Hadley
“Earth to Hadley.”
The words pulled me out of my daze. My body flew into action and I turned my chair around to look at Amy.
“What?”
“I’ve called your name three times.”
“Sorry, I guess I’m a little preoccupied.”
“You’ve seemed a little bit off all week. Anything wrong?”
It was Saturday afternoon and Amy and I were both in the office. It wasn’t uncommon for people to come in on Saturdays, especially because it was usually quieter. Ria didn’t work weekends, so the phone was put on auto-answer and the only people who came in were the ones who wanted to work. Sometimes I’d rather be there on a Saturday than a regular weekday—less noise and distractions.
I was glad when I saw Amy come in, though, because even though I wanted to get some work done, I didn’t want to be lonely.
I nibbled on my bottom lip, contemplating my options.
“Can you keep a secret?” I asked, lowering my voice to a whisper even though no one else was around.
“Uh, yeah,” she said, pushing her chair closer and rolling her eyes a little, as if to add ‘duh.’
“This is going to sound so crazy. And I haven’t told anyone yet, so you really can’t tell anyone. Like, seriously.”
“You can trust me.”
“Okay,” I said, letting out a deep breath and then taking another. “Last weekend, when we were in Vegas, I married Riley’s husband’s best friend.” I said the words with a grimace, waiting for Amy to flip out on me.
She blinked a few times, then said, “Ha-ha. What’s really bothering you?”
My shoulders dropped and so did my tense expression.
“I’m totally serious. We got completely tanked and took an Uber to a wedding chapel. It’s legit.”
“Shut up,” she said, laughing and gently slapping my shoulder.
“Amy! Stop it! I’m serious!”
She laughed a few more times, but when I didn’t laugh with her, she narrowed her eyes at me.
“Are you shitting me?”
“No. And ew.”
“You got married in Vegas?”
“I did.”
“Hadley, that’s crazy.”
“I know.”
“So, who is this guy?”
“His name is Justin Hunter. He’s Camden’s best friend.”
“Are you going to get an annulment?”
“What? No.”
“No?” she asked, surprised. “Isn’t that, like, the first thing everyone who’s ever gotten drunkenly married in Vegas has done?”
“I mean, maybe. But we don’t want that. We’re trying to make it work.”
“Did I miss a step? Are you leaving out some information? Because it sounds like you married a practical stranger and now you’re trying to make a marriage work with him.”
“Well, he’s not really a stranger. I met him when Riley and Camden started dating, and I’ve always been attracted to him. I’ve just never let anything happen.”
“Right. So, marrying him was a great first move.”
I glared at her. “Maybe not the best first date idea, but.” I sighed, my shoulders slumping. “I don’t know. We were definitely drunk and we’d just watched our best friends fall madly in love and get married, and I can’t make myself give him up. He’s under my skin.”
“So what’s the problem? Does he not feel the same way?”
“No, he’s on board. We’re just trying to feel the whole thing out. It’s weird. I sort of feel like we had an arranged marriage. The wedding came first and now we’re trying to get to know one another. It’s a lot of pressure. I’m not sure how to navigate through it.”
“Hmmm.” She tapped her finger against the desk as she hummed, thinking about what I’d said.
“The other problem is that neither one of us has a lot of relationship experience. So we’re literally fumbling our way through this.” I spun my chair back around and pulled my goody drawer open and snagged four pieces of licorice, offering two to Amy, which she took.
She took a bite. “Okay, so you guys are just going to have to map your own course. You’re in uncharted territory and you’re going to have to go where no man’s gone before. Or, you know, woman.”
“Well, that’s comforting.” I laugh, taking a bite and chewing thoughtfully.
“No, it’s refreshing! Think about it. You don’t have to worry about societally accepted dating norms. None of those rules apply to you. You can make up your own rules. Half the pressure of dating is that looming idea of marriage. Is this the guy? Right? Like, you don’t even have to worry about all that because you already married him. So, he’s definitely the guy. Takes the guessing out of the equation. Now you can just focus on being half of a whole. You can start to think about how you can support him, what kind of wife you want to be, and also think about what you need from him.” As she spoke her hands came together at the fingertips to make the top of a triangle. “You can support each other.”
“Wow,” I said, surprised. “You’re like my own personal Dr. Phil.”
She smiled. “I’ve always been a problem solver.”
“Good to know,” I replied, tipping my licorice toward her with each word.
“Just remember, the key to a good marriage is communication—or so I’ve been told. Just talk to him,” she advised, shrugging her shoulders.
I laughed and she gave me a confused look.
“The entire nine months we’ve known each other, I’ve been trying to avoid talking to him. This seems like a fitting punishment.”
“Sounds like you’ve got to make up for lost time.”