“Not me. I didn’t plan a wedding.” Eli shook his head quickly.
“Mrs. Howard, you spent about eighteen months planning the wedding?” The judge glanced at Marlee over her bifocals.
“Ms. Medford, not Mrs. Howard,” Marlee corrected. It seemed like an important note to make in annulment proceedings. “And yes, but not for this wedding. Not here in Las Vegas. This one just—”
“Your Honor.” Eli kept his attention on the judge. “I think—”
The judge held up her hand and ticked her head to the side. There was now a dash of siracha in her cinnamon sugar demeanor. “Mr. Medford—”
“Mr. Howard,” Eli corrected.
The judge licked her top lip and gestured to Marlee. “I’d like to hear what else Ms. Medford was going to say about the marriage.”
Eli flinched again at the word.
“Nothing else. That was it.” Marlee wished the rolling chair would open up and swallow her whole. “But you might want to note on your pad to use a different word. Eli doesn’t care for that one.”
“Shit,” Eli said under his breath just loud enough for Marlee to catch.
“Which word?” Judge Milburn asked.
“‘Marriage.’ It makes him itchy.” Well, it did. He had hives creeping up past his collar line.
“Mar,” he nearly growled the word.
“Well, it bugs you. She should know so she’ll stop using it.” Marlee turned her attention back to the judge. “He prefers to call what happened ‘mistaked.’”
Eli ran both hands over his face, stopping at his mouth.
Marlee resisted the urge to do the same. This wasn’t happening. They just needed a do-over.
“Your Honor, may I start over?” Marlee asked.
“No, we’ve done that once. I think we’ve come too far this time.” The judge set her pen down with a great deal of intention. Apparently, she didn’t need to take any more notes.
“Why do you want this annulment, Ms. Medford?” the judge asked.
Marlee glanced at Eli. He was staring at the ceiling, his chest rising and falling too quickly.
“No need to consult with Mr. Howard,” the judge assured. “I just want to hear your reasons.”
Okay, well, Marlee could explain them. There were lots of reasons why the wedding shouldn’t have happened. She just needed to get herself together and be succinct, starting with—
“Because my parents are going to be so mad.” That was probably not where she should’ve started. And yet, the chair wasn’t swallowing her yet, so she just kept talking. “See…it’s just…they spent all the money on the other wedding, and then we got tattoos and I danced with a pole, and then Eli and I got so drunk, and then this happened, and we just need to make it so that it didn’t happen.” There it was, a reasonable version of all the whys.
The judge nodded and continued to make her notes. “The other wedding was to happen on what date?”
“Saturday.” Marlee paused, the flush of embarrassment from Scotty’s dismissal a fresh wound added to the current annulment proceedings.
“Mr. Howard, what is the reason you want this annulment?” Judge McJudgey was apparently done with questioning Marlee. Thank God.
“Because the wedding was a mistake.” Eli pulled at his tie and it went totally to the side.
“You’re all crooked,” Marlee whispered, reaching to adjust his tie again.
His Adam’s apple bobbed as she made the fix.
“Sorry,” Marlee mumbled, abruptly stopping her attempt at straightening. She threaded her fingers together and vowed to not say another word.
