“Obviously, husband.”
Neither of us had rushed the conversation about annulment. It had come up once, tentatively, and then quietly disappeared. We didn’t like imagining a version of our lives in which we weren’t connected. Didn’t like the wayexsounded next to our names.
Calling each other wife and husband felt too good to give up.
We didn’t need a timeline or a plan carved in stone. We were learning—slowly, deliberately—how to choose each other in the everyday moments. In shared mornings and casual promises. In showing up.
And somehow, without either of us naming it out loud, that choice had started to feel like home.
Dinner that night was loud and crowded and exactly what I’d come to think of as family.
Talon’s apartment smelled like garlic and something burning just slightly, Livvi perched on the counter pretending not to supervise while absolutely supervising. Ledger squeezed my hand as we walked in, a silentyou okay?that I answered with a squeeze back.
Ridge was already there, sitting stiffly at the table.
“Wow.” I dropped into the chair across from him. “You look tense.”
“I’m fine.”
“Uh-huh.” Ledger smirked. “Is this about the transfer swimmer again?”
Ridge scowled. “I told you, it’s nothing.”
“Oh,” I said lightly. “You mean the beautiful brunette I saw at the pool this morning?”
The room went still, and Ridge’s ears turned red.
Livvi’s eyes widened. “Ooh, you saw her?”
“I did.” I nodded. “Hard not to. She’s basically a swim goddess—long dark hair pulled into a messy bun, shoulders like she was carved out of determination and chlorine, and that effortlessI belong hereconfidence.”
Talon let out a low whistle. “Dang, Ridge. I didn’t know Lola was threatening your focus.”
“She’s not,” he shot back.
Ledger leaned back in his chair, grinning. “Sure sounds like it.”
“It’s not like that,” Ridge muttered, glaring into his water glass like it had personally betrayed him. “I don’t let women distract me from my goals.”
Ledger’s smirk widened. “Come on, Ridge. We’ve all seen the way you glance over at her. Admit it—you’re a little distracted.”
Ridge waved a hand like he was swatting flies. “I said it’s nothing.”
“Right,” Ledger said, voice dripping with mock solemnity. “Nothing at all. Totally professional.Absolutely zero distraction and swooning over the transfer swimmer.”
I rolled my eyes. “You swimmers and your distractions.”
Ledger laughed. “Careful, Ridge. That’s how it starts.”
“Yeah,” Talon added. “Next thing you know, you’re pretending you don’t like each other for years.” He looked pointedly at me and Ledger.
Ledger turned toward Talon, eyes glinting. “Let’s not forget that you fell for the same girl twice—once on a screen, once in real life. You were all kinds of distracted.”
Ridge groaned. “I don’t have time for distractions.”
I smiled. “Neither did they. Look how that turned out.”
We all laughed—except Ridge, who just shook his head, annoyed, flustered, and very obviously doomed.
