9. Leo
LEO
Leo and Olivia burst into the wedding chapel, and the occupants immediately turned to them. The minister wore a very official-looking black robe, and he appeared to be in the middle of marrying a very tipsy couple both dressed in souvenir T-shirts with vaguely offensive sayings across the front.
“Are you here to wish us luck?” the bride slurred.
“We’re getting married!” the groom added helpfully, pointing to the minister. Olivia and Leo took a step back in unison.
“We’ll give you a minute,” Leo said tactfully. They sank onto a pew, and Leo took in the scene before him.
Apart from the tipsy-at-nine-a.m. couple, the wedding chapel looked a little like he’d expected.
There was a fake stained-glass window at the top, an archway of flowers, a few pews (like the one they sat in) for guests, and walls painted an off-pink color, like faded cotton candy.
The aisle was strewn with plastic rose petals, and the tipsy bride held a bouquet of silk flowers.
Something about those flowers seemed familiar, though Leo couldn’t put his finger on what it was.
“Do you…”
“Jeremiah Wilkins,” the man filled in.
“Do you, Jeremiah Wilkins, take…”
“Savannah Hoff,” the woman said.
“Do you, Jeremiah Wilkins, take Savannah Hoff as your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, as long as you both shall live?” the minister asked. Olivia nudged Leo’s shoulder.
“Lawfully wedded sounds concerning,” she whispered.
“It does. But aren’t they a little drunk to be getting married?” Leo shook his head. “This must be a joke.”
“I do!” Jeremiah agreed.
“And do you, Savannah Hoff, take Jeremiah Wilkins as your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, as long as you both shall live?”
“I do!” Savannah shrieked. She turned to Jeremiah. “After all, we’ve been through ten years, three cheating scandals, and that failed reality show. The only thing left is to get married!”
“Oof,” Olivia whispered. She glanced at Leo, her eyes narrowed from secondhand embarrassment. “Does this bring back any memories?”
“No,” Leo said, which was mostly true. He didn’t really know if he remembered the flowers from last night or from something else. Silk flowers weren’t that uncommon. “I just hope we weren’t that drunk last night.”
“I have to imagine we were,” Olivia said. “Or we’d remember what happened. Anyway, we’d have to have been pretty drunk to get married and handcuff ourselves together.”
“You may now kiss the bride,” the minister intoned, and Jeremiah and Savannah fell into a kiss that quickly turned into Jeremiah slipping his hand under Savannah’s shirt to unhook her bra and Savannah wrapping her legs around his waist.
“Please move the honeymoon out of the chapel,” the minister requested in the bored tone of someone who’d seen this many times before.
Jeremiah carried Savannah out of the chapel as he kissed her neck and she moaned, and Olivia and Leo quickly jumped to their feet and hurried up to the front of the room.
“Hello… sir,” Olivia said. “Um, this is Leo…”
“Barclay,” Leo filled in.
“Yes, Leo Barclay, and I’m Olivia Keller, and we seem to have gotten married here last night.” She showed the minister the certificate they’d found on the floor of the hotel room. “The certificate says we were married here. We were just wondering how, um, official that marriage is.”
“I wasn’t here last night,” the minister said. “But you have an official certificate, and we do real weddings here. If you got married in this chapel with a license, and signed that certificate, you’re legally married now.”
“But we must have been very drunk,” Leo said.
“Most of our clientele is,” the minister said.
“It seems like a mistake to let people that drunk get married.”
“We’re just giving people what they want.” The minister’s eyes narrowed. “It’s not like getting a tattoo.”
Leo opened his mouth to argue, but Olivia stepped forward.
“So, can we get the marriage annulled here?” she asked.
“No. You’ll have to go through the legal system to file for divorce,” the minister told her. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to officiate the wedding of… Seamore Butts and Yo Mama.” He sighed loudly, then called, “Susan!”
A petite woman in a pink tracksuit appeared in the doorway. “Remember, the wedding party needs to give their real names, or we can’t do the wedding.”
“On it!” Susan disappeared, and the minister pointed to the door.
“Have a nice day,” he said. “And congratulations on your wedding. I wish you a long and happy marriage.”
“This is a huge mess,” Olivia moaned as they headed towards the doors of the chapel. “I can’t believe we’re really married.”
“Me neither,” Leo said. “What were we thinking?”
“I have no idea.” Olivia paused. “But the real question is, what do we do now?”
“I think?—”
Just then, Leo’s phone began to buzz in his pocket. Leo pulled it out and saw that his pilot, Samantha Peterson, was calling. It was coming up on the time he’d scheduled for them to fly back to New York, and she must be wondering where he was.
“Just a second,” he said. “I have to take this.”
Olivia nodded, and he swiped to answer.
“Hi, Mr. Barclay?—”
“Leo, please.”
“Leo. I just wanted to check in with you about your schedule. We have a flight window for just after ten, but if that isn’t going to work, I can try to push it to later.”
Leo glanced at his Rolex — it was nine fifteen. He stifled a curse. He had a meeting that afternoon in New York that he couldn’t miss, so he couldn’t afford to stay in Vegas to try to sort out his unexpected marriage to the beautiful and mysterious Olivia Keller.
Then he glanced at Olivia. She was standing just outside the wedding chapel, looking at a pamphlet entitled Cheap, Fast, Romantic Weddings!
!! Her green eyes were tired, and her hair was messy, but none of that mattered.
She was still gorgeous. And there must have been some reason that Leo had agreed to marry her last night.
He wanted to know what that was. And he wanted to know more about Olivia, beyond her being his new and unexpected bride.
At the same time, he needed a chance to figure out what was happening here.
Leo was a billionaire several times over, and if their marriage was real, that meant their divorce would be real, too.
They hadn’t signed a prenup (he assumed), so he needed to be sure they got their divorce done right to avoid Olivia ending up with half his money or property.
She didn’t seem like the kind of person who would do that, but then again, he really didn’t know her.
“Keep the ten fifteen flight time,” Leo said. “I’ll be there as quick as I can.” The airport was only fifteen minutes away if he drove fast, so he could make it work.
“Very well.” They hung up and Leo turned back to Olivia.
“It sounds like you need to go.” Olivia’s shoulders were slightly slumped. “And I have to get to the airport and try to find a flight back to Seattle.”
“Before you do that, I have a suggestion, and it may sound a little… unusual. So, keep an open mind.”
“More unusual than getting married to a complete stranger while drunk in Vegas?” Olivia asked.
Leo chuckled. “I’m not sure.” He gestured to one of the benches where couples could wait for their weddings, and they both sat. “I really don’t understand this situation yet, but I do have to get back to New York.”
Olivia nodded. “I get that. We both have lives to get back to.” She rubbed her temples. “And I have to apply for jobs.”
“Okay. Don’t laugh. But what if you don’t go back to Seattle yet?
My private jet is on the tarmac waiting to take me back to New York.
You could come. You could apply for jobs from my apartment, visit New York, and take a little break.
I would cover all your expenses, including your eventual flight back to Seattle. ”
“You’re right,” Olivia said. “That does sound more than a little bit unusual. I don’t understand why you would want me to come to New York — or why I would agree to it instead of just going home.”
“Just give me a few days,” Leo suggested.
“A week, tops. We can both figure out what’s happening and file the divorce paperwork from the same state, to make things easier.
You’ll be back in Seattle in just a few days with a great story to tell.
And, like I said, you won’t have to pay a penny. What do you say?”
Olivia looked down at her folded hands, then at Leo. “What you’re asking is crazy,” she said. “I can’t go to another city with a man I just met. I have so much I need to get done back in Seattle.”
“I understand that. But you haven’t answered me yet.”
“You want a real answer?” Olivia smiled at him, though her eyes were tired.
“I’ll give you one. No. This has been a weird enough day without me tearing up my whole life to follow you to New York.
I have to get back to my life in Seattle.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t just take a week off.
And I don’t know you well enough to go home with you, either. ”
Leo let out the breath he’d been holding. He should have expected this answer, but he was disappointed anyway.
“I understand. Let’s go back to your hotel room, pack up our things, and I’ll drop you at the airport on the way to my flight.”
“Thanks.” Olivia smiled, “It’s been… weird, but not completely terrible, being married to you.”
Leo laughed. “That’s what every man dreams of hearing. Come on. Let’s get going — we both have a lot to do.”
They stood and left the wedding chapel, passing a couple dressed as clowns and one lone woman in a gorgeous wedding dress before exiting into the main casino.
Leo’s heart was surprisingly heavy. There was no reason for Olivia to have come with him to New York, no matter how much it would have helped him out, or how much he’d have liked to get to know her better, but he still wished she’d said yes.
Then again, they still had a few minutes together before he dropped her at the airport.
Twenty minutes at least. And Leo was a born negotiator who’d once landed a huge contract with a company that had flat out refused to work with Palasa.
Maybe there was still a small chance that Olivia would change her mind, and if that chance existed, Leo would find it.
He’d never push Olivia to do anything she was uncomfortable with, but maybe there was a way to convince her that a week in New York was the right move for both of them.
Olivia pushed the elevator call button, and they both stepped inside. Leo glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. Maybe the best thing he could do was get to know his new bride a little better…