Ouch, I thought as I cracked an eyelid. I immediately wished I hadn’t woken up just yet. Simply shifting my head on the pillow felt like two concrete blocks were grinding either side of my temples.

I lay there imagining the unbearable nausea I would feel if I tried to lift my head, let alone sit up. I may have overdone it a tiny bit last night with Ethan.

Wait… Ethan?

I reached out across the bed with sudden alarm. Thankfully, I seemed to be alone, that was perhaps a small saving grace. Though not that I was against one night stands. This new relationship however needed to be more business than pleasure, if I was going to get my reward.

I scanned my memory banks for what had happened and could not remember how I got home or when we’d parted ways.

It had been a good night certainly, it was hard to control myself around him. He was so calm, collected and confident, not to mention handsome enough to make my toes curl. Where was the harm in pretending to be his fiancée on a couple of occasions? I may be a rather failed actress, but I had the schooling to play this part well enough I hoped.

As I cradled my head, I slowly muddled through the memories that presented themselves of the previous night. I remembered leaving the bar with the stone exterior, then stopping somewhere else for more cocktails. Yes, we’d visited Flamencos because they made the best Blushing Brides I’d ever tasted what with their imported schnapps, and then we made our way to…

Oh you silly girl.

The vague memory stung of embarrassment. He had kept demanding to know about my curious activity, and I don’t know if it was the drinks or his dreamy eyes but I had shared my bizarre regular haunt. I cringed just thinking about it. Why did I have to tell him? But I couldn’t change the past now, or how I had shared my regular visits to the Heartland chapel most nights to watch the merriment.

For months I’d been going to the quaint chapel, mostly to cheer myself up and to remind myself that love still existed in the world. But somehow it had turned into a routine, an addiction.

I had seen so many happy couples, and had even been a witness for a few ceremonies. But why oh why had I thought it was a good idea to take him there? For research perhaps, but what on earth would he be thinking of me today? I suspected we had parted ways the moment he found this out, my crazy hobby. And it was probably the reason for my solitary situation in bed that morning. From our delightful night and many drinks it was easy to imagine where it might have led. But of course, I’d gone and ruined it, hadn’t I? Too eager, with my wedding crazed mind.

I tried to close my eyes again, but this made my head spin and ache more. There was nothing for it, I would have to get up and drink some water. Thank heavens I was not working today because that would have been a disaster. The thought of doing nothing for many hours for the rest of the day was comforting enough to let me swing my legs out of bed.

Grimacing at my pounding head I readied myself to be upright, though it was easy to consider simply crawling on the floor. As I was about to launch myself into hangover hell my eye caught sight of the new addition to my dressing table. A long thin ivory box with gold trim. I recognized it as a memento sold by the Heartland chapel. I prayed to god that I had not stolen it—I couldn’t afford to get arrested!

I studied the box from afar. They were a little pricey for a keepsake item and I’d always resisted purchasing one before, so how on earth did I come by one? Anything may have been possible in my state last night, perhaps it had been gifted by Ethan. That was a pleasant idea, maybe there were more gifts inside.

Slumped over my dressing table I reached out to open it up. The most common use for these boxes was of course to keep a marriage certificate safe and sound. Sure enough there was a rolled up document inside tied with a white satin ribbon. With my last vestige of denial I considered this might have been purchased as a fake to go along with our plan.

But that didn’t make any sense, we were only going to be pretend engaged, not pretend married. With shaking hands, I slipped off the ribbon and slowly rolled open the paper, to my sinking horror it looked real enough. There were our names, Peach Reine and Ethan Dalton, elegantly scrawled on the document.

I decided it wasn’t real… it couldn’t be.

I would remember getting married. Wouldn’t I? Scrunching up my eyes I tried to scour my memories again for just a glimpse of what was apparently my wedding night but there was only fog.

I snatched up my phone for any clues, maybe there was a wedding selfie or a confused text from Ethan. When there was neither I decided reluctantly that I had to call him. I laughed wryly, wincing slightly from the pain: I had to call my husband to find out what was happening. The phone rang for a while before a sleepy muffled voice answered.

“Hello?”

“Ethan?”

“Hmm, who’s that? Peach is that you?”

“Yeah, morning. Erm, how are you?” I started awkwardly, not certain I could broach the subject that easily when my supposed husband barely knew my voice on the phone.

“Ergh, what time it is?”

“Around ten. Listen, how is your memory of last night, because mine seems to have cut off at a certain point,” I probed. He did not sound entirely cogent yet but surely he would have answered with equal alarm if he did remember.

“Yeah, it was a great night, I think we may have over done the blushing brides… wait! Oh, shit,” he said pausing dramatically.

“Yes?” I asked, holding my breath with the anticipation of the revelation.

“Around ten you say? Crap I overslept, I’ve got to get going. Ow, my head!”

I empathized with his last exclamation of anguish as he had obviously tried to sit up quickly and was just as hungover as I was. But it was clear he couldn’t remember either. At least he sounded a little more alert and was perhaps ready for the bombshell I was about to drop in his lap.

“Ethan, I may have a bigger shocker for you than what time it is. Do you not remember anything from the chapel?” I asked, continuing to prod him in the right direction.

“Hmm, not really. Hey I really have to get on the move, I have a delivery to oversee. How would you like to come along with me, that way we can talk more? Go over the details of what I’ll need you to do.”

That did actually sound better than this ineffectual phone conversation, and despite the drama of our situation I did have the urge to be around him again. I agreed with the idea and after a couple of aspirin I urgently got ready, my body cursing every movement I made.

Thirty minutes later he was there to pick me up, in a rather nice car as it turned out. I hopped in and sank into the luxurious leather seat.

With a quick greeting we were on our way.

“Brought you a coffee. Thought we both could use it.”

“You’re a godsend!” I exclaimed and took the waiting cup from its holder.

As I sipped, waiting for the caffeine to work its magic, I glanced over at him, reminded of all the affection I had felt for him yesterday. Today was no different, it was clear I was very attracted to him from the way my body reacted. I could barely sit still.

Ethan was dressed smartly, ready for business. He also smelled fantastic. We were both, if our eyes were anything to go by, still suffering the effects of our overindulgence last night. Makeup had struggled to improve my sore tired eyes, and his, even though still gorgeous looked a little red around the edges.

“So where are we heading?” I asked, still uncertain of when was the right time to tell someone that you were married to them, and show them the certificate that was safe in my bag.

“It’s about an hour away. There’s a big wedding party for a rather special client, I need to be there on behalf of the winery to oversee the delivery and schmooze some.”

“Face of the company and all that is it? Not a bad face for that, I have to say.”

He simply nodded and smiled at my daft compliment, his smile made me easily forget my hangover. Maybe there was nothing but to dive right into the news I had. I started to open my mouth, trying to form the words, but couldn’t quite find the right way to say them.

“So what was it you were going to tell me before?” he asked as if sensing my hesitation, taking his gaze off the road for a moment.

“Okay… please don’t be mad. But, erm… So you don’t remember the chapel at all last night, right? Because there is something you might need to know,” I started, he raised his eyebrow and waited. I bit my lip and held back the laugh. “Apparently we did more than just visit.”

“What do you mean? What did we do?”

“I… we—”

“Did we have sex?” he said at the exact same time I said: “We got married.”

“What?” was the best response he could manage.

I hadn’t realized just how quiet a car could be until that moment, even the engine seemed to be holding its breath as we silently continued down the road.

“I found the marriage certificate when I woke up this morning. It’s in my bag now. I don’t remember it happening though… Do you?”

“Holy shit. You can’t be serious?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“But we were so wasted. You wouldn’t think they’d let us. I don’t understand… So we’re actually husband and wife now?”

There was something about hearing it out loud from his lips that made my heart flutter. He appeared to be taking this better than I had imagined—the car hadn’t gone careening off the road, that I had to take as a good sign. I watched his features as he absorbed and contemplated the news.

“I suppose it’s not far from the plan we already had in mind,” he said slowly, “I mean, obviously it was an accident and I am sorry for the ridiculous circumstances—”

“It was a shock for sure.”

“And we didn’t have sex?”

“No,” I replied.

“Good.”

My heart twisted at this.

“Wait, no. I didn’t mean it like that, Peach. I’m glad we didn’t because I’d want to remember…”

“Oh,” I said and hid the smile that tried its best to creep onto my lips. “You’re right though, we need to keep this professional, all business right?”

He merely nodded. “True. For the best. And I’ll be happy to arrange an annulment next week. What do you say, all we have to do now is pretend to be madly in love, could you do that?” he asked with an irresistibly endearing smile.

I offered a sound of contemplation and sat there for a moment watching the scenery pass by. It was odd how comfortable it still felt being around him, my husband. The feelings I did have kept overshadowing the terms of our arrangement, I had to remind myself of the purpose of all this. A week or two of this charade and I would have all the money I needed to set my life straight and perhaps start a new one. I could stop waitressing, stop putting myself through torturous auditions, and start the wedding business I’d always dreamed of.

“Well, okay,” I started confidently after my period of thought.

“One thing though,” Ethan interrupted. “In order to get an annulment everything has to be strictly above board. We can’t let things get out of hand like they did last night.”

“You mean…” I trailed off knowing he was taking my business comment seriously, and I was immediately regretting it. No sex, no intimacy, nothing. Could I go ahead with that all the while knowing my feelings for this man, my husband, were growing?

“Yes. For your sake, as much as mine, this has to be a business arrangement and nothing else. Can you live with that?”

“Can you?” I hurled back, catching him off-guard. The car swerved slightly. I looked out the window and smiled to myself.

“Yes… of course,” Ethan replied, though some of his earlier confidence was no longer evident in his voice.

“I’m sure I can manage to keep my hands off you, Ethan,” I said with a coy glance. Maybe I was a better actress than I thought after all. “But we’ll need to know plenty more about each other, right?”

“Certainly, and we’ve got another forty minutes driving. Seems like it’s a good time to start.”

We spent the rest of the journey interrogating each other, mining for knowledge, both factual and make believe. It was like we were creating ourselves as the perfect couple, a whirlwind romance made in heaven.

We bombarded each other with fast paced queries about favorite foods, movies, animals, colors, and so on. We were wrapped up in the questions as a fun game, laughing with delight at each other’s most surprising responses. I even delved deeper into our cover as we dreamt up our first meeting, our first kiss and what we most loved about the other. We each got a little quieter with these more emotionally invested subjects, saddened perhaps by the fact we’d never get to experience them if we went ahead with an annulment.

However, they were essential to our cover and great background for method acting my role, though I found myself answering with more honesty than necessary.

How odd it felt to be telling this man my genuine feelings even though it was under false pretenses. With this thought I considered his responses and whether they held any truth. I watched his face as he focused on the road, deciding that maybe he was being as honest as I’d been.

“What?” he asked, glancing over at my intent gaze.

“Nothing, just thinking.”

It wasn’t much further until we arrived at our destination, a rather elaborate villa, with miles of land surrounding it. Ethan informed me it belonged to an old friend and client of the Dalton family and he was there on behalf of the winery to ensure the delivery and that all the arrangements for a big party went smoothly.

We passed though the gated security and meandered up the long drive. Ethan parked up at the side of the villa where there were several vans and a scurry of people unloading boxes and chairs.

“Here we are, are you ready to put our charade through its paces?” he asked with one hand paused on the door handle. “Though we don’t need to announce our relationship status here. It might be fun to see how convincing we are.”

“Sure thing, honey,” I said gleefully, “after you.”

We strolled through an open arch carefully avoiding the passing haulers, some of which nodded and greeted Ethan, employees I presumed. They occasionally glanced toward me with a certain curiosity. I already felt on display. I made sure to walk directly beside Ethan with the air of one who belonged, what I didn’t need to fake was my interest in the surroundings. It was obviously quite the wedding celebration, flowers and white chiffon abound, it was quite the season for weddings and I was in the midst of it again.

“Ethan, my good man,” said a well-dressed middle-aged man as he greeted us, shaking Ethan’s hand vigorously.

“Michael, how are things looking for you? Only the best selection of wines for you,” Ethan replied.

“Rather well, and I must say that 2014 pinot noir you sent over is absolute heaven. You’ll have to hold some bottles back for me because they’ll be none left here after tonight. But enough about wines, who would this be? More than an associate I hope for your sake, Ethan?” the man asked offering me a hand shake.

“Yes indeed, Peach please meet Michael Lawson, an old friend of the family and also our best client.”

The man waved off the flatteries and shuck my hand.

“Charmed, you’ll be pleased to know that I am a little more than an associate,” I said stroking Ethan’s arm beside me, settling into my role.

“Good to hear it, it’s about time this fellow had some better luck.”

Ethan looked noticeably uncomfortable at this remark and quickly changed the subject. He flagged down one of the passing employee’s with some quiet instructions. I took the moment to step forward beside Michael taking in the view of the grounds and the party decor.

“Looks like quite the shindig.”

“Ah yes, he didn’t tell you? My son’s wedding, this is all for the reception, quite the ordeal I must admit.”

“It all looks fabulous, you’ve done him proud. Though do those center pieces look entirely central to you? Would you mind if I—”

“Please my dear, don’t be afraid. To be honest my wife would have been the best at this rest her soul. But you sound like you have quite the eye. If you want to get stuck in while you’re here by all means please do. I’m sure my niece is around here somewhere, she’s taking care of all the wedding planning, but she won’t mind you helping.”

Ethan returned at this point with his secret gift for Mr. Lawson, a rather old and rare bottle from his winery. Unable to resist my involvement in the party decor a moment longer I left the two gents to it and dove in, adjusting the center pieces and correcting wayward stems, and unable to resist, fluffing or re-tying the bows at the backs of the chairs.

After that, it was like I’d broke the dam and I couldn’t help but continue. Luckily, my connection with Ethan and the host gave me the credibility to issue instructions and have things arranged without question. I quickly made more improvements to the decor and hastened up the arrangements of further tables, and making sure things were a little better organized. I was completely in my element with the planning and hurried back and forth to the vans investigating all elements involved. Eventually I bumped into Michael’s niece who looked completely overwhelmed. She was so grateful for my help and even broke down at one point, saying it had been more stressful that she’d though. But together we got the job done.

As I worked I caught snippets of conversation between the two men. “She’s a keeper” and “Let’s hope so” caught my ear specifically.

It was a nice thought but obviously one that couldn’t ever last, not if an annulment was already present in Ethan’s mind.