38. Chapter 37
38
“ D id you know they had a little chapel here?” I laugh. “Seems like such a random place, this isn’t Vegas or anything.”
“I had no idea. I wonder how long it’s been there.”
Although, the faded pink paint on the outside tells us it wasn’t all that new.
“Would you ever consider getting married in a place like that?” The question makes me think of another one I don’t have the answer to. “Where did you get married before?”
“I don’t know,” she answers like she’s considering that. “And it was at a park. Our parents, a couple friends, nothing fancy. What about you?”
“At his parent’s lake house. Huge backyard overlooking the water. I hate to say it, but it was kind of perfect.”
“Everything but the groom?”
I give her finger guns.
“Bingo.”
We walk past the building, taking in its details. Our destination is the taco truck across the street, but something about it draws me in. As hungry as I was, I feel like making a stop to go inside and see what it’s all about.
Kara gives me a side glance and a smirk.
“Something funny about this?” I ask, knowing the answer.
It is kind of funny, the way we’re two divorced women that fell in love walking past a dingy, old chapel. It feels like a silly sign from the universe, reminding us where we’ve been.
Or something poetic like that.
“Would you ever consider it?” she asks me.
As she does, a woman steps out of the large, open double door in the front. Twice our age, twice as cheery. As far as I can tell, she wasn’t getting married today. Maybe she owns it, or works there. She’s humming along as she strolls down the couple steps out front, and I can’t keep myself from staring. It helps that she doesn’t notice, as she walks around the side. A green hose sits on the ground, coiled like a snake. It might as well be the most entertaining thing I see as we get closer and closer, the sidewalk leading right by her.
She turns it on, and begins spraying some nearby bushes, and her cheery demeanor never dulls.
To my surprise, when we’re close enough to notice, she smiles and waves. I wave back, Kara refrains.
“Would you?” she presses.
“Probably. Yeah.” I don’t even know why I say it, but it feels right coming out of my mouth. Maybe it’s just the trance I’m caught in, some weird magical spell that makes the place seem so captivating.
“To me?”
I stop walking and face her.
“You’re asking if I’d marry you?”
I can’t be sure how I was able to ask that much, can people talk when their hearts completely stop beating? Because that’s what feels like is going on.
She has to shield the sun from her face when she faces me, and the way her eyes crinkle is pure perfection. Like when she laughs at me. It lights me up.
“What if I was? What would you say?”
A few beats pass before I wrap my head around it.
“I’d say that’s crazy.”
How could I say anything else?
She shifts her weight from one leg to another.
“Everything’s always changing, and it’s always out of my control, and I feel so alone with all of it,” she starts. It feels like her eyes are staring straight into my soul. “But I don’t when I’m with you, and it… It makes me feel like I never want to lose this.”
Holy shit.
I feel the same way about her. Of course I never want to lose her. I’ve experienced a taste of it once before, and I can live without that feeling for the rest of my life.
But getting married again? Now?
“That’s like… I don’t know, Kara. That’s a lot. I’ve been divorced once already.”
“So have I, remember? Do you think I’d even broach the subject if I wasn’t a million percent sure about you?” she asks.
“You’re being so serious?” I breathe.
“I am,” she says. “I can’t believe I am, but this moment just feels like something . Like why else would this just be in our path while trying to find some tacos?”
“You sound like you believe in fate.”
“I have to now. I moved in next to you.”
The words reach my ears, and I run up to hug her. Her arms don’t even take very long to wrap around me in return, and then she’s kissing my head.
“I love you. A lot,” she whispers.
I’m scared. I think it would be weird if I wasn’t, but I trust her. Maybe I’m a fool for it, and maybe one day I’ll regret not being more apprehensive.
But life is short.
With that running through my head, I tell my worries to fuck off, and I grab the back of her neck.
“Okay.”
She immediately leans back, and her eyes bulge when they meet mine.
“Seriously? You’ll marry me?”
“I totally will.”
With those words, she’s all I see, leaving kisses all over my face, my head, my neck. I giggle at her enthusiasm and feel my heart somehow expand to fit all of the love I have for her.
“I’m so in love with you, how is this even possible?”
If anyone knew how it was possible, it wouldn’t feel so special.
“I’m going to love you forever.”
When you spontaneously decide to get married while on vacation away from home, you do it at the courthouse, and it costs more than you’d think it would.
The woman we saw watering her plants was Connie. Her and her husband have owned the place for almost twenty years, after spontaneously getting married there themselves. When they found out it was for sale, it felt like fate .
They love love.
And she didn’t even flinch at the fact that we’re two women, so that seemed like another good sign.
We had to run to the courthouse to get a marriage license, after we ate obviously. I’d hate to do too much on and empty stomach. We signed some things, and paid a fee to wave their usual waiting period. By the time that was done, we still had an hour before the time we arranged with Connie to be back.
We were feeling even more grateful for small beach towns, when we passed by an antique shop on the way back.
“What if one of these is haunted?” I asked Kara as we browsed the large jewelry case on the far side of the shop. I’d never seen so many unique pieces of jewelry.
“I could make it work,” she replied.
She got a side eye in response to that, but I kept my lips sealed.
I just silently hoped we got some ghost free rings.
After the shortest and sweetest ceremony I’ve ever witnessed, I was Kara’s wife. The rings on our fingers reflected each other’s birthstone, and the amazement that we found them felt like yet another positive sign.
There wasn’t a single doubt in my mind by the time we made it back to the hotel room, hand in hand, giggling like we didn’t have a care in the world. We kissed until our mouths went numb, and then we used other means to feel closer to each other.
Why is it a million times hotter to watch someone have an orgasm when they’re wearing a wedding ring that you’re responsible for putting there?
“Best sex of my life,” I gasp, falling back against the covers. “Have you been holding out on me?”
I lean in to kiss her again before she can respond, eliciting sweet laughter that tilts her head back and away from me.
“Yeah, sorry. You had to unlock this level.”
“Worth it, I guess,” I say.
I drape an arm over her and pull her into me. She buries her face in hair.
“I can’t believe you’re my wife.”
“It’s going to take some getting used to,” I agree.
Not to mention when we head home and have to face our new reality with our loved ones. I feel a panic rise in me when Autumn’s face flashes in my mind, but I can’t go there right now. This day is not going to end on that kind of note.
We will cross that bridge when we get to it.