Playboy's Secret Wife novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: The Same Chapel

The chapel was smaller than it had looked on the screen.

It had plastic flowers, and a neon arch, and eight rows of folding chairs.

At 3:31 in the morning it smelled like carpet cleaner and old roses.

I stood at the back in a plain white dress I'd bought that afternoon on the Strip, with my own money, and my hair down.

I hadn't had a drink in two weeks.

I'd never been so sober in my life.

My hands were still shaking.

The doors opened behind me at 3:38.

Lucas stood in the frame in a black suit, a white shirt and a dark blue tie.

He'd run, I think.

His hair was a mess, and he was breathing hard, and he looked like a man who'd been told to come to a funeral and had arrived at a party.

"You said wear a tie," he said.

"I did."

"I wore two."

"The other one's in my pocket."

"I didn't know which you'd like."

I laughed.

I couldn't help it, and my eyes stung, and I walked up the aisle until I was standing in front of him, a foot away, close enough to smell cedar.

"Hello," I said.

"Hello."

"I'm Callie Dunne."

"I know."

"I'm twenty-seven years old, and I'm a claims adjuster in Chicago."

"I have nineteen hundred and twelve dollars in my checking account."

"Once, in this room, I married a man I'd never met."

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