“Congratulations!” Ashlyn waves and disappears out the rear door.
The unsettled feeling in my stomach intensifies into a full-blown roil.
“Shall we?” Collin settles his hand on the small of my back.
My body stiffens, and he opens his mouth, undoubtedly to ask me what’s going on.
Before he gets the chance, I see movement out of the corner of my eye. The judge is packing up her things over by her chair.
“Thank you so much for your help,” Collin calls out to her.
She smiles back at us, her brown hair lined with gray. “My pleasure. I love doing weddings. You can always feel the hope in the air…like it’s a tangible thing we could reach out and grab. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for you two. I have a good feeling. Remember the love you felt in your heart today when you’re having a rough day. Marriage is like the tides. The feelings ebb and flow, but the foundation is as constant as the sea…hopefully as deep too.”
I nod weakly.
Collin snakes his hand around my back. “Thanks again,” he says.
“Good luck.” The judge waves aswe make our exit.
We stand in silence for a minute. I don’t know about Collin, but I’m digesting the judge’s words. Beautiful and practical. I hate that she used them on us.
I hate that I want all of that with Collin and more, but I don’t know if he feels the same.
32
Trust Me
Collin
Noli and I walk in silence to my car. Someone decorated it. There’s a window puff-paint inscription that saysJust married!on my rear windshield and a trail of soda cans strung to my bumper.
“Nice,” I chuckle, unlocking the car and holding the passenger door open for Noli.
She hasn’t spoken three words to me since the ceremony ended, and I’m sort of freaking out. She slips into her seat, and I jog around the front of the car and take my seat behind the wheel. I sit there, not doing anything but staring at her, until she eventually drags her eyes to mine.
“You know, in order to drive, you actually have to start the car,” she says.
“What’s going on?”
She shakes her head. “Nothing.”
“Bull. Something happened. Something changed. I want to know what it is. It was my dad, wasn’t it? What did he say?”
Noli stares out the front windshield. The late-summer sun is casting an orange glow across the courthouse parking lot. She’s rolling her bottom lip between her teeth. I don’t know if she’s going to give in and tell me or if we’re going to sit in silence for the rest of the night. I’m not leaving here until I get some answers.
“We’re going to be late for dinner,” she says after a few moments.
“Yep.”
“Everyone will be waiting on us. Wondering what happened.”
“Let them wonder. Let them think we’re enjoying our status as a newly married couple.”
Noli’s gaze flicks up to mine, and her cheeks turn a darker shade of pink, but there’s no laughter in her eyes.
“Talk to me. Come on.”
She sighs. “It’s stupid. I feel stupid.”
