Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 73699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
I give him my sassiest smile and blow him a kiss. “Good point. BRB.”
“Don’t forget your wedding ring,” he calls after me.
I stop and whirl around, my eyes wide. “Oh my God. I didn’t even think—”
I slap my hand against the side of my head, panicking all over again. “I don’t have one! I mean, I had that cheap, crappy one you put on my finger during the ceremony back then, and I wore it for a while, but—damn. I should have been wearing it this whole time, and … Colin, I don’t even know where it is!”
I feel it should be noted that my voice went up about three octaves during that monologue, the last few words coming out as a mouse squeak.
Colin scratches his nose. “Yeah. I figured. To be fair, I didn’t think of it either. Rookie move. I’m surprised nobody mentioned it during the party at your mom’s.”
“I’m not,” I say with a sigh. “Everyone thinks we’re edgy and modern and weird. They probably thought it was some sort of statement.”
Colin goes to his nightstand and pulls out a small box. I assume it’s his own wedding band—a boring gold one, if I remember correctly, which I don’t, because he hasn’t been wearing a wedding band either. At least he has one though. At least one of us is prepared.
But instead of putting on his own ring, he hands the blue velvet box to me.
“I picked up a new one for you in case you’d left yours in San Francisco. Or lost it altogether.”
“Oh, thank God,” I say gratefully, flipping the box open. “You saved my ass—”
I break off when I look down at the ring then glance up, knowing I must look as stunned as I feel.
“Don’t be weird about it,” he mutters.
“Where did you get this?” I whisper.
“You know exactly where I got it.”
I do know. Hudson. It’s the same ring I was trying on when he came and found me in that antique jewelry store. Not a look-alike. The exact same ring.
“When did you—”
“You insisted on getting a coffee before the drive back to the city, and the whole process took you damn near forty-five minutes. I ducked back into the shop and picked it up.”
“It did not take forty-five minutes to get that coffee. And I told you, they were hand-grinding the beans—” I break off and hold up a hand. “You know what, it doesn’t matter. What matters is …” I look down at the ring, still feeling a little dazed. “Why? You could have gotten one for thirty-five cents from that weird guy who sets up his table of random crap around the corner.”
This ring is thirty-five cents times a thousand and then some.
He shrugs. “If you keep babbling about it, I’m going to take that one back, and the thirty-five cent one from around the corner is exactly what you’ll have.”
“Okay, okay, I’m quiet,” I say, slipping the ring on and then clenching my fist in case he changes his mind and tries to take it back. “Can I at least say thank you?”
“You’re welcome. Now, for the love of God, will you go fix your dress?”
I go back to my own room to do just that, but I take a moment to lean back against the closed door to study the ring, hating how much I love it, hating how much I wish he’d given me this ring for a reason other than us trying to convince the government our marriage is the real deal.
And yet, it has to mean something. He hadn’t just picked out any ring—he’d picked this ring. One I hadn’t even specifically mentioned I’d liked, he’d just seen me wearing it and known. Somehow he’d known how much I loved it.
And he’d bought it for me.
I fist my left hand and close my right hand over it, closing my eyes for a moment, wanting desperately to know what it means.
Colin knocks on the door. “Charlotte. We’re going to be late.”
“Coming!” I say, springing into action and peeling my dress over my head to fix it. A few minutes later, I’ve dressed myself—correctly this time—and Colin and I get into the back of a cab.
The immigration offices where the interview will take place aren’t nearly as far away from our apartment as I’d like. We arrive long before I’m ready, but then, I don’t know that anyone’s ever ready for this.
“Why am I so much more nervous now than I was back then?” I say out of the corner of my mouth as Colin holds open the door.
“Older. Wiser. More to lose,” he says under his breath.
That’s for sure.
But when I walk into the office, I deliberately banish my nervousness.
“Hi there,” I say with a broad smile, approaching the woman behind the desk.
“Good afternoon.” She’s friendlier than you’d expect. “How can I help you?”