The Registry Said I Was Single, So They Assigned Me My Husband's Boss novel · Chapter 2 of 24

Chapter 2: Room Four

Her match is the silent client with the golden retriever, and he asks her to stay quiet about Spencer for four days; then Spencer walks in.

Room four had a laminate table, two plastic chairs and a box of tissues placed where the match could reach it.

The man standing at the window wore a long grey coat.

He turned around, and I knew him before he said a word.

"You're the retriever," I said.

It was a stupid thing to say.

His dark eyebrows went up a fraction.

"Walter," he said. "His name was Walter."

"I know. I held him for his last shot."

"I know," he said. "I was there."

For a moment neither of us moved.

He had brought that dog in on the first Tuesday of every month for a year and never once told me his own name.

Now it was on a paper in my hand.

"Silvan Hallam," I said.

"Willa Prentiss."

He did not offer to shake my hand.

He pulled out a chair for me instead and waited until I sat.

"The match was drawn by the registry," he said. "I want you to know I didn't choose this."

"Neither did I."

"The Act gives you twenty-one days to accept. If you don't, there's the penalty and your state board gets notified."

"I heard the penalty."

"I have extensions on file that run out in January. I'll sign whenever you say."

He said it in a flat, careful voice.

I almost said fine.

Then I looked down at the pages I'd carried in from the window.

They were still warm from the printer.

"Before I say anything," I said, "you should read these."

I pushed the stack across the table.

The top sheet was Spencer's marriage application.

Spencer Albrecht and Lydia Hallam.

Silvan read it standing up.

He read the second page, which was my record, with the word UNMARRIED across it.

He read the third, which was the clerk's note that no certificate had ever been filed.

His face did not change at all.

I had expected anger, or shock, or a man asking whether I was lying.

He stood very still and turned the pages one at a time and then squared the stack against the table.

"You're Spencer's wife," he said.

"I was told I was. Eleven months ago I stood in front of a courthouse officiant and signed my name."

"He told you he'd filed it."

"He told me that three hours ago in a text."

I took out my phone and put it on the table.

Silvan read the message about the clerical glitch and the instruction not to come down here.

He didn't touch the phone.

"My sister is marrying him in June," he said.

"I know. It's on page one."

"She has the dress picked."

"Then somebody needs to tell her."

"Not today." He finally looked at me. "Give me a few days. Lydia isn't strong when she's blindsided, and I want to be the one who tells her. I'll see that Spencer answers for it."

"He lives in my house."

"Willa."

It was the first time he'd said my first name, and he said it carefully.

"He sleeps in my bed," I said. "He ate my chicken soup last Sunday when I had a cold. He's coming home tonight and he'll kiss my forehead and ask what's for dinner."

"I'm not asking you to forgive him."

"You're asking me to be quiet."

"I'm asking for four days."

"Your sister is buying a wedding dress for a man who is married to me," I said. "I won't help with that for four hours."

His jaw moved.

He had a different answer ready, and he did not give it.

"Then what do you want to do?" he asked.

I opened my mouth, and the door of room four banged open.

Spencer stood there in his work shirt with his tie pulled loose, a little out of breath.

He had his easiest smile on.

"There you are, babe," he said. "I told you I'd fix this. Hi, Mr. Hallam. What are you doing here?"

Nobody answered him.

He looked at the table and at the stack of pages with his own name on top.

The smile stayed exactly where it was, and everything under it went white.

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