Total pages in book: 21
Estimated words: 19661 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 98(@200wpm)___ 79(@250wpm)___ 66(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 19661 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 98(@200wpm)___ 79(@250wpm)___ 66(@300wpm)
“Hey!” Luke shouts back. “You don’t talk about my wife like that!”
“Your wife?”
I flash my wedding ring in her direction. It is the one that was meant for her, and I’m taking an odd bit of joy in seeing her melt down.
“Wait, I recognize you.” Ophelia narrows her eyes in my direction, then they widen to saucers as she looks back at Luke. “You married the help? The flower girl?”
“Yes. I married our florist. And even though I’ve been with her for less than a week, I’ve already had more happiness with her than I believe I’d have with you in a lifetime.”
She’s both stunned into silence and absolutely apoplectic.
“We’re done, Ophelia. And we should have been done long ago. Piper is my true love, and I’ve never been more certain of that. We’re married, and we’re already working on starting the family you would never give me. Hopefully, I’ve already gone and knocked her up.”
Luke tickles my chin to guide me into a kiss. I happily oblige. One, because I can’t refuse him. And two? I enjoy helping him twist the knife that he’s deservedly stabbed into Ophelia’s ego.
Unable to take any more, and after half a dozen failed attempts to say anything at all, Ophelia finally gives up and storms off, leaving me and my husband alone.
My husband.
It’s still weird to think of him like that. A week ago? I was a lonely career woman, desperate to find a man worthy of starting a family with.
And now I have him.
We kiss again. Then he lets out a sigh. “Do you have some time, or do you need to get to the shop right now? We should talk.”
“Uh... let me call Olivia to see if she can cover for me.”
“Your friend works for you?”
“No, but she can run a register. She’s covered for me on the rare occasion when I’ve gone on vacation.”
I dial up Olivia, but there’s a worry nagging at me that the conversation Luke wants to have won’t be a happy one.
Everything’s been so perfect. Utterly saccharine.
I’m well overdue for something going wrong.
8
LUKE
I pace about my kitchen, thinking deeply. When I turn to Piper, I see that her expression is dour and full of worry.
“What’s the matter?” I ask.
“What is so important that you need to delay me going to work?”
I laugh. “I said it could wait if you had to go.”
“I’d be anxious over what you wanted to talk about all day. I'd rather just get it over with.”
My laugh grows heartier. “Do you think I want to talk to you about some bad news?”
“I’m expecting something to go wrong, Luke.”
“I don’t think anything can go wrong as long as I’m with you, Piper.”
A slight smile emerges. That’s what I like to see. “Then what’s the big idea?”
I take a deep breath. “Every moment I’m with you, I’m more confident that this is going to work out for us. But we need to start treating this marriage like a marriage.”
“What, you want us to file taxes together?”
“No. We got married. We had the ceremony. But we haven’t had a honeymoon, Piper.”
“Believe me, the last few days with you have been better than any vacation I’ve ever had.”
“They have for me too, but I feel like we need more.” I open a nearby cabinet and slide some plane tickets across the table at her, as well as a folder carrying the hotel reservations, car rental, and all the other stuff for the honeymoon I had planned for my wedding to Ophelia.
“Maui? You want to take me to Maui?” She looks excited by the prospect.
“If that’s what you want, sure. But I want something that’s more than just Ophelia’s hand-me-downs for you, Piper. You basically had her wedding, her reception, her ring.”
“You said you’d be replacing the last one.”
“Yeah, but you shouldn’t have her honeymoon. Where do you want to go?”
“I don’t know. This all looks very expensive, Luke. Should we really let it go to waste?”
“It won’t go to waste. We missed the dates already anyway, we just need to reschedule, and if we’re doing that, we may as well go wherever we want. So tell me. Where do you want to go, Piper?”
She lets out a sigh. “Shouldn’t you have a say? It’s your honeymoon too.”
“I promise I won’t let you drag me somewhere I’ll hate, how’s that?”
She smiles. “Why don’t we go somewhere neither of us has ever been? That way we both can experience something new, and enjoy that time together.”
“Well, that rules out Maui. My father took me there all the time to meet with his business partners and I associate it with him now. I only booked this trip because Ophelia wouldn’t settle for anything else.”
“How about Tokyo?”
“Been there on business trips with my father too. Paris?”
“Tabitha paid my way to celebrate our graduation there. Cancun?”