He Swapped Himself Out at the Altar, So I Married the Honest Stranger novel · Chapter 13 of 24

Chapter 13: For the Record

My phone was still recording in my coat pocket, and I kept my hand on it.

Hoyt stopped an arm's length away, close enough for the cologne.

"Go on, Junie," he said. "Say you can't tell me from a stranger."

"I can tell you from a stranger," I said. "You're the one who needs a hand to tell you from your own wife."

Cecelia made a small sound behind me.

Hoyt did not look at her.

"Cece's upset," he said to his phone. "She'll say anything when she's upset. This is a woman with a diagnosed condition, and she's been confused for weeks."

"I'm not confused about the second of August."

"Of course you aren't. Somebody fed you a date."

"The county did."

The phone didn't move, and his voice didn't change.

I understood then that nothing I said would ever sound true to him.

He had practiced on me for five years, and he had never once been afraid of my answer.

"Here's the part you'll like," he said. "The note comes due December fifteenth, a hundred and eighty-four thousand dollars, unless the wedding clause applies."

"And your annulment says there was no wedding."

"A wedding needs two people who know each other." He smiled. I could hear it. "Sign, Junie. The shop stays yours, I'll see to it."

He reached for my hand, and his thumb tapped the back of it twice.

Every nerve in me went cold.

For five years that tap had meant home.

I took my hand out of his and wiped the back of it on my coat, slowly, so the phone would see it.

"Don't ever do that again," I said.

"Hoyt," Cecelia said. "Stop."

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