My chest tightened. “Uh, let me solve for all the variables, but I think sooner rather than later is important.” I looked down at my watch, as if that was going to help me. “It’s Easter next weekend. Perhaps we could do it as early as that?”
“I’d like that.”
I snuck a peek at her face, and for once, she was the one with a flush spreading across her cheeks. I fought my smile and lost abysmally. “Consider it done. I’ll be in touch.”
“Is talking on here safe?” she asked, catching her bottom lip between her teeth. “I mean, can the police not like … subpoena transcripts from conversations or text messages? If they knew we’d been planning this …”
I shrugged wryly. “That’s the beauty of being the developer behind the app—I can wipe any and all records of our conversations from our servers.”
She beamed at me. “Hot, smart and devious! You’re really the whole package, Henry ‘Mocking Jay’ Baxter.”
I ended the call with my face muscles tight from the smile I just couldn’t get rid of and a week to plan a fake wedding.
“This is fucking insane!” Atlas crowed, smoothing the sides of his fauxhawk. “I love it! Chewy, just when I think I have you all worked out, you throw me a curve ball like this!”
“Look, I just need to know if your contact at Births, Deaths and Marriages will be amenable to tweaking dates on our marriage certificate,” I said tightly. If it wasn’t for Atlas having someone on the inside, I likely wouldn’t have even included him in this discussion. He was the type to find the whole thing so amusing that he would blurt it out in conversation and ruin everything for Irina.
“I think we might have more of a problem than tweaking dates, Henry,” Liv added tentatively. She was perched on the lounge in my office, her laptop balanced on her knees. Beside her, Lucian sat, arms folded, glowering. I was not looking forward to the serving he was going to give me once everyone else had vacated my office.
“In what way?” I asked, popping some gum into my mouth.
Liv’s eyes darted to me, then to Lucian, then back to her screen. “You need to complete a Notice of Intended Marriage. That should have been lodged at least a month before the wedding. And it needs to be filled in by you and Irina, and the licenced celebrant who will be conducting the ceremony. And it’s not just that … you need to then apply for a partner visa, and that must happen within twenty-eight days of her visa expiring for her to be able to stay while that application is processed.”
“Shit.” I ran a hand through my hair, then took my glasses off and dropped them on my desk, rubbing at my eyes. I was usually much more on top of ensuring I’d covered all bases. Why was I in such a rush with this that I hadn’t done my due diligence?
“Are these online applications? Send me the link, I’ll get into their back end. If we can claim their system glitched and they lost our application …”
Atlas cackled. “Are you catching this, Luce? He’s got it bad for this girl! Can’t stand the thought of her being deported, so he’s prepared to hack into government websites for her!”
Lucian made a grunting noise.
“It’s all online,” Liv confirmed. “I’ll send you the links. But you don’t have a celebrant for the wedding cere?—”
“Does someone need a celebrant?”
All our heads snapped in unison to the door, where River Riley stood, beaming at us. I’d completely forgotten I’d scheduled in a meeting with him today. “Because you’re looking at one! Who’s getting hitched?”
Atlas leapt to his feet, grinning widely. “Our illustrious Mr Baxter! And it’s a rush job too, he?—”
“Atlas, we need to go over security for your trip to California next week,” Lucian rumbled, striding over and putting himself between Atlas and River. “We’ve let some team members go last week, and I need to be sure whoever we send with you is the right fit.”
Atlas frowned. “I’m pretty sure that can wait, I mean, River must want to?—”
“Oh, River’s here for a meeting with Henry!” Liv squeaked, and then she was on her feet too, snapping her laptop shut and hurrying to the door to usher River back into the foyer. “Apologies I wasn’t at my desk to greet you. Can I get you a coffee? Tea? Something cold?”
River, looking perplexed, let himself be led back out of the room. Lucian watched their retreating backs until they were out of sight before rounding on Atlas.
“You need to watch your mouth, Prideaux,” he hissed. “What Henry’s planning requires you to practise some fucking discretion. I know that’s not your forte, but just try, will you?”
Atlas, red-faced and scowling, nodded. “Jesus fucking Christ, it’s not that serious! It was just a bit of fun!”
Lucian slapped his hand down on my desk with so much force my computer rattled. “You’re a twit if you think this isn’t serious. Henry’s planning to break the law for this girl he’s known for all of a week, and if you don’t keep your mouth shut, and this gets out, this business will go down, and it’ll drag you down with it.”
Atlas had the good sense to look chastised. Meanwhile, anxiety surged to life in my stomach. Was I really jeopardising Tickle? I hadn’t even considered that. I’d been so fixated on finding a way to make our sham marriage work for Irina.
“Henry’s too smart to get caught,” Atlas protested, turning to me. “Youaretoo smart to get caught, aren’t you, Chewy?”
I nodded, as Lucian added, “He’stoo smart, but you’re not. So, keep your lips zipped, or you’re going to be the weak link that ruins this for everyone.”
