The Registry Said I Was Single, So They Assigned Me My Husband's Boss novel · Chapter 3 of 24

Chapter 3: A Souvenir

Spencer calls their wedding a keepsake; Willa signs the match acceptance in front of him, and Silvan invites her to his family's Friday dinner.

"Babe," Spencer said again, softer. "Whatever they told you, it's a misunderstanding."

"The registry says you're single," I said.

"Registry systems are a mess."

"They also say you filed to marry Lydia Hallam three weeks ago."

He glanced at Silvan.

Silvan stood against the window with his arms folded and said nothing at all.

"Okay," Spencer said. "Okay. Can we talk about this at home?"

"We can talk about it here."

He lowered his voice.

"Willa, our wedding was a keepsake ceremony. I told you that. We said we'd do the real one after my promotion."

"You told me you filed it."

"I said I'd handle the paperwork."

"You said, and I quote your text, that you filed everything in December."

"I meant I was handling it."

"For eleven months."

He rubbed the back of his neck, and the smile came back, slow and sorry.

"You know how I am with deadlines. I got busy. Then Lydia and I got close at work, and I didn't know how to tell you, and I never wanted to hurt you."

It was the first time he had said her name out loud in front of me and called her anything but a coworker.

I looked at the man I had lived with for two years and waited to feel something break.

What I felt was tired.

"The certificate has your signature on it," I said.

"It's a souvenir."

"It has a date and a courthouse."

"The courthouse was real, the officiant was my college roommate doing me a favor." He spread his hands. "Babe, it was never legal. It was sweet."

"Sweet," I said.

"We can fix it. We can go to the county tomorrow and file for real."

"While you're engaged to someone else."

"That's temporary. Lydia is, you know. A work thing." He took a step toward me. "You're the one I come home to."

Silvan unfolded his arms.

Spencer stopped walking.

"Mr. Hallam," he said, "I'd appreciate some privacy for my wife."

"Your wife," Silvan said, and nothing more.

I stood up.

My knees held.

There was a window in the wall of room four, and on the other side of it a clerk watched us with her chin on her hand.

I walked to it and knocked on the glass.

"I'd like the acceptance form," I said. "For the match."

She slid it through the slot.

Two pages, a line for each of us and a line for the date.

Spencer went from pale to pink.

"Willa. You are not signing that."

"The penalty is twenty-five thousand and my license."

"I'll pay it."

"With what? You live on my rent."

"You can't marry a stranger because you're angry at me."

"He's not a stranger," I said, and I surprised myself. "He's the dog's owner."

Spencer blinked, because he had no idea what that meant.

I signed the first line with the clinic pen on a chain.

The ink was blue.

It took less time than signing for a package.

Silvan came over and read the form to the last word before he picked up the pen.

He signed below me in a small upright hand, E. Hallam, and laid the pen down.

"That's it," the clerk called through the slot. "You're matched. Your certificates will be filed this afternoon."

Filed.

I almost laughed at the word.

Spencer stared at the two signatures, side by side, and his face stopped being handsome.

"You're making a mistake," he said. "You think he's the good one in this room? Ask him how long he's known."

"Known what?" I asked.

"Ask him."

Silvan did not move.

He did not say a word in his own defense.

And I decided, standing there, that a man who had just lied to me for eleven months and called it a souvenir had run out of credit.

"Get out of the room, Spencer," I said.

"Willa."

"Go home. Pack a bag. Don't be in my house when I get there."

He looked at Silvan one last time, then at me, and went out and let the door swing.

The room was very quiet.

Silvan took a card out of his coat and put it in my hand.

His private number was written on the back.

"Friday, seven o'clock," he said. "My grandmother's table, in Bexley. The whole family will be there, including my sister and Spencer."

"Why would I go to that?"

"Because you want him to say it in front of everyone," he said. "Bring the certificate."

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