Will.

Wake up, Will.

Dreams and reality have blended a lot in the last few days so I’m not sure if her voice is real or not. It lingers between my ears with a soft lullaby-like vibrato, luring me back to a pleasant sleep.

“Will!”

I jolt with the firm tap on my arm. “Hrmm?”

“Wake up, please.”

Jovie stands over me, clean and fully-dressed, with a steaming coffee mug between her palms. Her lips curl as I open my eyes and stare up at her.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“Nothing.”

“Then…” I sit up, “why aren’t you naked?”

“Because we have to go to work today.”

“Oh.” I groan and rub my eyes. “What time it is?”

“Just after seven. If you get up now, we can grab some breakfast before we go in.”

My empty stomach tempts me with a growl. “Sounds good.”

She brings the mug to her lips. “Excellent.”

“Or…” I reach for her free hand and gently pull her down to me. “We can stay here until we absolutely have to leave and go hungry until lunch.”

I taste the sweet coffee on her lips but she doesn’t let it last.

“No,” she says, backing away. “We are out the door and in my car in twenty minutes.”

“Twenty minutes?”

“Twenty minutes.”

She spins around and walks out without another word or explanation.

A coldness twists through my gut as I recognize the undeniable, tell-tale signs of a Jovie scorned.

The bright-eyed morning glow. Short, punchy sentences. A goddamn time schedule.

“Uh-oh,” I say to myself.

Somebody has crossed Jovie Ross.

I suppose I should be thankful that it wasn’t me this time but I could be seen as an accessory to whatever she has in mind.

“Jovie?” I ask, sliding out of bed.

“Nineteen minutes!” I hear across the house.

I follow her voice into the kitchen where she’s topping off her mug with an almost empty pot. “How many cups have you had?” I ask.

She shrugs. “I don’t know.”

“How long have you been up?”

“A few hours.”

I scan the kitchen. My laptop sits on the kitchen table but I’m at a bad angle to see what webpage she’s on. “What have you been doing?” I ask, leaning forward.

She reaches out and closes it. “Eighteen and a half minutes, Will,” she says, smiling.

Oh, dear God.

“Okay.” I back out of the kitchen. “I’m just gonna take a quick shower.”

“Make it really quick.”

“I will…”

Part of me wants to see where this is going. The other part wants to sneak out the bathroom window. That’s life with Jovie for you. Two extremes, both equally as enticing and terrifying as the other.

I get cleaned up and throw on some clothes, moving fast to keep to her schedule. By the time I’m finished, she’s already standing by the front door with her jacket draped over her arm and her car keys clenched in her fingers.

“You’re one minute late,” she points out.

I pause beside her. “And we’re about to add another thirty seconds onto that.”

She inhales but I silence her with a firm kiss. I feel the tension fall from her shoulders and her lips purse to kiss me back for a few long moments.

“Good morning,” I whisper.

She smiles. “Good morning.”

I open the door for her and she steps outside.

* * *

We pass three diners before it finally sinks in that we aren’t going to breakfast.

Wherever we’re going, it’s not in Clover. Jovie steers us north on country roads toward Leavenworth, a ten-mile journey that keeps me on the edge of my seat the entire time. Expectation, reality; both just as twisted and blended as recent dreams but there’s no reason to panic just yet.

Jovie turns off the street and parks the car right next to the Leavenworth County courthouse.

“Come with me,” she says, grabbing her wallet and shoving her door open.

I run on auto-pilot, steadily increasing my stride to catch up with her by the entrance.

Jovie opens the door for me and gestures me inside.

I don’t move. “Hey, Jove,” I begin, “why are we going to the county courthouse for breakfast?”

“We’re not,” she says. “I have a quick errand to run first. It’ll only take a minute.”

“You weren’t charged with a crime, were you?”

“Of course not.”

“Are you contesting parking tickets?”

“No.”

I search her face. “Then…”

She stares at me, her eyes creeping into narrow yet elegant slits. “After you, Will.”

I sigh and walk inside. She follows me, instantly slipping her arm around my elbow and leading me down the hallway to the last office on the left.

As we enter, a woman behind the counter smiles at us. “How can I help you?” she asks.

Jovie grins back and tugs me inside. “We would like one marriage license, please.”

My heart stops. “We what?”

“Oh, congratulations!” the woman coos. “You’re such an adorable couple!”

“Thank you,” Jovie replies, latching even tighter onto my arm. “I never grow tired of hearing that. Right, sweetie?”

I flinch as she pokes my chest. “Would you excuse us for a minute?”

The woman nods and says something in reply but I don’t hear it as I yank Jovie back out into the hallway to get out of earshot.

“Jovie, what are you doing?”

Her grin vanishes as she pulls her elbow free, bringing forth the sinister machinations hidden on her face. “I’m getting on that damn party planning committee.”

“And what part of that requires a marriage license?”

“Sara thinks she’s being so clever by telling me that her little group is for residents only but I figured out a way to get one step ahead of that.” She points between us. “We’re getting married.”

“Okay…” I pinch the bridge of my nose as spots take over my vision. “I think I just had a tiny stroke.”

“Obviously, what she’s doing is discrimination based on marriage status but this is Clover. It’s much easier to play the game than it is to discuss the rules.”

“No, no, it’s not,” I say. “We’re not getting married just so you can hang some balloons in the high school gym!”

“We’re not really getting married, Will.” She lowers her voice. “I just need the paperwork to rattle her cage. Get under her skin. If we’re legally engaged, then she has no grounds to reject me from the committee, by her own admission. She has to let me in. The thing expires in six months anyway. We’ll just let it lapse. No harm done.”

“No,” I answer.

She pouts. “Why not?”

“Because it’s crazy, that’s why!”

“It is not crazy.”

“Yes, it is. Jovie, I know what they said about you was wrong and you want to get back at them for it but there are other ways to get involved in Clover.”

She bites her lip. “But I want to do this.”

“No.” I take a step back. “I’m out.”

“By refusing to side with me, you’re directly supporting them.”

“No, I’m not.” I point a finger. “I support logic and rational thinking and none of you seem to have a firm grasp on either of those right now.”

“Will, come on. Please,” she begs. “This could be my only shot at redeeming myself to these people. We both know that I can’t do jack shit to help the knitting club or the little league but what can Jovie Ross do better than anyone else? Throw a freakin’ party, that’s what.”

“Jove, you don’t think this is going a tad bit too far?”

“No.”

I roll my eyes. “Unbelievable.”

“And besides…” she gazes up at me with those big, doe eyes, “if you do this, I might be compelled — as your new fiancée — to let you do that thing to me that you always wanted to do…”

I lean away from her. “Oh, that’s just low.”

Her brows bounce. “What do you say, Will?” She waits for a reply as I stare her down. “You can do it whenever you want to. Maybe even tonight…”

My head falls in defeat. As I raise it again, she gives me that smile made up of equal parts affection and possession.

Jovie Ross owns me.

“It better be tight,” I say.

She shrugs. “No reason why it shouldn’t be.”

I nod.

We step back into the office and Jovie wraps her arms around my elbow again as we glide closer to the counter.

I force a smile. “We would like one marriage license, please.”

The woman behind the counter giggles again, shaking the blonde curls around her head as she turns to grab a form from the stack by her computer.

I look down at Jovie’s beaming face. My Jovie, as I’ve always said.

For better or worse, apparently.