Page 47 of Hail Marry
“If you wanna tell your family, that’s totally fine, of course.”
“I don’t have a family.”
Her brows shoot up. “Like, no family at all?”
“Nope. If we’re looking at more nights like tonight, though, we should talk through our story.”
“Yes,” she says firmly, turning back toward the house. “It’s a small miracle we made it through tonight alive.”
It kind of feels like we’re running on small miracles.
12
TORI
The storywe come up with has Romeo and Juliet vibes—we met one fateful day when Luca saved my life. It was love at first sight, we spent every moment we could together afterward, and we married as soon as humanly possible to seal and protect our love.
There’s just none of the family feuding or teen romance or bawdy jokes. And instead of ending in two tragic and unnecessary deaths, it’ll end in a planned but amicable divorce.
So, it’s really nothing like Romeo and Juliet.
Luca’s not one for long, poetic monologues, and let’s be honest, I’m no Shakespeare, either.
But that’s the gist of what we come up with—a quick, passionate romance. There are some needed embellishments to the reality of what happened, like the way we stayed on the phone until the wee hours of the morning every night rather than Luca calling me twice one night for five seconds. We figure keeping as close to the real timeline of our meeting is for the best, especially since Luca’s not a great liar—case in point, him telling Austin he didn’t like his music.
The one niggling worry I have is Tyler Warren. He’s under the impression Luca and I were already engaged when I came to the hospital, but that’s the date we’re claiming as our meet-cute. I could curse myself for the save-my-pride lies I told at the hospital. My main hope is that Tyler’s head will be so full of ER drama that he doesn’t have the time or brain space to devote to Luca’s and my relationship timeline.
The images from our photoshoot start appearing on social media and local news outlets, and along with them comes a cascade of texts and messages.
Siena
I wasn’t so sure about this whole elopement thing, but…
She texts a picture. It’s the one of Luca and me almost kissing at the beach. I saw the picture when Zach sent it but haven’t allowed myself to look at it since. It makes me feel things I’m not willing to feel and to wonder about things that are firmly off-limits.
Here I was worried my baby sis would never fall in love again. You have no idea how happy I am to be wrong!
To be clear, this is not my stamp of approval for Luca. That will only come when you stop hogging him and let him meet his new family.
I would be worried about Siena showing up at my house like Austin did except that she and Jack moved to Monterey, and she’s not big on long car rides now that she’s pregnant.
Jess is absolutely over-the-moon when I break the news at work (“YoumarriedSuperman? Iknewit was fate!”), and the only way I avoid an interrogation or a chastisement for holding out on her is by begging Luca to come take me to lunch.
We’re sitting at a Venezuelan food truck table a few blocks from the office building I work in when I get a long text from a number I don’t have saved.
Unknown
Hey Tor! Saw you and Luca Callahan on the news last night! Tyler told me he saw you at the hospital with him recently and that you were engaged, but I refused to believe it. MY Tori, engaged to Luca Callahan?! Turns out it’s true! Congratulations on getting married—I’m so happy for you! You two should come to mine and Kimmy’s reception in New York next May. And hey, if Luca gets drafted to a team on the East Coast, I wouldn’t say no to some tickets ;)
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I say, my face screwed up in disgust.
“What?” Luca takes a bite of his arepa and wipes his mouth with a napkin.
I hand him the phone, and he reads the text. His brows pull together more and more until he reaches the end. His gaze flicks to me. “MY Tori?”
That’s not what I thought he’d fixate on, but it’s definitely the part that bothered me most. And it’s kind of flattering that it bothers him too. “I’ll never forgive you if you give him tickets,” I say, taking the phone back.
“Not something you need to worry about.” He looks at my phone like it’s a bug that needs squashing, then gathers up the garbage. “Do you want me to drive you back to work? I’ve gotta get to my scrimmage. Zach says there might be a scout there today.”
