Page 103 of The Wedding Situation Romance

They both laugh, despite the fact that I wasn’t really trying to make a joke. I’m actually not in the mood to joke at all right now. Especially not with these two.

“We don’t want to take up much of your time,” Ashley says as they take a seat in front of me.

Good.

“But we just wanted to thank you,” she says, and my eyes slice up to meet her.

“Thank me?” I ask. Because honestly, what the fuck?

“Yes,” Michael says, taking his wife’s hand. “For suggesting that we go to therapy.”

My lips slant downward. “You do know that I only recommended it as a means to an end, right?”

“Yes,” they both nod. “And even if this wasn’t your projected outcome,” Michael goes on. “We are still grateful. Because at the end of the day, you saved our marriage.”

Fuck my life.

I pinch my lips together with a curt nod. “That’s…great,” I lie. “I’m happy for you.” Also, a lie. Also, my secretary has been fired.

Not really. But what the hell.

“It’s kind of ironic, isn’t it?” Michael asks, and I swear I don’t even know this man. Not that long ago he was dressed to thenines, in my office on a rage-fueled mission. And now he’s a puddle of smiles and feelings and multiple other things that have me wanting to throw up in my mouth a little. “Almost like fate, if you think about it.”

I don’t want to think about it. And I definitely don’t want to ask what he means by that. But I’m under the impression that if I don’t let them say what they came here to say, I’m not going to be able to make them leave without being very, very rude.

“What’s ironic?” I ask through nearly gritted teeth.

“You don’t believe in love,” he says. “You making a living ruining people’s marriages all because of how much you don’t believe in it. And yet, you saved ours.”

“You’re the entire reason we are together,” Ashley agrees, and my stomach sours. Though it’s not entirely because all this mushy shit is getting under my skin. But because it’s making me think about everything else that’s happened in the last couple of months. It’s making me think about her. And that is enough to shove my heart up into my throat. A place it has no business being.

“That’s…” I nod, but no more words come out to finish that statement. I am, I hate to say it, speechless. And that is a first.

“Are you alright?” Ashley asks.

“Yeah, you look a little green around the gills,” Michael says.

“Yeah. I’m fine,” I nod, swallowing the bile that has apparently formed in my throat. “Just not feeling great today,” I say, and it’s not a lie.

“Well, we will leave you to your work,” Michael says. “We just wanted to stop in and say thank you.”

“Yes,” Ashley nods as they stand. “Thank you.”

Both of them insist on shaking my hand, and I swear it’s the most awkward meeting I have ever had in my life. So much so that I find myself needing to get the hell out of the office.

When I leave, I take a deep breath. And yet, even when I am in my car, driving away from the building, I still can’t seem to fill my lungs. Everything around me feels tight and suffocating, and I yank at my tie to loosen it.

But no matter how I try to refocus, I just keep hearing their words in my head.

“You saved our marriage…”

It’s not that I am against their marriage working out. Not anymore, anyways. More power to them. It’s the idea that something I said or did brought two people together. It’s the idea that dropping walls and loosening fists and giving someone the benefit of the doubt could lead to love. It’s almost too much for me to think about. And yet, I feel like I need someone totalkto about it.

So I do something crazy.

* * *

“I’ll be right with you,” Allegra says from inside her office after she hears the front door chime.