Married as a Dare? Sorry, It's for Life novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: Read It Out Loud

The hygienist stood in the courthouse lobby with her coat buttoned wrong.

She was twenty-six, and she had worked beside Britt at the dental office for three years.

She saw Nathan and Bowen come down the stairs, and her face crumpled.

"I signed it," she said. "I signed the witness line. I wasn't even there."

"Why?" Nathan said.

"Because she asked, and I thought it was a joke. She said it was a game for the group. She said nobody ever checks." The hygienist wiped her nose with her wrist. "Then the reception happened. Then you stood up in front of everybody with the contract. I haven't slept since."

Bowen stepped forward.

"Will you say that to a judge?"

"I'll say it to anybody. I just don't want her to say I made it up." She looked at Bowen, miserable. "I'm so sorry. I thought she was taking care of you."

"What do you mean?"

"She told us you were in a bad way. That you needed a wife to get a loan on the farm, and Nathan wouldn't help. She said it was a favor to you. We thought it was a favor."

Nathan felt something go cold behind his ribs.

"She told the group one story," he said. "She told Bowen another."

"I didn't know that." The hygienist took out her phone with shaking hands. "I have the group chat. All of it. Please look."

"Not here," Nathan said.

"Where?"

"Somewhere she can't call it coaching," Bowen said. "Somewhere the whole town can hear you."

The hygienist swallowed.

"The Bluebird," she said. "At noon. It's always full."

At noon on Thursday, the Bluebird Diner was packed to the window.

A road crew sat in the back booth, and two commissioners' aides shared a table with a table of retirees.

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