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“You want a cowboy hat, darlin’?” Billy, one of the ranch hands, took off his own cowboy hat and plopped it on my head with a wink. “Here, take mine.”
It didn’t fit very well over my thick mass of curls. I laughed. “Well, thank you kindly—” The hat was gone again before I finished my sentence. “What—” I blinked up at Seb, confused.
“Put your hat on my wife’s head again, and I’ll make you eat it,” Seb said pleasantly, almost like he was joking. But he pushed Billy’s hat into his chest with enough force to make Billy go back a step.
Billy’s brows knit in confusion as he glanced between us. “You’re married?”
I shot Seb a nasty look before smiling reassuringly at Billy. “He means ex-wife,” I said. Billy made a hasty retreat, muttering an excuse about a calf wandering too far, and I grabbed Seb by the elbow and gave him a little shake. “What the hell is wrong with you?” I demanded.
His lips flattened. “There’s a saying.”
I rolled my eyes. “Wear the hat, ride the cowboy. I’m aware. But Billy was just being friendly.”
“He wasn’t being friendly. He was flirting.”
“So? If it doesn’t bother me, it shouldn’t bother you. I’m your ex-wife. You don’t have to defend my honor.”
His head cocked as he looked down at me. “You keep using that word. I don’t think it means what you think it means.”
“What word?” I asked, confused.
“Ex-wife. You’re not my ex-wife.”
Ah, yes. His mom had made that abundantly clear. “Yeah, I know. The ceremony didn’t legally count. But it still counts spiritually. We exchanged vows and made promises. So I’m your spiritual ex-wife if nothing else.”
He stared at me like I had lost my mind. “Lila…shit.”
Foreboding coiled in my gut. “What?”
“It counted. The ceremony counted. The marriage counted. You’re not my ex-wife. Not because we never got married. Because we never got divorced.”
13
SEB
Well, shit.
“Dude.” Mateo stared at me through his glasses with round, unblinking eyes. “You didn’t tell her you’re married?”
My gaze didn’t stray from Lila’s angry form flouncing toward the ATV. I cupped my hands around my mouth like a bullhorn. “Don’t drive angry!”
The only response I got was two middle fingers held high.
Shit. She better not roll the damn thing. I scrubbed a hand over my jaw and turned back to my friends. They stared back at me with wide-eyed disbelief.
“How was I supposed to know she thought it wasn’t legal?” I demanded. “We said our vows. Exchanged wedding rings. They were those cheap silicone rings, but that was all she wanted. She said a big rock on her finger would only get in her way when she was taking photographs. But she moved across the country to live with me in D.C. She called me her husband to her mom and friends. It never once occurred to me that she thought it was fake.”
“Dude,” Mateo said again.
Hands on hips, I glared at him. “What?”
“Why didn’t you file for divorce?”
“Because I—” I broke off, swallowing hard. Because she’s my wife. “She didn’t file, either,” I defended myself.
“She didn’t know you were married. Of course she didn’t file for divorce.”
I shrugged. “But I didn’t know she didn’t know. I figured she’d file eventually—ow!” I rubbed my arm where Lennon had smacked the shit out of me. I glared at her and then at Holly when she snickered, and then at Lennon again. “What was that for?”
