Page 36 of Holding Penalty

There are still so many people I need to have longer conversations with about what happened. Other family members who came, my bridesmaids, other friends and acquaintances, including mutual friends both Crew and I know. When I think about it, dread pools in my stomach, and I feel overwhelmed.

But tonight, at least, I’m just relaxing with my sister.

“Nope,” I answer around a mouthful of a slice loaded with sausage and olives. I never even thought about that.

“Wow.” Hallie’s brow raises with surprise. “Super-rich guys like him are usually careful about that stuff. I wonder if he’s had a secret crush on you for years and is just using this as an excuse to get close to you.”

I almost spit out my sip of wine trying to hold back a laugh. “Yeah, right. You were there at some of those parties back in college when he banged on the door and told us to keep it down. Did he look like he had a crush?”

“Maybe we should both plead the fifth when it comes to memories of those parties, considering how I was under twenty-one and what I got up to there.”

I’m two years older than Hallie. She was a freshman when I was a junior. What kind of cool older sister would I have been if I didn’t let her take advantage of my off-campus housing, within reason?

“There are definitely some kisses that went down at those parties I’d love to plead the fifth on,” I say.

“And maybe there were some kisses that the grumpy hockey player next door wished he was having when he marched over.” Hallie takes another bite of pizza. After a couple seconds of chewing, noticing I’m not taking her bait, she adds with a full mouth, “With you. I’m implying Nash wanted to kiss you.”

I laugh, rolling my eyes and shaking my head. “I got it, Hallie.”

She pops a shoulder. “Just saying, it sounds like he was really eager to marry you for literally no reason. Maybe there was a reason.”

“I told you the reason. He thinks being married will help him get more sponsorships.”

Hallie maintains skeptical eye contact with me as she sips her wine. “Come on.”

“It’s true! Athletes with clean images do get better endorsement deals. And he can’t play hockey forever. It’s smart of him to think about opening new income streams.”

“Maybe he’s thinking about opening your legs instead of income streams.”

“Hallie!” I chide, throwing a balled-up napkin at her.

“So you’re really planning on just not seeing each other, then divorcing after six months?”

“We’ll see each other sometimes. He proposed we go to a couple public events together just so the whole thing doesn’t look totally phony. Just enough for people to know that Nash Miller is now married, so his agent can get to work getting him those sponsorship deals.”

Hallie sings out a low, questioning hum. “I don’t know. Marrying a random is still a lot to do to get some sponsorships.”

“It’s not a lot. It’ll hardly inconvenience either of our lives. And he did know about my inheritance. Is it so hard to believe Nash has an altruistic side?” I happen to know for a fact that he does. I know that he has a big one. But I don’t think Nash is the kind of guy who’d appreciate me telling stories about him.

“Defending your husband already,” Hallie snarks.

I throw another napkin at her, she throws one back, and we spend the rest of the evening laughing, stuffing ourselves, and watching a couple episodes of a show we like while doing running commentary on scenes we’ve seen together dozens of times.

Hallie’s couch is going to be my bed for … who knows how long. I haven’t thought that many steps ahead yet. But when I lie down on it and pull a thin quilt over me, I realize I feel more comfortable here than I have in my own bed next to Crew in months.

My phone rumbles on the floor next to me. I’d love to ignore it, but I feel drawn to pick it up and check the notification.

NASH

Sleep well

My first text from my husband. We exchanged numbers at the coffee shop.

ME

You too, hubby

NASH