“We don’t have to. I mean, you know, have sex. We can if you want to. I guess. But we don’t have to.”

“Oh,” I said, because that seemed like the only thing to say.

“Do you want to?” Tove asked, looking at me.

“Uh… not realy, no,” I admitted. “But we could try kissing, maybe.”

“No, that’s okay.” He scratched the back of his head and looked around the room. “We can take this slow. Tonight’s only the first night. We have our whole lives to… figure out how to sleep with each other.”

“Yeah,” I said, and laughed nervously. “So, I’l go put on pajamas?”

“Yeah, me too.”

Stil holding my dress around me, I went into the closet only to find a problem. I had no clothes here. None of Elora’s clothes were even in here. The closet was bare.

“Do you have any clothes?” Tove asked from the bedroom.

“Because these dressers are empty.”

“Oh, hel, I bet they did that on purpose,” I sighed and walked back out.

“They didn’t give us clothes because…” He trailed off and smiled thinly.

“So I have nothing to sleep in.”

“You can wear my tee shirt,” Tove offered. He undid the top buttons of his dress shirt, then puled it over his head, revealing a plain white tee shirt. “Do you want to?”

“Yes, thank you,” I said.

He took off his shirt, then handed it to me. I turned around, so my back was to him, and I puled on his tee shirt. I stepped out of my dress, and it felt amazing to be free of it. Everything about me felt lighter.

When I’d finished, I saw that Tove had taken off his pants, so he was wearing only his boxers. I went around to my side of the bed and sat down on the edge. I peeled off the jewelry I’d been wearing, except for my new wedding ring with a giant diamond.

I climbed into bed, sliding underneath the mounds of covers.

The bed was massive, so even after Tove got in it, there was stil plenty of room between us. I waited until he was settled, then I leaned over and turned off my bedside lamp, submerging the room in darkness.

“Is it okay?” Tove asked.

“What?”

“That I don’t love you.”

“Uh, yeah,” I said carefuly. “I think it’s okay.”

“I wasn’t sure if I should tel you. I didn’t want to hurt your feelings, but I thought you should know.” He moved in the bed, and I felt a subtle motion on my side.

“No, it’s okay. I’m glad you told me.” I paused for a minute. “I don’t love you.”

“And that’s okay?”

“I think so.”

“It was a nice wedding,” Tove said, somewhat randomly.

“Except for the part with your dad.”