“Any joint assets at all?”
Kennedy shakes her head. “No. Nothing like that.”
“And you didn’t consummate the marriage, right?”
Kennedy and I look at each other but otherwise remain silent. The judge stares at us before placing his pen on his desk. “A reminder that you’re under oath. Did you or did you not consummate this marriage?”
I lick my lips nervously while Kennedy’s shoulders fall. Nodding my head, I admit, “We did, but we were both drunk and barely remember it.”
He scowls at my answer and then picks up his pen. He brings it to the papers in front of him several times as if about to write, but never actually does. Eventually, he places his pen back down on the desk and looks back up at thescreen. “You know what, I’m not giving you your annulment.”
“What?” Kennedy, Tanner, and I all yell in unison.
He nods. “I’m sick of people taking the institution of marriage so lightly. You two aren’t irresponsible kids. You’re thirty-two and twenty-six with college degrees and real careers.”
Kennedy scoffs. “You’re punishing us for being responsible adults?”
His eyes blaze with venom. “Yes, young lady, I am. You’re both adults who should know there are consequences to your actions,” he spits back at her.
Tanner clears his throat. “Respectfully, Judge Salvetti, you have to admit this is highly unusual. You have two adults who admittedly made a mistake in Las Vegas. It happens all the time, just as you said. Annulments are granted on a daily basis in similar situations. There’s a lot of precedent to grant this annulment.”
The judge leans back in his chair. “But we have discretion. I know you’re aware of that, counselor.” He crosses his arms as an eerie, smug look takes over his face. “What happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay in Vegas.” He cracks a small smile as if he’s amusing himself. “Here’s what we’re going to do. I want you two to give this marriage a chance until the end of the calendar year. That’s a little over nine months from now. I want?—”
“Judge,” Tanner interrupts. “This is not how it’s done. You can’t force them to stay married. They’ve been married for all of five hours. This isn’t equitable in light of the brevity of the term of the marriage.”
The judge narrows his eyes. “I can and will do exactly as I please, Mr. Montgomery.” His eyes toggle between Kennedy and me. “I want you to go on a minimum of two dates a week. You will date and otherwise attempt to make this marriagework. I want you to give it a real chance. And you must remain true to your vows or the clock starts fresh.”
“What?” Kennedy sputters. “I can’t have sex for nine months?”
That only seems to enrage the judge more. “You can, young lady. With yourhusband.”
“What if we don’t want to have sex with each other?” I ask. “You can’t force us to have sex. We. Were. Drunk. We’re not dating. I don’t even like her.”
“Of course I’m not forcing you to be intimate,” he replies. “I’m just telling you that you can’t be intimate with anyone else.” He has another smug, satisfied look on his face as he picks up his pen. “Let’s do monthly video call check-ins so I can keep an eye on you lovebirds. I remind you that you’ll remain under oath when we chat, so don’t try to pull a fast one on me. I won’t hesitate to put you in jail for perjury. I’ll send your attorney all the information. Good day.”
He cuts the feed abruptly, and his square on the screen goes black, leaving me with a sense of complete and total hopelessness.
You’ve never seen three more shocked faces than the three of us. Tanner breathes, “Wow. I’ve never seen anything like that in my life.” He runs his fingers through his beard. “I’ll try to appeal his decision, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up. These retired judges are respected. No one likes to interfere with them. We got unlucky in getting one with an obvious axe to grind. I’m sorry, you two. You may have to weather this storm through the year.”
We’re both quiet. Still in complete and total shock.
In light of our silence, he says, “I’m…going to run. We’ll talk later, D.”
FIFTEEN
KENNEDY
Ispent the rest of the Vegas trip in a bit of a fog. I couldn’t even look at Daylen, let alone talk to him. He seemed to be feeling the same way as me and didn’t glance my way. We didn’t fight. It was as though the other didn’t exist. I’m sure he was processing the gravity of our situation as much as I was. When Tanner disconnected the feed, I wordlessly walked out of Daylen’s suite in shock and never looked back.
I guess we faked our way through the weekend successfully because no one asked me a single question about our demeanor. I can only assume the same went for him. I wouldn’t know.
The only communication we’ve exchanged since Vegas was via text to set up two times to meet up this week. I can’t believe it’s come to this. I can’t believe I’m going to be married to him for nine months, and that I can’t have sex with anyone else during that time. I ordered five new vibrators on my way home. They’re going to get a lot of use in the coming months. I haven’t gone nine months without having sex since I started having sex.
With Booster hot on my heels, happily bouncing around like a moron in his new sneakers, I walk into practice and notice afamiliar blonde woman in Beavers’ merch shooting baskets with some of the girls on the team. She’s super attractive, though tiny compared to the rest of us. She’s probably nearing forty but looks to be in great physical shape. Where have I seen her before? What is she doing here? She’s obviously not a new player.
Once everyone arrives, Coach Lakshmi blows her whistle for us all to huddle up. We take a knee as she, Coach Carroll, and the familiar blonde stand in front of us. Coach Lakshmi begins, “Ladies, we have a new Beaver staff member. This is Fallon Montgomery. As you know, Noah was fired after last season.”
Noah was our team trainer. He was creepy as fuck, uncomfortably and unnecessarily touching all of us. When the season was over, I told Reagan how we all felt, and she fired him immediately without conducting an investigation or inquiring further. She said the fact that we were uncomfortable around him was reason enough for her.
