Page 35 of Matrimonial Merger

“No, no,” Cal shook his head. “I need to speak with you in private.”

“Oh… okay,” I said.

“Hello to you, too,” Chloe said.

“Sorry, Chlo. Later. I just… I am in a rush,” Cal said. “It has to do with tomorrow plans.”

“Oh,” she said, as if in on a secret.

“Can you all go ahead without me?” I asked. “And tag me in later?”

“Gotcha,” Chloe agreed. “Come on.”

She and the CMO left.

“Do you like your current CMO more than your past one?” Cal chuckled.

“My past one was an impossibly good-at-everything asshole,” I said, marching over to my office. “But damn he was handsome.”

Cal, flattered, closed the door. “Daph, I need you to just… not kill me.”

“Cal, I don’t… what did you do?”

“I planned a surprise wedding. I was going to tell you tomorrow, but I just met with Judge Mahony and he reminded me that we needed to get a marriage license today if we were getting married tomorrow.”

“What? Tomorrow?” I slumped on the couch. “Cal, what the fuck?”

“Sorry, baby. I… I love you?” He winced.

“That’s not a question,” I said. “Why?”

“We had the venue. We had the date. And you didn’t want to bethatbride, remember?”

I beamed. “You did all this for me?”

“I did. Because I wanted to make you happy.”

I normally avoided any physical affection in the office, but not today. I pulled Cal towards me by the lapel of his suit jacket. It was the strangest grand gesture. It came out of nowhere. I usually hated surprises, but this was next-level.

He pulled back. “I want to doa millionthings to you, Daph, but we need to get to the County Building, now.”

“Okay,” I agreed. “Let’s go.”

We raced out, me leaving instructions for my assistant. The car made its way towards the county building. It wasn’t a long trip, but I realized I didn’t have any of my documents.

“Cal, I need my passport or birth certificate. And you do, too?—”

“Shit! Change of plans!” He called ahead to his driver. “Detour. We need to go to the house first.”

“Yes, sir,” the driver called back, heading slightly north.

As I dug our passports out of the safe, Cal, fumbled in the room next door with something.

“Cal, what are you doing?” I called, annoyed.

Cal returned. “I wanted to show you something.”

I turned to see him holding a white garment bag. My mouth dropped.

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