It was a risk telling the guys the truth, but they’d been through a lot with him. He could not look Sullivan, Jesse, and Rick in the eye if he lied to them about the true nature of his relationship with Leighton.

Brandon wasn’t there, unfortunately. He only made it in from Chicago a few times a year.

They rotated houses for poker and tonight it was at Rick’s. His apartment was over his auto body repair shop and like Axl’s place, was pretty damn tidy for a guy in his late twenties. But Rick had good reason to be clean. He had custody of his little sister River, who was eleven, and he’d grown up with his dad being a hoarder, so he never wanted trash laying around. Jesse wasn’t in town much during hockey season but in the summer he had a rental that he self-described as a flop house. He was not a tidy guy. Clothes fell off of Jesse and didn’t move from their spot on the floor for months.

Sullivan was already pouring his second glass of whiskey as they sat around Rick’s kitchen table. Axl eyed the bottle pointedly. Personally, he wasn’t drinking at all because he had to work tomorrow. Rick had a beer, which he was nursing. Poker night wasn’t about getting drunk, but Sullivan didn’t seem to need much excuse to hit the bottle.

“We’re only on our second hand, Sullivan. Ease up, brother.”

“Fuck off,” was his response. “I didn’t ask for your opinion.”

“Where’s Finn tonight?” Axl asked. Sullivan’s son was over two now and Axl worried about his buddy’s ability to stay sober for his son. He knew Sullivan loved Finn with all his heart. But he also knew that Sullivan looked at Finn and missed Kendra painfully.

Sullivan didn’t bother to answer him. He just threw some chips in his mouth and studied his cards with a scowl.

Rick said, “Sloane is sleeping over at Sullivan’s. River is there too. Between my girlfriend and my sister that kid is going to be spoiled. They’re always doting on him.”

“Must be nice,” Axl said, playing it casual, even though he was worried. But he was glad that Sloane and Rick spent a lot of time looking after Finn. “So I have news,” he said, stretching his legs out under the table.

“Your balls finally dropped?” Sullivan asked, grinning at his own joke.

“Keep drinking and you’ll keep being the only one who finds you funny.” Axl put his cards face down on the table. “I’m getting married. Sort of.”

No one said a damn word and Axl had to admit, he enjoyed the way his words hung in the air. He was never one to rock the boat. Ever.

“To who, a blow-up doll?” Rick asked. “You haven’t even been hooking up with anyone, let alone dating.”

“I know who.” Sullivan looked at him over his whiskey glass, expression smug. “It’s the California girl, isn’t it?”

He nodded. “Yep.”

“Who?” Jesse asked. “What California girl? Is that the chick in that video? You just met her.”

“I may be booze soaked but I still know what’s going on in my bar.” Sullivan took a sip and set his glass down. “Lilly didn’t think she was your type but I recognize a man on the hunt when I see one. But marriage? That definitely doesn’t seem like your style, especially since, as Rick pointed out, you met her about a hot minute ago.”

“I saw the video but I figured if you wanted to talk about it you would,” Rick said. “I mean, other than us giving you shit in our group text. But marriage? Come on.”

He didn’t expect anything less. “Thanks, I appreciate that. Yes, this is Leighton from the video. And while I really dig her, no, this isn’t a real marriage, so don’t worry about me losing my mind. We’re getting married on her show Wedding Crashers, to save both of our asses at work.” Axl explained how he’d gotten reamed by the chief and how Leighton was on the verge of being fired. “The bonus beyond not getting fired is that now my parents will leave me the hell alone about getting married. It’s constant. It ruins every damn holiday.”

“Why does your mother want you to get married so bad?” Jesse asked, tossing a handful of nuts in his mouth. “My mother could care less if I do.”

“Your mother thinks you’re immature,” Sullivan said.

Jesse glared at Sullivan. “No. I think she knows it’s stupid for a guy who is on the road all the time to try to have a wife back home.”

“I swear to God, my mother thinks I have PTSD and that a wife and kids will loosen me up.” It was annoying beyond belief. “It drives me fucking crazy. I don’t like throwing that term around. It’s a real issue with a lot of servicemen and women. I just don’t feel the need to talk unless I have something to say. Apparently that makes me ‘not okay.’ I have my flaws, man, but I’m really pretty mentally stable, if I can say so myself. But my mom is worried that me being single means I am going to die alone, miserable.”

“Your mom is intense, man. She always has been. That’s why we could never hang out at your house as kids,” Rick said.

That was true. They had always been at Sullivan’s because his father let them do whatever the hell they wanted and his mother had skipped town ages before that, when Sullivan was a toddler. “My mother means well, but yeah. She’s a lot to deal with.”

“She’s going to lose her shit when she finds out this is a con.”

“She’s never going to find out.” He was confident in that. “I’m not admitting anything ever. Neither will Leighton. She has her own reasons to keep quiet.”

“Marriage isn’t a joke,” Sullivan said.

“I know that,” he said. He refused to be irritated by Sullivan’s sullen attitude. His friend had good reason to defend the institution of marriage and he respected that, but this was his life, not Sullivan’s. “But reality TV isn’t real. That’s the game and I feel like playing.”

“How’s the sex?” Rick asked with a grin. “Because that kiss on that video was clearly foreplay.”

“None of your damn business.” He wasn’t the guy who told the juicy details about a woman he was dating. And if Leighton was anything, it was juicy.

“So, no chance you’re going to fall for this girl?” Jesse asked.

Axl scoffed. “No.”

He didn’t think so. Not much.

And if he did, because okay, he was, he’d be fine. He wasn’t the guy to fall head over ass.

It hadn’t happened yet and he didn’t see why it would.

That was the whole damn point.

He was emotionally shallow, to quote his last girlfriend.

There was no way he was going to end up wanting the marriage to be real.

And if he did, for whatever crazy reason, he wouldn’t do that to Leighton.

He just wanted to enjoy today and worry about after the wedding after the damn wedding.

He put his hand down on the table. “Full house, assholes. I’m lucky this week.”

And it had everything to do with meeting Leighton.

---

“Open your mouth nice and wide,” Axl urged her. “I have more for you.”

Leighton shook her head at him, amused, and slightly embarrassed. He was holding a bite of cake on his fork in front of her lips. He knew precisely how his words sounded.

They were at Cakes by Autumn, sampling flavors for their wedding cake.

Autumn clearly got the innuendo as well. She was in her late twenties and she shot Axl a dirty look. “Stop embarrassing your fiancée,” she told him. “You’re the worst.” She looked over at Leighton. “We went to school together. Axl and his friends were notorious for getting in trouble.”

“That is not true,” he said. “That was more Sullivan and Brandon. I kept my nose clean.”

“I’m not sure I believe you,” Leighton said, giving him a wry look. “What flavor is this before you shove it in my mouth?”

Her choice of words made Axl laugh and lift his eyebrows up and down. “It’s true. I am, for the most part, a rule follower. And I have no idea what flavor this is.”

She thought back to him actually following through and giving her a speeding ticket. Maybe she could believe he wasn’t a troublemaker. She opened her mouth and Axl eased the fork between her lips gently.

“That’s vanilla almond,” Autumn said. “With a champagne buttercream frosting.”

Flavor exploded in her mouth. Briefly, she closed her eyes before chewing and swallowing, savoring the sugary delight. “Mmm. That’s really good, Autumn.” She meant it and that was a substantial compliment coming from her. She had probably tasted two hundred cake flavors in her tenure as creative director.

Since the details of each couples’ wedding were supposed to be a secret, part of their whirlwind wedding makeover, that included the cake. Which meant Leighton had to choose them for the majority of the episodes they filmed. Everyone on staff seemed to think that since she was already “overweight” she had nothing to lose by taking on the calories, so it fell on her to taste them. The size zero girls ran away from the cake like it was the physical manifestation of Satan.

Vanilla almond was a standard wedding flavor but Autumn’s frosting was a cut above a lot of the samples Leighton had experienced. “What do you think?” she asked Axl.

“I want red velvet.”

“You’re getting the red velvet in your groom’s cake. We need something else for the display cake.”

“And what is the groom’s cake going to be?” Autumn asked. She looked slightly panicked, probably because of the timeframe. “Am I doing that too?”

“Axl wants a fish. With red velvet,” she told Autumn. “Can you do that?”

“That’s going to look like fish guts,” Autumn told Axl. “And your mother will freak out.”

“Don’t hate on my groom’s cake.” Axl switched plates, pulling a chocolate sample in front of him. “And I’m a grown-ass man. I am not getting a cake to please my mother.”

Autumn snorted. “I know your mother. That might be a mistake.”

Uh-oh. Leighton’s mouth felt dry. Damn sugar. She sipped the water Autumn had brought her. Axl hadn’t said much about his parents. Not that they had spent a ton of time talking. She swallowed. Nope. Lump was still there. “Oh? How so?” she asked Autumn, striving for casual.

“Oh, Lord, you haven’t met his mother yet, have you? You might want to do that ASAP.” Autumn smiled. “Just a suggestion, I’m sure it will be fine.”

Leighton turned to Axl but he looked unperturbed.

“What flavor is this?” he asked.

“Lemon with blueberry filling.”

He made a face. “That’s a no.”

“Aren’t you even going to try it?”

“Nope. I hate lemons.”

“Then what do you want to try?” she asked him.

“Chocolate.”

“Just plain chocolate?” Leighton was dubious about that.

“Everybody likes chocolate. Not everyone likes lemon.”

She supposed she couldn’t really argue with him on that point. Most people did love chocolate.

“Try this one,” Autumn said, handing him another plate with a slice on it.

Axl put his fork through and came up with an enormous bite. He stuck it in his mouth and gave a thumbs up. “Now that’s what I’m talking about.”

“I need a tier that does not have cocoa in it,” Leighton said. “Otherwise it’s chocolate overload.”

“I can do the top tier in anything you like.”

“Almond would be great. As for the design, I want blush rosettes, can you do that?” Leighton realized it might not be wise to tell Autumn what she actually wanted at her real wedding some day, but then again, she might never have a real wedding. Or if she did, her tastes might change by then. She might as well enjoy her fake reception.

“Sure, that would be gorgeous. Are you okay with that, Axl?”

“I don’t know what any of that means but it’s fine by me. It’s the inside that counts.”

Autumn put her hands to her chest. “Oh, my God, that’s so romantic.”

Leighton didn’t think he meant it to be but she would let this love train roll. It was really kind of amazing how no one seemed to think they were certifiable for getting married two minutes after meeting.

That either meant that people were accepting of insta-love as a result of two decades of reality TV or they didn’t believe it was real.

Which was possible. She didn’t seem like Axl’s type and he had grown up in Beaver Bend. He was a cop. Presumably a lot of people were familiar with his life. She really wasn’t his type. She was buttoned up, he was buttoned down, despite his intensity. He liked casual, she was drawn to the formal.

Even if this were real, which it wasn’t, it wouldn’t work. It didn’t matter that they were very similar, personality wise. He lived in Minnesota and she had a life in LA.

This was just good TV.

Leighton suddenly had a knot in her gut and it wasn’t from an overload of sugar.

He reached over and wiped the corner of her mouth. “You have some chocolate there.” Instead of licking his finger himself, he eased it between her lips. “How does that taste?”

Delicious. Like sex and a future she couldn’t have.

Stunned at how upset that made her, she reared back so that his finger fell out of her mouth.

“Are you ready, Axl?” she asked, standing up so quickly her chair wobbled. “Autumn, I’ll call you to confirm everything but it sounds like we’ve made a decision.

The tiny shop suddenly felt too warm and stifling. The scent of baked goods in the air was nauseating and the lemon-yellow walls were closing in on her.

“What’s wrong?” Axl asked. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I just got sick to my stomach all of sudden. It’s hot in here.” She waved her hand in front of her face and started toward the front door, abandoning her purse and her laptop. She’d come back for them in a minute. She needed fresh air desperately.

“Is she pregnant?” Autumn asked Axl in a low voice. “That’s how I felt when I was first preggers with Jayden.”

“No.” But then he added. “I mean, I don’t think so.”

Of course she wasn’t pregnant. They’d had sex once, two nights earlier. Well, sex twice two nights earlier. She was just on emotional overload. She’d warned Axl she wasn’t that great of an actress. Keeping up this farce was intense and confusing. Between instead of acting, she actually wasn’t. Being with Axl, she felt more like herself than she ever had with most men.

She was afraid she was going to lose track of what was real and what was fake.

Because it felt real.

As she burst out onto the sidewalk and took a deep breath of the summer air, she hated that the actual relationship was all fake.

Except her orgasms.

“Too much sugar,” she told Axl when he followed her outside. “I’m not used to it, despite what my co-workers seem to think.”

“Did you eat dinner?” he asked, looking concerned. “Let me go back in and get you some water.”

“I ate some cheese and some grapes in a little pack from the hotel snack shop. Things have been crazy today trying to redo everything. I mean, I guess I could just give us Winnie’s and Todd’s wedding crash. I planned and booked everything six weeks ago. Filming couples with their requests is a formality for the cameras. Doing a wedding in three days isn’t real.” It was the logical thing to do, to just use the wedding she had already planned. Yet, she was resistant and she wasn’t sure why. It shouldn’t matter.

“If we just use someone else’s wedding, aren’t people going to figure that out? I mean, what did you have planned for them?” Axl put his hand on her back and rubbed gently.

His touch was very distracting. It was comforting and sweet. And maybe, just a little bit arousing. “A church wedding with the boy’s choir performing and a barn reception.”

Leighton pulled her phone out of her purse and started swiping. She had a folder filled with images of the color scheme and the venue. “What do you think?”

The church was a stone chapel. The barn was rustic. The elements she had employed were all natural. Wood arches, wine barrels, chandeliers twisted with ivy. The predominant color was a butter yellow, and an entire sunflower garden was supposed to be created at the entrance to the barn. It was a beautiful event, but it was not Leighton’s personal style.

“It’s okay. But I do not see you when I look at this.”

Leighton glanced up at him, amused. “And how do you know what I would like?”

“You told me you like books and roses. Your clothes are always floral patterns in pastels. This isn’t you,” he said confidently.

He was right. But the fact that he had listened and paired that with his own skills of observation was intriguing. Yet one more thing to like about him, damn it. “You’re right. Rustic isn’t me. But does it matter?”

“I think if we want to be believed it matters, yes.”

“What do you want? Were you being honest in the interview yesterday?”

He shrugged. “I’m not picky. But yes, I was being honest.”

“Then I guess I should change up some things. Any venue ideas? We can’t get married in a church, obviously.”

“I have the perfect place. Let’s finish up with Autumn and I’ll take you there.”

Leighton tried to whip up some enthusiasm but honestly she was a little skeptical. Axl, the small town cop could not be an expert on unique and modern wedding venues. It was a science that she had down pat by now. Every episode she had to find something different, something breathtaking, something ground breaking. She’d done aquariums and riverboats and speakeasies. Barns, boats, and a basketball arena. It wasn’t arrogant to assume she might have a leg up on Axl.

But after they ordered his plain chocolate cake with her lemon top tier, Axl drove her out of town along Lake Superior. He drove with a smug secretive smile on his face and his hand on her knee. Leighton prepared herself to get fake excited.

He turned down what looked like a private driveway. “We aren’t trespassing, are we?”

“No, we’re not trespassing. I know the guy who lives here. He’s a vet from the Korean War and he’s in his eighties. He’s owned this property since the late fifties.”

They were disappearing into a copse of trees, the concrete apron of the driveway giving way to gravel. A few hundred feet down the drive, the trees cleared and there was a small house. It was Victorian style. White with black shutters and lots of gingerbread trim. It was cute but Leighton wasn’t sure where Axl was going with this. It didn’t seem like a wedding venue. Just some guy’s house.

“What’s your friend’s name?”

“Bill Cove. We met at a Fourth of July parade and hit it off. He’s a cool guy.”

It was really sweet and cute that Axl was friends with a man three times his age.

She followed him out of the car and up the porch steps. There were two rockers on the porch and a number of flower pots, but there was nothing planted in them. She was worried she was going to have to tell Axl this wasn’t going to work for the wedding and that somehow it would hurt Bill’s feelings. Or heck, Axl’s.

Axl knocked and Bill opened the door a minute later. “Hey, Axl, how’s it going?” He put out his hand and they shook. He was tall and skinny with a warm smile. He was dressed in cargo shorts and a T-shirt, which for whatever reason, she wasn’t expecting.

“Hey, Bill, good to see you. I hope you don’t mind me dropping by without calling.”

Bill rubbed his bald head, covered in liver spots. “What, because I’m so busy? Come on in, kid. Good to see you. Who’s this lovely lady?”

Axl put his hand on the small of her back. “This is my, uh, fiancée, Leighton.”

The words sounded awkward to her. He wasn’t really selling it. But then again, she wasn’t sure she could say that with a straight face either. “Getting married” seemed less intimate than “fiancée,” which made her just silly and playing with semantics.

Bill’s face registered surprise. “Fiancée? Wow, guess I’ve been out of the loop. I didn’t know you were engaged. Nice to meet you, Leighton.”

She took the hand he offered and shook. Bill had a strong grip and curious pale blue eyes. He was assessing her, that was clear. “Nice to meet you, too.”

“Come on in, come in.”

“Actually, I really wanted to show Leighton Soon-ja’s garden. Leighton loves roses and we’re looking for someplace special to get married.”

Bill’s expression changed. It softened. “I’d be honored to show you the garden. Come through the house and we’ll go to the back.”

“Thank you,” Leighton said, now genuinely curious. A rose garden was the reason Axl had brought her here.

They stepped into the small house. It was decorated with midcentury modern furniture, which struck Leighton as fascinating. It was like Bill had moved in in the fifties, decorated it, and never changed it. Bill paused to pick up a photo and show it to her.

“My wife, Soon-ja, on our wedding day. She passed away nine months ago.”

“Oh, she’s beautiful, Bill. I’m so sorry for your loss.” Soon-ja was stunning, her dark hair flipped up at the edges, her cheekbones striking. She was staring into the camera a bit mischievously. She had a small but full mouth and dark eyes.

“Thank you. I met her when I was twenty years old serving in Korea. I clapped eyes on her when she was my waitress in a restaurant and I knew she would be my wife.”

“Really?” Leighton had always been skeptical of love at first sight. “Was that because she was pretty?”

Bill shook his head. “No, though obviously, I thought she was a looker. She turned heads everywhere we went. But that wasn’t the only thing.” He ran a shaky thumb over Soon-ja’s face in the photo. “No. It was that when I saw her, I felt like I’d been punched in the gut. Our eyes met and I saw my entire future laid out in front of me. Wham. Life was never the same again.”

That sounded so amazing. So…easy. Leighton had never felt that level of conviction in her entire life. “I take it she felt the same way?”

He gave a laugh. “Oh, hell no. I asked her out every day for a month before she agreed to go to dinner. And she said she only agreed to that so I would stop bugging her.” Bill gave a grin. “But then I won her over with my incredible charm. Much like Axl here, I’m sure.” He clapped Axl on the bicep.

Axl snorted. “I’m not sure what won Leighton over, to be honest. I’m not charming.”

“It was your dance moves,” she told him, amused. It was true. She’d seen him up on that stage and while it was not instant love, it was sure in the heck instant lust.

“Oh, shit,” was Axl’s opinion. “I’m lucky you even gave me the time of day then.”

Leighton wasn’t sure if he was serious or not. He had to know he looked good without his shirt on. But if anything, she hadn’t believed he was serious about talking to her. “Axl bought me a drink and I refused to take it.” It was weird talking about this when they weren’t actually engaged. Or even dating. Yes, they’d had sex. But they weren’t together. But she wanted Axl, and Bill, to know that Axl had proven himself a nice guy right from the beginning.

“Actually,” she said. “The dancing caught my attention, but his kindness is what stuck with me.” She eyed him, but he was looking at the photos on the wall. So she turned to Bill. “He saved me from a panic attack.”

Axl cleared his throat. He looked embarrassed. “All right. Let’s go see this garden.”

“Take a compliment from your lady, geez.”

“He’s not that kind of guy,” Leighton told Bill. “It’s okay. He is romantic, though, whether he wants to admit it or not. He brought me here, didn’t he?”

What Leighton could admit was that she liked Axl as a person. She liked that he wasn’t bragging or patronizing or full of charming platitudes. He was the very definition of what you see is what you get. It was very appealing.

She wasn’t sure what she was going to find in the back yard, but when she spotted the arched trellis dripping with pink roses, she felt her heart squeeze. Yep. Axl was a romantic. “Oh, Bill, it’s beautiful,” she said.

“You haven’t seen anything yet,” he told her, pride in his voice as he stepped off the back porch and started across the grass.

Leighton could see that in the distance, beyond the trellis, was the lake, dark and sprawling. The arch of the roses seemed to be framing a structure but it was hard to see because the density of foliage created a blanket of green and pink. The second they stepped under the arch she realized why. It wasn’t a simple trellis. It was a series of trellises creating a hallway of roses. They were all around, a tapestry of perfumed blooms, encapsulating her in a cocoon of flowers. It was a veritable tunnel of roses. She gasped and turned in a full circle, and up above her, looking up in amazement at how the roses were carpeting the ceiling. Or rather, creating a ceiling.

“This is fantastic.” Running her fingers gently over some of the open blooms, she felt Axl’s eyes on her. Turning, she saw raw lust on his face. It made her gasp a second time because of the sheer raw desire in his expression.

“You look beautiful,” he said.

“Thank you,” she whispered. She could see he wanted to kiss her, and that if Bill weren’t with them he would. Moistening her bottom lip, she looked away, unable to shield her feelings under that intense scrutiny. “Is this a greenhouse?”

There was a glass doorway at the end of the ten feet or so of roses.

“Yes, come on in.” Bill opened the door. “This was Soon-ja’s favorite spot. She would read in here for hours.”

When Leighton followed him inside, she could see why Soon-ja would want to spend time there. It was like a fairytale. The entire greenhouse was constructed of old wooden windows. There were lights strung across the ceiling and several comfy couches and chairs with pink cushions. But the most extraordinary thing was the flowers.

They were growing everywhere. In pots, in boxes, on trellises. Among the flowers were whimsical water features burbling away. All the flowers were varying shades of pink, from the palest pink to a rich magenta. Leighton touched a bloom in awe. “Rose of Sharon.”

Bill was standing with his hands on his hips and his jaw was working a little. Leighton realized how emotional it must be for him given that he had just lost his wife. “Good eye,” he told her. “Rose of Sharon is the national flower of South Korea and I wanted something to remind Soon-ja of home. But turns out Rose of Sharon can’t grow outside in Minnesota. Too damn cold here to survive the winter. So I started collecting old windows at garage sales and flea markets and garbage picking. In two years I had this greenhouse put together. Then we just started growing and it kept getting bigger and bigger. Now it’s this.”

“It’s magical,” she told him. “Seriously magical.” Leighton reached behind her and snaked her fingers through Axl’s. There was a lump in her throat and she wasn’t sure what to say to him but she wanted to convey her appreciation for him bringing her there.

“Like I said, Leighton loves roses,” Axl said, squeezing back. “That’s why I wanted her to see this.”

Bill didn’t answer. He just went to the opposite end of greenhouse from which they’d entered and opened a set of double doors. It framed a perfect view of Lake Superior.

“Wow,” she said for the second time. She went to the open doors and found a little deck extending off the back of the greenhouse with yet more roses framing either side of the wooden platform. She could smell the water along with the heavy scent of all the flowers. The air on the deck was cool after the humidity of the greenhouse and she stood there for a minute, doing a full 360 degree turn. “This is perfect. We’ll stand here,” she said. “I’ll walk up through the roses. Chairs here in the greenhouse. It will be tight but we can make it work. We will only have immediate family at the ceremony. The reception can be bigger.” She could see it easily. It required barely any work, which was important on their timeframe.

She turned to Bill. “That’s of course, if you don’t mind us getting married here. I don’t want to intrude on your special place.”

In fact, she felt a little weird having a fake wedding in a place that celebrated a lifelong love. She didn’t want Soon-ja haunting her from the afterlife. Which frankly, she would have every right to do.

“Of course you can get married here. I don’t even come in here anymore. I have a gardener who takes care of the flowers now, but I can’t bring myself to spend time here. It’s a waste if no one is using it.”

That made her feel a little better. If he sat there every day she wasn’t sure she could bring herself to violate his space like that for the very mercenary reason of saving her job. “Thank you. We’ll be careful and respectful with the space.” She turned to Axl. “I mean, if you want to get married here.”

The look he gave her made her nipples harden and a warm sensation pool between her thighs. He was undressing her with his eyes and it made her both completely aroused and flustered.

Seeing in her a garden should not be a turn on. That it was made her feel about as sexy as she ever had in her entire life.

“Yes,” Axl said, and his voice was low, raw. “I will marry you here.”

Suddenly Leighton wanted nothing more than for him to mean that. Because to be loved by a man like Axl would be like being swept away on a raging river. It would be endless passion and unfaltering loyalty.

It would be forever. Like Bill and Soon-ja.

And now she ached for something she hadn’t even known she wanted.

Axl.