“Hey, maybe you’re finally starting to know me after all.” Amelia punched the button on the wall.
Linc flinched. See, that was why he had to go to these kinds of extremes to reach his kid. To show her he cared—enough to change his entire life to be there for her.
To prove he hadn’t abandoned her on purpose like he’d been abandoned.
They rode in silence, Linc’s heart thudding so loud he wondered if Amelia could hear it. Though if she could, she’d probably make fun of him, so he should be safe. Maybe he wasn’t nervous, and this darn collar was just too tight.
“I still think this is weird.” Amelia leaned her upper back against the paneled wall, staring at the row of lit buttons. “Really sudden.”
“So were you.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Like we told you yesterday, Zoey and I have known each other a long time.” Longer than most people realized, which Linc was okay with. Meant people didn’t pry into his past, wondering how he and Zoey met. Better to have everyone think they’d become friends as adults.
“And you just suddenly fell in love?” Amelia looked at him then, eyes questioning. Doubting. “Like, overnight?”
He hesitated. Love didn’t need to have anything to do with this particular arrangement, but he couldn’t get into that with Amelia. It would defeat the purpose of their forming a unit for her—because this was all for her. Zoey was someone he enjoyed being with, who he could trust to help parent his daughter. Maybe that wasn’t enough for a typical marriage, but it was enough for them.
It was safer that way. Less room for getting hurt.
Of being left.
Besides, Zoey didn’t have any interest in him as more than a best friend. She was only invested in Amelia, and needed help herself. Her reasons for saying yes were altruistic and more than obvious.
Even if it wasn’t the reason a rogue part of him half-hoped for.
“That about sums it up.” He cracked his neck. “You really want to hear the mushy details?” Not that they existed. But he and Zoey agreed Amelia needed to believe this marriage was as “normal” as possible.
“Ew.” She wrinkled her nose. “Definitely don’t.”
As he figured. “Okay then.”
“Why so fast, though? Why not plan a real wedding?”
“We’re not exactly the big frilly type, if you haven’t noticed.” Linc frowned. Actually, Zoey might have wanted that. Should he have offered? But there wasn’t time. They had agreed ASAP, for Amelia’s sake. Surely if it was a big deal to her, Zoey would have spoken up.
The doors opened then onto a carpeted hallway, the scent of lemon cleaner heavy in the air. Two potted ferns waited on either side of a set of wooden doors with a plaque reading “chapel.”
This was it. Zoey was in there, waiting to marry him. Or at least, she was supposed to be. His chest tightened. Nah, she’d be there. A few more minutes, and they’d be a family.
For better or for worse.
He rubbed his palm down the leg of his jeans. He didn’t own slacks. And on second thought, he probably should have made Amelia wear something nicer, but that wasn’t a battle he’d wanted to fight. He never knew which ones to pick—something else Zoey was going to have to help him learn. “Ready?”
Amelia raised an eyebrow at him, three parts attitude and one part concern. “Are you?”
Good question. He wrenched the door open anyway.
And there she was, standing next to Judge Morrow in a black robe. At least, he assumed it was Judge Morrow. He couldn’t take his eyes off Zoey, wearing a knee-length, casual white sundress—one that showed a few curves she typically hid—her long, dark hair pulled up on the sides with flower clips. Her bright blue eyes smiled at him before her lips did, and his throat went dry.
“Hey.” It was all he could push out. Maybe it was time to admit hewasa little nervous, and it wasn’t just the shirt collar.
“Hi.” Zoey pursed her lips, hiding a smile. “Fancy meeting you here.”
He snorted. A weird urge to give her a hug flooded his limbs, and he hooked his fingers in his pockets. It wasZoey. And this was business.
No need to confuse the matter.
