Before I could think better of it, I found myself crossing the street and beelining for the chapel.
Because maybe, just maybe, I could skip the whole lawyer part of this.
We had to have gotten married sometime late the night before. There was no way someone had submitted the paperwork right away, right? Surely that was something that was done during normal business hours.
If I got there before they sent off the paperwork to the state, maybe this whole thing could just go away like it never happened. No paperwork. No actual physical proof of this idiotic drunken marriage to follow me for the rest of my life.
I mean, this whole town ran on money.
And I had a chips bag full of it.
More than most of the employees would see in a year, maybe more.
Surely one of them would take the bribe, find the paperwork, and shred it like it never existed at all.
There would be no need for lawyers.
No arguing over divorce paperwork.
Just… a reset button for the night before.
Did I think Harrison would be happy about it? No. The freak. But… if the marriage contract was gone, what leg did he have to stand on legally? None. If questioned, I could just claim I had no idea what he was talking about.
We’d hooked up, that was it.
No marriage.
No lifelong regrets.
Just a mistaken memory.
And I wouldn’t even feel bad about the lie.
He didn’t seem to feel bad about saying no to a divorce.
So why should I feel that way about erasing our mistake?
I sucked in a deep breath, squared my shoulders, and moved up the front path.
For the first time all morning, something dangerously close to hope unfurled in my chest.
Everything was going to be okay.
CHAPTER FIVE
“Mrs. Valentine!” a chipper voice chimed as I moved inside the front door, pretending to ignore the way the bell on it set off the sound of theWedding March.
“What?” I asked, brows pinching.
“Mrs. Valentine,” she repeated with a big cherry-lipped smile.
Mrs. Valentine.
Well.
That made the world feel like it tilted off its axis.
But at least I knew Harrison’s last name now.
