Chapter 4

I watched Hugh and Zoey walk away, then slowly loosened my grip on the ticket. My fingers had gone numb from how tightly I'd been holding it.

I sat alone at city hall and waited.

When there were five couples ahead of us, I texted Hugh. "Five couples ahead of us. You can come back now."

His reply came almost immediately. "Zoey and I are still waiting in line. We haven't even gotten our food yet. Five couples is plenty of time. Stop rushing me."

I turned off the screen, feeling my heart sink a little more.

I watched as two more numbers came up on the display board.

I texted him again. "Only three couples left. If you don't come back now, you won't make it in time."

This time, Hugh took much longer to reply. Another number was called before his message finally came through.

"What's the rush? We just started eating. Wait a little longer!"

By the time there was only one couple ahead of me, I heard hurried footsteps behind me. My heart jumped, and I quickly got to my feet and turned around.

It was Devon Hyde.

Our eyes met, and he smiled at me, still catching his breath. "Lynette, I finally made it this time!"

Just then, the automated announcement came over the speakers.

"Number 21, please proceed to the counter."

I smiled too. I slipped my arm through Devon's, and we walked over to the counter and sat down.

The staff member handed us each a pen and a marriage application form. As we started filling them out, I glanced over at Devon. His hand was trembling slightly with excitement.

Once we finished filling out the forms, the staff member asked us one last time, "Are you both sure? If so, I'll go ahead and put the official seal on your marriage certificate."

I nodded.

Beside me, Devon suddenly blurted out, "Wait."

He turned to me. "Lynette, are you really sure about this? If you marry me, I'm never letting you go. Not for the rest of my life. Even if Hugh..."

Before he could finish, my phone rang.

It was Hugh.

I answered, and his voice came through over a jumble of background noise.

"Lynette, let's just do this another day. It's almost 11:30 am, and Zoey and I just left the pizzeria. There's no way we'll make it back in time.

"She thought she was drinking something nonalcoholic, but it had alcohol in it, and now she's really drunk. I need to take her home first. You can head back on your own."

I let out a quiet laugh. That was the moment I finally gave up on him.

"Don't bother. I already got married this morning."

"What are you talking about? How could you get married without me there? I really do have a situation here. Zoey—"

I didn't want to hear another excuse, so I cut him off. "Hugh, we're done."

I hung up and looked back at the staff member. "I'm sure. Please go ahead."

Devon didn't say anything. He just took my hand and held it tightly.

There was a sharp click as the staff member embossed the official seal into our marriage certificate.

I took the certificate, snapped a photo, and posted it on social media.

The caption read, "Here's to forever with you."

I turned to Devon with a smile. "Come on. My mom's waiting for us at home for lunch."

Meanwhile, Hugh had just gotten Zoey into the passenger seat after she passed out drunk when his phone rang.

It was one of his friends.

The second he answered, his friend sounded thrilled.

"Hugh, congratulations! I just saw the marriage certificate Lynette posted. You two finally made it official. You can count on a big wedding gift from me when the big day comes!"

Hugh froze. "What? I'm not even at city hall. How could Lynette get married without me?"

The laughter on the other end stopped cold. A few seconds passed, as if his friend were checking the photo again.

Then he swore. "Holy shit! Hugh, this is bad. The other name on Lynette's marriage certificate isn't yours. I think she married someone else!"