The air in my chest thickened. I leaned back, shook my head. “Matty?—”
“Please,” he said quietly, “humor me.”
I rubbed a hand over my jaw, buying time. Why would he bring this up now? Hadn’t we already exhausted this discussion yesterday? “I’d been drinking a little. Just enough to get through it. My head wasn’t in the right place. My heart sure as hell wasn’t.”
“Is it true that after you signed the papers, you left?”
I stared at the floor, my voice barely more than a rasp. “Yeah. Hurting too bad to stick around. Went to the restroom and threw up my guts.”
“And afterward?” His eyes stayed locked on me. “What happened to your marriage license?”
“It’s in the box.”
“You’ve never looked at it?”
My laugh was bitter. “Why would I want to? As a reminder?”
Something flickered in his gaze. “So you’ve had it in that box since your wedding day?”
“Nah.” I swallowed hard. “Heather was the one who held on to it. I found it on our bed the day she left me. Matt, what’s with all the questions?”
“You didn’t look at it then?” he pressed.
“I already knew what it was,” I muttered. “So I shoved itinto the box like I did everything else I didn’t want to think about.”
Matty groaned, leaning in to kiss me, quick, hard, like he was trying to transfer something into me through his mouth. He pulled back and nudged me up. “Get the box. Pull out the license.”
“I thought we were going on a date.”
“Baby, get the license, please.”
When he used that tone, how could I refuse? I went to the closet, dug the old shoebox off the top shelf, and pulled the folded paper free. I sat back down beside him and opened it, my eyes running over the lines without any idea what I was looking for.
“Look here.” Matty tapped the bottom.
I followed his finger… and everything inside me ground to a halt.
The signature line for Heather—the bride—was blank.
“It’s… not signed,” I said slowly, like the words didn’t make sense. “She didn’t sign it.”
“Yeah.” His voice was low, steady. “I think that’s why she placed it on the bed when she left. To tell you without telling you.”
It hit me like a stampede, shoving the air out of my lungs, making my pulse hammer in my ears. “Oh my God. I thought I was married. All this time, it was a lie?”
Matty’s expression softened, and he raised his hand to caress my cheek. “The pastor went along with her request because she threatened to expose that they’d had an affair. So he made sure it looked official without it ever being legal.”
I sat there, paper shaking in my hands, the edges cutting into my fingers. My whole body felt unmoored, like the floor had dropped out from under me.
What the actual fuck?
“I know it’s a lot to process. Last night, when I was straightening up the living room, I found it between the couch cushions. It must have fallen out of the box. I took a look at it and noticed her signature missing, so I confronted Pastor Murphy about it.”
“The son of a bitch.”
“How are you feeling about knowing the truth?”
How was I feeling? Confused as fuck.
