I traced the outline of his brows with my finger. “I can do that, but a little at a time. You’re gonna need to sleep, love. The time change is gonna take you a few days to get used to. Your days and nights are turned upside down.”
Carson blinked up at me as the exhaustion caught up with him.
“Let’s go to bed, love.”
With a quick check on Bella, who was sleeping on the thick rug, I pushed Carson to his feet and led him toward my bedroom.
“It’s still early. You don’t have to go to bed just because I’m tired.”
I chuckled. “It’s funny you think I’ve been sleeping worth a damn since leaving you.”
We entered my room, now dim in the evening light. Carson went to the left side, and I to the right, just like we’d done at home. Crawling into bed, I sighed when my head hit the pillow. He curled into my side, with his head on my chest.
I took a deep breath as a feeling of inner peace and calm returned. Knowing I was going to spend the rest of my life with him in San Diego settled every loose end I had. And as we shifted and got comfortable, we drifted off to sleep, happy for the future that awaited us.
Over the next several days, Carson acclimated to the time change, and we explored more and more of the city.
We’d just finished dinner at a local restaurant and were strolling along the harbor, hand in hand, enjoying the late summer night. As we walked along the quay, we stopped and marveled at the Sydney Opera House. It was lit up and breathtaking against the nighttime sky.
As we neared the Harbor Bridge, we happened upon a wedding reception in progress. The glass venue was lit up as guests mingled and enjoyed a cocktail. The bride and groomposed for photographs outside under the canopy lights and against the backdrop of the bridge.
Carson draped his arm over my shoulder and whispered into my ear. “I want to marry you tomorrow.”
My eyes widened as I turned to stare at him. “Tomorrow? Why tomorrow?”
He kissed my cheek. “Because I don’t want to waste another day. I want it to be just you and me.”
I didn’t know what to say, except the only thing that made sense. “Yes. Let’s do it. But I don’t think it’s as easy as just showing up to the magistrate.”
We sat down on a bench facing the harbor and began to search out the process. We each googledhow to get married,and were met with a host of regulations.
As I read, what I feared was the truth. “We have to wait a month.”
Carson looked at me with disappointment in his eyes. “Yeah, I see that.”
“But we have options. Look here,” I said, showing him my screen. “We can get a service to arrange it all, and even pick a special place to do it.”
We flipped through the extensive list of places until we found the perfect one.
“It reminds me of our first date,” he said, wrapping his arm around me.
I smiled, then looked up. “It’s right here.”
We gazed around at our surroundings, now oddly familiar like New York. “We can have the ceremony right here under the bridge,” he said.
His eyes melted into mine. “And we can invite our friends and family.”
My heart did a little skip. “We’re gonna have a real wedding.”
“We are,” he said. “I was going to be delighted with a quickie wedding, but this one will be even better.”
“Carson St. James, any wedding with you will be perfect. But I don’t want to wait a day longer than we have to. So let’s go plan this thing and get the ball rolling.”
Chapter 37
Carson
We went back to the apartment, got a beer, and sat out on the balcony to plan our wedding. Colin lit the fire pit as we sat side-by-side with the million-dollar view of the harbor. Boats were lit up and drifted silently along in the water, offering a different view than the one we had in San Diego.
