Page 62 of Not Yet Yours

“Of course,” I agree and smile back at him.

I stand up and both Harriet and Alan follow suit. Alan and I shake hands and then he shakes Harriet’s hand.

“Well hopefully next time I see you, it’ll be with something else as easy as this was to fix,” Alan says.

“That would be good wouldn’t it,” I say with a laugh. “Thanks, Alan.”

“Anytime,” he says.

Harriet and I leave the office and head back along the long corridor. I’m waiting for Harriet’s reaction, but she isn’t giving anything away. At least until we reach the end of the hallway and stand alone, waiting for the elevator. Then she bursts into laughter.

“Well, I never would have guessed that would be the outcome of today’s meeting,” she says.

“Me neither,” I say and although I’m still a bit embarrassed about my mistake, I can’t help but laugh. I mean how can I not see the funny side of it at this point?

“You realize I blame you as much as me for not knowing the marriage was fake don’t you,” I say.

“Umm no. How do you work that one out?” she says.

“You saw the certificate too and you thought it was real,” I say.

“But in my defense, I hadn’t been somewhere that clearly wasn’t a wedding destination and signed something to say I understood I was getting a real wedding before being given that,” she says.

“You say that like that should really give the game away,” I laugh.

“It’s funny though, when I first went to Max it was obvious her and Cullen both believed that I believed I had seen a marriage certificate, but they still didn’t really believe you were married. I said I wished I’d thought to take a photo on my cell phone in case you tried to say it didn’t exist. Now I wish I hadtaken one because if I had shown it to Max and Cullen who recently got married, they probably would have seen it wasn’t a real marriage certificate,” Harriet says.

“Well, that’s great in hindsight,” I say, and we both laugh again. “And as if I would try to deny it existed.”

“Well, at the time I thought you were actively married, and I was your side chick so there was a chance you would have in my mind then at least,” she laughs.

The elevator car arrives, and Harriet and I get in. There are a couple of people already in it and the ground floor button is already lit up so at least I don’t have to play the role of the elevator guy again. The elevator car stops a few more times and some more people get in but it’s not long before we’re back in the lobby. We cross it going back outside and head back to the mall’s parking lot.

We reach it and Harriet starts toward my car, but I shake my head.

“No, this way,” I say, nodding toward the mall itself.

“Oh, do you need to pick something up?” Harriet says as we head for the mall.

“Well now that I am officially a single man, it means that our engagement is official, I thought it was time I got you an engagement ring,” I say. “And of course we need wedding bands to take with us if you’re still up for us getting married in the Maldives.”

Harriet makes a squeaking sound that she always makes when she’s excited. It’s so cute and it always makes me want to just hug her, but obviously, we’re walking so I can’t right now.

“Yes, I am most definitely still up for that,” she says.

Suddenly, the smile vanishes from her face, and she looks a bit sad.

“The only problem is I don’t know if my mom will be able to come,” she says. “I mean I’ll give her everything I’ve savedup, but the Maldives isn’t cheap, even the flights are a couple of thousand dollars each way and she isn’t exactly loaded.”

“That won’t be a problem,” I tell her. “We’ll be flying out on my plane and the resort I’ve booked us into is an all-inclusive resort, so she won’t need much spending money. And I will be covering the hotel costs.”

Harriet starts to open her mouth to argue but I shake my head.

“Harriet I’m not doing this because I think your mom can’t afford it or whatever. It’s the polite thing to do if you have a wedding somewhere expensive, don’t you think?” I ask.

Reluctantly, Harriet nods.

“I guess so,” she says. Her expression gives way to a beaming smile. “My mom will be so excited when I tell her.”

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