Page 78
“Could skip it.”
She fights a smile. “Behave.”
“Never promised that.”
Hank gives her away, despite my wife pointing out repeatedly that nobody owns her and therefore nobody can technically give her away.
Hank cries harder.
This time there isn’t a contract waiting on a courthouse desk.
No hundred thousand dollars.
No deadline.
No land inheritance.
Nothing either of us gets for staying.
Just Lila.
The officiant says some things I don’t hear because my wife keeps rubbing her thumb over my hand. Then she says her vows and they’re long.
She talks about the auction. The storm. The lodge. My terrible attitude.
People laugh.
I glare at them.
She smiles.
Then she tells me I gave her a home when she thought all she needed was to save one.
Finally, she looks up at me. “Your turn.”
“No.”
Her eyes widen.
Someone laughs.
I squeeze her hand. “Kidding.”
“I’m divorcing you.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Dane.”
I take both her hands.
I wrote vows. They’re in my pocket. Three pages. I didn’t sleep last night because I kept rewriting them. But I decide not to take them out.
Lila knows me. She doesn’t need three pages.
“First time, I married you because I needed a wife.”
Her smile softens.
