Page 41 of Avalanche
And that’s the truth. It took me a while. Took Eddie a while. We’d walked until our booted feet were numb, until frostbite was threatening to take our ungloved hands, and then he’d pulled me into a half-empty diner and we’d talked some more.
Or rather, I’d listened as Eddie talked, his voice never stopping as he laid the facts out in front of me, dared me to see things from this angle and that angle until I thought my head would burst. Until all I wanted to do was close my eyes and bury my face in my hands. Or better, disappear with Lily into her bed and hide beneath the covers until all of this passed me by.
But that would be a coward’s way. And I might be many things—might be slow and angry and terrified of losing Lily—but I’m no coward.
“I get why you need to marry Lily,” I say, and I try to tell myself that sharp sting behind my eyes is just from the flicker of the kitchen lights. A lightbulb that someone needs to change, if one of us remembers. “It’s just…” I clear my throat, then find the rest of the words have gotten lost somewhere.
“A shit-show?” Liam offers, leaning forward to rest his forearms on the table. One hand grips his coffee mug, the other taps a rhythm out beside his plate. “The most bigoted bullshit ever?”
I nod, blinking until his face comes back into focus, until I can see the steely anger of his grey eyes. It’s steadying, somehow, that anger. Like a rope tossed across in a storm. It makes me feel a little less ashamed of my own anger, that hot twisting thing that has been tangling inside of me since last night.
“Yeah,” Eddie drawls, leaning back in his chair, kicking his feet out in front of him under the table. “It fucking sucks having to become a billionaire.”
Antoine gives him a deadpan look.
“How long do you have?” I ask, feeling strangely like someone facing their executioner, wanting to know how many more seconds left they have to live. But this isn’t the end. This can’t be the end. “Before you need to get married, I mean.”
“Five days,” Antoine’s throat bobs as he admits this, his green eyes screaming their apology to me across the table.
Five days.
I think of the ring tucked in my jacket pocket in my room. Of the way Grandpa’s hand felt closing around mine when he gave it to me. Of all the times I imagined dropping to one knee, opening that box, slipping the ring on Lily’s finger. Yes, she would say, in that breathy way of hers, eyes shining. Yes.
Those dreams crumble like dry snow, whipped away by an icy wind.
“So, we’ve got five days to help you propose then,” Eddie announces with a grin. “That shouldn’t be too hard.”
I stare at him in confusion. Propose? Why would I propose? Lily is already marrying Antoine.
Liam and Antoine turn to Eddie with equal looks of bewilderment.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Liam asks bluntly.
Eddie’s grin widens, brown eyes sparkling with excitement as he leans across the table. “I’ve been doing some research. And by research, I mean I called my brother and had him look into a bunch of stuff for me.”
I give a slow nod, remembering Eddie arguing with someone on the phone that night Tom drugged Lily. My lawyer brother, he had said, between nodding furiously to his brother’s instructions and telling me to put Tom in the trunk.
“He said it’s not legal to marry more than one person in Utah?—”
“Obviously.” Liam rolls his eyes.
“—but Utah doesn’t criminalize people for marrying more than one person.” Eddie pauses, wrinkling his nose in thought, then adds: “I guess that’s because of the polygamous people? But it’s not just here, a few other states don’t criminalize it, too. Anyway, the point is you can marry more than one person and not go to jail. You just pay a fine or something.”
“But it’s not legal?” Antoine asks cautiously.
Eddie shakes his head. “Only one marriage would be legal. The second one wouldn’t be. It would be like, cultural or something? You can only fit two people on a marriage certificate.” He pauses, takes a sip of his coffee, then purses his lips. “But you could still have a wedding. Like, Antoine and Lily would sign the marriage certificate, but Matty and Lily could still have the big wedding, exchange vows, all that shit.”
“All that shit,” Liam echoes, resting his elbows on the table to press his fingertips against his temples. “I’m sorry, but am I the only one who thinks this is fucking crazy?”
Antoine frowns and rubs at his forehead. “I don’t understand why Matty would need to propose before Lily and I get married though. If what you’re saying is true, couldn’t he just do that after?” He darts me a nervous glance, then adds: “When he’s ready. So he doesn’t feel rushed.”
I shoot Antoine a grateful half-smile. I’ve known Lily is the one since the day I met her, but the thought of having to propose to her in five days… that’s terrifying.
What if she says no?
And yet…
I want the ring on her finger to be mine, not his. Even if I do wait to marry her, I want to see my grandma’s ring sparkling back at me from Lily’s hand.
