as the car pulled up to the chapel. It looked like a tiny white schoolhouse except for the exaggerated stone-covered steeple along the side. The neon sign in front flashed “Wedding Chapel” in bright orange as a low stream of instrumental Elvis songs played from speakers we couldn’t see.
“Are they actually playing ‘It’s Now or Never’?” Julie cracked up as she stepped out of the car, setting her hands on her hips as she surveyed the outside. “No pressure, right?”
I laughed and grabbed her hand.
“For some. Maybe for others, it’s needed encouragement. Not backing out, are you, Robison?”
“No, Clark. I’m good.” She peered up at the buzzing neon sign. “I feel like we’ve walked on to a movie set.”
“This is all real and legit, like I told you. Well, real and legit in the sense—”
“I know.” Her smile faded when she dragged her gaze to mine. “I’m ready if you are.”
I stepped onto the tiny porch and held the door open for her to step through.
“Aren’t you two precious?” the clerk at the front desk told us as she looked us over. “Come in,” she said, waving us in. “I’m Mandy, and I’ll get you all set up.” She clasped her hands under her chin. “And already dressed up. We have button-downs for the guys who come in a little too casual. But you are both picture-perfect!”
As far as authenticity went, the Now or Never Chapel of Bliss was on point inside and out. I wasn’t sure if younger patrons appreciated Mandy’s resemblance to a young Priscilla Presley, with her bright pastel eye shadow and teased blond hair, but the man who was set to marry us was all Vegas Elvis, complete with the exaggerated curl of his lips when he spoke.
Even though he wasn’t here, and I had no idea if we’d ever tell him what we’d done, I convinced Julie to choose the Greatest Hits package in Dean’s honor.
“Okay, so we have all your information,” Mandy chirped after we handed her all the forms. “Time to get the show on the road!” She handed Julie a fake bouquet of lilies. “Do you want to walk down together or have your hunk of burning love wait for you?”
