Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
TINSLEY
Isuck the grape jelly off my thumb from the toast Grams made for me before washing it down with orange juice. "Can I get you anything else, sweetheart?" she asks Katherine.
"I'm good, but thanks," she tells her, taking a bite of the food that was served to her on a tray in her bedroom.
"All right, I'll leave you girls to it. If you need me, I’ll be in the other room."
"Thanks," I tell her too before she shuts the door behind her.
I don't blame Katherine for not jumping at the idea of moving in together.
I would never move out of here either. They treat her like a princess, which I understand.
When Katherine was all but dropped on their doorstep, she wasn't in the best condition.
She'd been neglected and was very sick from lack of care.
They hadn't thought she'd make it, but Katherine always manages to wiggle her way out of every situation.
I have never seen anything like it before.
I don't think she knows how she does it either.
It comes naturally to her. She has an incredible ability to adapt on the fly.
Even if those adaptations are ridiculous, it pans out in the end.
"Are you keeping the ring on?" Katherine eyes the simple gold band.
"It won't come off." I pretend to tug on it. Katherine gives me the side-eye, already knowing me all too well. "Okay, I'm not taking it off until I'm divorced or it’s annulled. I could get weird bad luck or something."
"You can't get divorced!" Katherine screams, startling me.
"Calm down. You almost scared me to death. I can’t die a virgin.
And I know divorce is not really an option.
" I worry my bottom lip between my teeth. I would be the first in New Hope if I did. A long-standing tradition would be ruined, and my name would be attached to it forever. Talk about ruining your legacy. I don’t even want to think about the text chain that would come along with that.
It could set off a chain of events, and then everyone is divorced!
I can't have that over my head. An annulment is what I need.
“We just need to put our heads together and think this through,” Katherine says, and I know her mind is racing with a hundred different scenarios.
I may not even want to know some of them.
“I mean, there could be an accident, and lawyer man may very well be the victim of it,” she suggests after a few seconds of silence. This is what I was talking about.
“We’d never make it in prison. Let’s take it down a notch or five hundred.” I should actually be appreciative that she’s willing to commit murder for me. What are best friends for if you can’t call them and tell them to bring a shovel to an undisclosed location without them asking any questions?
“Fine.” A small huff leaves her. “We could scare him away. Be super annoying and send him running to the city.”
“We tried that, and now I’m married.”
Katherine snorts a laugh. “We could be more annoying.”
“The idea of that scares even me,” I tell her. “Everything I do is returned with a charming smile by him.” I throw my hands up in the air. “I think he likes it.” Freaking weirdo.
“Well, then,” Katherine scrunches her nose, “maybe you’re a perfect fit and you stay married.” I will not let my mind go there.
Waking up on his chest felt right. So did all the other small things that happened throughout the night. More than anything, there was this warmness in his eyes when they landed on me.
"Seriously?" That can't be her plan. She shrugs and then takes a giant bite of her burrito. "All right, let's think. What if there is no paperwork?" There should be a wedding certificate, right?
"Are we breaking into town hall?" Katherine perks up. "I have outfits for this."
"Katherine!"
"I know, don't be mad I made them without you. You've been in the city, and I had to do something to keep busy."
"Fine, I'll let it go."
"At least now we're ready to roll. When are we doing this?" Katherine is already getting up off her bed.
"It's daylight."
"It's better in the daylight." She shifts on her feet.
"There are no ghosts in town hall."
"You don't know that."
"I've never seen one," I counter.
"Some you don't see," she says like my response was the stupidest thing she's ever heard. "They move things and throw them at you before taking over your body."
"Right, what was I thinking?" I roll my eyes and fall back onto her bed. She comes to stand over me.
“While you’re thinking, maybe you should think about the conflict of interest. Would that go bye-bye if you divorce?”
“Shit.” I hadn’t thought about that.
“Right, now you’ve got this sucker in the palm of your hand.”
“It doesn’t feel that way.” I’m starting to think he’s got me right where he wants me. “Wait, why did he agree to marry me? What is he getting out of this?” I sit back up, and Katherine jumps back and we almost hit heads.
“Ah, I don’t know.” Now we’re both left dumbfounded.
“There has to be something. He’s up to more than we know. We need to circle back around and investigate this man.” Katherine grabs her laptop.
“What’s his last name?” she asks me. I slam my hand over my mouth in shock. “You don’t know!” Katherine bursts into a fit of laughter. I try to fight a smile but lose out. Leave it to me to not even know my new last name. This would only happen to one of us.
“There can’t be a ton of Pierces that are lawyers in the city, right? I’ve never met a person with the first name Pierce before. Girls find shit with less information than that.”
“This is true. And we know who one of his friends is, so we can search their socials.” Great minds think alike. We begin digging around, trying to find out who my new husband actually is.
I search through social media. That’s more my thing, but I don’t come up with anything.
"Is it really possible for people to live without social media? That’s not a thing, right?”
“My grandparents don’t have it. Well, except that one time we made Grams one so that we could find out what the knitting ladies were up to a few summers ago.” We tried to infiltrate their Facebook group. They have that shit locked down tight. Grams didn't even make it in. They really are cutthroat.
“Shit, I forgot about that, and we never found out.” How did that slip my mind? I also can't remember what we were even trying to find out.
“Normally you’d say this, but I’ll give it a go. Tinsley, focus.”
"Right, sorry. But I can't find him on social media."
We both keep digging until I get a text from my mom checking in. I tell her I'm good, but then a picture pops up from her, making me growl.
"What?" Katherine peers over my shoulder. "Oh noes. Someone caught your climb down of shame."
"That doesn't roll off the tongue right."
"Ladder of shame?"
"I need to head home." I roll off the bed. "Besides, I was fixing the lights on the house."
"If you say so."
I pull back on the boots that she brought for me. "You keep digging and I'll be in contact."
"Roger that." She gives me a mock salute.
"And don't do anything without me."
"You got married without me!"
"I said sorry. How long are you going to keep harping on it?”
"Fine, I won't break into town hall without you."
"Thank you," I sigh. "Was that so hard?"
"Kinda." She shouts after me, but I'm already heading out the door to face my parents. What do I tell them? I glance down at my ring. I might have to take this off. When I get to the house, I shove my left hand into my pocket as I enter through the front door.
"I'm—" The word "home" dies on my lips when I see Pierce sitting in the living room with my father, my mom bringing him a mug and plate of cookies.
"It's about time you got here." Mom gives me a bright smile. "Don't even think about it," she warns when I lift one foot. "You're not going anywhere."
I puff out a breath. I'm starting to think it's Pierce messing with me and not the other way around. I'm not so sure how much I like it when the shoe is on the other foot. I'll need to step up my game.