This morning has us both dragging ourselves out of bed. I really want to call in to work, but I know better. There’s going to be enough to do when I get there. Putting it off one more day won’t make anything go away.

We go through our morning routine and walk out the door together. “Lunch today?” she asks before we go to our separate cars.

“No. I have some business to take care of this afternoon. I’ll see you tonight.” I kiss her on the forehead and we both go to our cars. Luckily, we leave early enough that I’m able get to work, avoiding the rush hour.

I end up staying at work later than usual, and text Rigby to let her know. I receive a text back telling me she’s also staying late. I relax and get down to work.

A few hours later, I finally feel like I’ve made a dent in my work, and I head home. I order a pizza to pick up on the way. I decide to stop and pick up a bottle of wine as well.

I walk into the house and set the pizza and the bottle of wine on the dining room table. “Rigs, I’m here and I brought pizza. Where are you?”

She doesn’t answer. I know she’s here, because I saw her car when I pulled in to the garage. I walk around the house looking for her, and I hear sniffling in the bathroom. I open the door and she’s slumped on the floor, her arms wrapped around her legs and her face tucked in to her legs. Her body is heaving with sobs. My heart drops as I rush over to her.

I squat down in front of her, lifting her face to mine. “What’s wrong?”

“I talked to my mom again today. I think she suspects something. How am I going to tell her we’re married and we’re getting a divorce in six months?”

Her eyes are stricken, like her world has been ripped from her. I grab some toilet paper off the roll and wipe her expressive eyes. I know she’s hurting, but I feel hope.

“I don’t want a divorce.” I continue to dab the tears from her eyes. “I really want to stay married to you.”

“Even after the six months?”

I soften. “Forever. We haven’t said it to each other sober yet, but I love you. I’ve loved you since the day I met you when we were five years old. I want to grow old with you and talk to our grandkids about how we got married.” I run my fingers through her shoulder-length hair and grasp her neck as she gazes at me. “What do you say? Stay married to me?”

She unfolds her body, and her round hazel eyes gaze at me. “Really?”

“Really. I love you. I want to be married to you. I want to stay married to you.”

She leaps into my arms. “I love you too. I don’t want a divorce either.” Her arms come around my neck as she straddles me. Her lips touch mine, and she pulls back too soon. “Thank you.”

“No, thank you. My heart is full as long as you’re with me.”

I stand, lifting her with me. “Let’s go eat. There’s pepperoni pizza and wine downstairs.”

She smiles and lays her head on my shoulder.

***Rigby

I hesitantly climb down from Zach’s arms to rinse my face before going downstairs for dinner. I make my way down the stairs, avoiding my shoes along the way. I walk into the living room to find Zach on the living room floor, eating a slice of pizza, watching one of those cheesy old sci-fi movies he loves so much.

“How was work today?” I ask. He’s so engrossed in the movie, he doesn’t notice me asking him a question. I reach over and shove his shoulder.

“Huh?” He turns to me. “What?”

“How was work today?” I ask again.

He shrugs. “It was good, but busy. I finally put a dent in my work.” His eyes go back to the television for a second before turning back to me.

I take a bite of my pizza. He leans toward me and picks a small piece of pepperoni off my lips before quickly kissing me, then turns back to the television.

The rest of dinner is eaten in silence, because when one of his movies is on, he ignores everything around him. I clean up the mess and join him on the couch until the movie is over. Then we find a sitcom and watch that for half an hour before going to bed.

We’re both up early again the next morning. I haven’t even made a small dent in my workload. Other than marrying Zach, it really wasn’t worth it to take last week off from work. We separate at our cars with a kiss, agreeing to meet at the Greek place for lunch.

When lunchtime arrives, I’ve finished my paperwork. After lunch, I’ll be in the field making my rounds to the stores. I’m not letting anyone know, because I want to see how they did while I was gone.

I pull in to a parking spot, getting out of the car and looking around. The weather is getting warmer, and I love the feel of the sun on my skin. I lift my face to it and take a deep breath, letting the warmth seep into my pores.

I finally stop and walk into the restaurant. Zach is waiting for me, and immediately stands and pulls out my chair as I approach. I sit, and he helps me arrange my chair before kissing me and moving back to his chair across from me.

“A table by the window. This is great.” I look outside into the sunny afternoon.

Our favorite waitress approaches and takes our drinks order. When she walks away, I reach across and take his hand.

We talk about being back at work after being gone for a week. I feel lucky that I will at least be out in the nice weather after we finish eating. Zach works in an office all day. He won’t be able to get out until five.

“Have you heard from your parents yet?”

He squeezes my hand. “I haven’t. You know I gave up calling them a couple of days ago. I think I need to stay at home tonight.”

“We have been staying at home.”

“My house. You know that’s where I live, right?” He sits back in his seat.

“I’ll miss you tonight,” I tell him.

“Oh no, wife. Where I go, you go. We’re both staying at my house tonight.” He fixes me with a stare.

“Okay. I’ll see you there after I get off work.”

The waitress arrives with our drinks and takes our food order. We spend the rest of lunch eating and enjoying each other’s company.

We finish eating, and Zach pays the check. At my car, we kiss, and he watches me as I get into the car before leaving to find his.

I spend the afternoon visiting stores and doing inspections. Five p.m. arrives before I know it, and instead of going to my house in the suburbs of Atlanta, I end up at the mansion that Zach shares with his parents. Since they travel so much, they asked him not to move out. They built him a house on the property so he could have his own space.

I punch in the code for the gate, and it opens automatically to let me inside. I drive around the grand white house with pillars, which his parents occupy for about a month out of the year, to the large house where Zach lives when he’s here. I pull into the garage and make my way inside, to the spacious kitchen I designed for this house.

Of course, the refrigerator is empty, so I call the main house and order our dinner. Heather, the cook, happily tells me that she’ll have it out to us within the hour. I go upstairs to the bedroom and check out what clothes I have in the closet for work tomorrow. I find something I can wear, but it needs to be washed, so I take it downstairs and put it in the washing machine.

I turn on some music and curl up on the couch with my Kindle, starting the newest romance novel I’ve just uploaded. Before I know it, Heather has arrived with our dinner and a small crew, who walk around making sure everything's in order before putting my clothes in the dryer. Heather sets the table with our plate settings and food.

Heather and the crew, walk out of the front door, closing it behind them, just as Zach walks through the garage door into the kitchen where I’m standing. He notices me by the table set with food and quickly closes the small space between us. He grabs me around the waist and bends me back, slamming his lips against mine. I grab his shoulders, holding on tight. His tongue slides along the seam of my mouth, and I grant him entrance. His tongue sweeps inside, tasting all of me. We spend the next few minutes exploring each other’s mouths with fervor. He slowly pulls back and gazes into my eyes. He pecks my lips one more time.

“So glad to see you. I missed you this afternoon.”

“We just had lunch together. What happened?” I slide my arms up and around his neck.

He nuzzles my neck. “It was an afternoon full of paperwork. I’m never going to get it done. All I could think about was getting home to you.”

“How sweet. I missed you too. Let’s sit down and eat before it gets cold.” I reluctantly pull myself out of his arms and lead him over to the dining room table. We eat and change clothes before relaxing in front of the television again.

“You know, we really need to find a place to live. You should move in here with me.” I see him watching me out of the corner of his eye.

“Why can’t you move into my house?”

“Because Mark lived there with you. I want us have something that we can turn into ours alone.”

“You lived at my house with me before Mark moved in. What’s the difference?” I turn around, facing him.

“Mark was the last man who lived there. You were going to marry him.” He sighs. “You would be married to him now if he hadn’t walked out on your wedding day.” He looks down and grabs my hand, playing with my rings. The look on his face almost breaks my heart.

“Can I ask you something?”

He nods.

“If you’ve been in love with me all this time, why didn’t you say anything?”

“I was scared to ruin our friendship. I love what we have, and didn’t want to mess it up if our relationship didn’t work out. But it actually hurt worse having him in your life. I was fighting myself on your wedding day to keep from telling you not to marry him because you should be married to me.” He looks up for a second, kissing me on the forehead before looking back down at my hand and rings.

I remove my hand from his and place it on his cheek, lifting his eyes to mine. “I wish you had said something. I just thought you were never interested. I basically gave up on you ever wanting me in that way.” I move my hands back and forth between us. “This way.”

“For best friends, we sure didn’t know how to communicate in the right way. I’m glad it worked out for us.” He smiles and kisses me. “Really glad. Now, where are we going to live?”

We discuss it for a while longer and agree to look at a few places before making our final decision. I realize that I need to pack Mark’s things and send them to his mother, since he hasn’t called and didn’t answer when I called him. I may never get an answer about why he walked out on me. At this point, I’m a little curious, but not as much as I was when he left me a week and a half ago.

Zach decides to go to the main house and question the staff about his parents. After getting nowhere with them, we decide to go to bed and revisit it later. We both know that something’s up, because his parents never avoid him. They always answer his calls, no matter what they’re doing. They have satellite phones just for that purpose.

We spend the next few weeks deciding where we want to live, working, and adjusting to married life. I never would have thought there would be so much adjustment for someone I’ve already lived with practically all my life. The inconvenience is mostly for the woman—we have to change our names on all our IDs. I have to change my driver’s license, social security card, and even my bank account. It’s bullshit, but we’re making it work, and I look forward to our future.