Except Ledger and I were married.
He rubbed the back of his neck, staring at the courthouse like it had personally betrayed him. “So.”
“So,” I echoed.
“This is … good,” he said, in the exact tone of someone trying to convince himself his haircut wasn’t a disaster.
“Right,” I said. “It solves the housing issue. And the sponsorship. My trust fund. We won’t be homeless or broke.”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah.”
We stood there in stiff, mutual denial while Livvi whispered to Talon, “They’re going to be so weird about this.”
Talon whispered back, “They’re already weird about everything.”
Ridge chimed in, “I give it three days before they start fighting over who gets which side of the bed.”
I whipped around. “We’re not sharing a bed.”
“Yeah,” Ledger said quickly. “There are two bedrooms.”
“Sure,” Ridge said. “For now.”
When our friends finally left—after making us promise we’d text when we got to our married-housing apartment, as if newly married paperwork goblins might abduct us—Ledger and I stood on the courthouse steps alone.
The silence stretched.
Ledger ran a hand through his dark hair. “You okay?”
“Yep,” I lied brightly. “Totally fine. Normal day. Got up, had cereal, got married to a guy so he wouldn’t lose his housing and I could get my trust fund money. Classic Wednesday.”
He huffed out something that might have been a laugh. “I really appreciate you doing this.”
“Of course,” I said. “We’re helping each other.”
“Still,” he said quietly.
Something warm pressed against my ribs, but I shoved it away.
“So the housing went through?” I asked.
“They approved it this morning,” he said. “We can move in today—it’s already furnished.”
“Oh.” My stomach swooped. “Wow. That’s … soon.”
“Yeah. Married people get priority.”
Married people.
Us.
A wave of surreal unease washed over me. Maybe it showed on my face, because Ledger stepped slightly closer, not touching, just hovering like he wasn’t sure if comfort was allowed now that we were both pretending feelings didn’t exist.
“We’ll figure it out,” he said. “It’s going to be fine. We’ll just stay out of each other’s way.”
I nodded. “Yeah. Totally.”
