Chapter 19: Twenty Days

On Monday morning Bowen Sorensen signed his name at the courthouse window with his whole hand.

It was the petition to void his license, and the supervisor had drawn it up over the weekend.

Nathan stood at the next window with a stack of birth certificates and pretended to work.

The line behind Bowen was twelve people long, and none of them were in a hurry.

"Sign here," the supervisor said. "And here. This one says the witness line was false."

Bowen signed.

He signed the way he had signed the credit union affidavit, in a big, plain hand that leaned right.

"It goes to a judge now," the supervisor said. "Mrs. Sorensen has to be served and has twenty days to answer. If she agrees, it's done in a week."

"And if she doesn't?"

"Then we wait for the hearing."

The courthouse doors banged open behind them.

Britt walked in wearing pink, with a tall man in a gray suit at her elbow.

The line parted for her without a word.

"This is my attorney," she said, loud enough for the whole lobby. "Mr. Sorensen and I are happily married. I'd like that on the record."

"Britt," Bowen said.

"Sweetheart."

"I'm filing to end it."

"I know. I saw." She laughed, brightly, to the room. "People say a lot of things on a stage. It doesn't dissolve a license."

The attorney cleared his throat.

"My client does not consent to any dissolution. She will answer the petition in full."

"She will lie in full," Nathan said.

The attorney turned and looked at him over his glasses.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Married as a Dare? Sorry, It's for Life from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.