“As in one and the same. I’m on hold until we hear from Quinn, and the Chesterfield is closed today. I find myself with a rare bit of free time—” The air whooshed from her lungs when he stood and slung her over his shoulder, handling her as if she were weightless when she was anything but. “Jared!”

“I can’t talk right now. I’m having a naked lazy day with my very busy wife. Hold all my calls.”

Lizzie laughed all the way inside, where she spent the rest of the day being naked and lazy with her husband while hoping and praying that his brother would take them up on their offer.

“Are you still meeting me in town at lunchtime?” Alex asked Jenny before they parted ways for the day.

“That’s the plan. Marriage license day.” She rolled her lip between her teeth before seeming to remember he was watching. “Noon at Town Hall?”

“I’ll be there.” He hooked his arm around her waist. “What’s with the lip?”

“The lip?”

“You bite your lip when you’re worried about something.”

She looked up at him with bottomless eyes that saw all the way through him the way no one else ever had. Sometimes it was hard to remember that she’d had that connection once before with someone else. Not that it mattered, but still…

“Toby died the day after we applied for our license.”

“I’m not going to die tomorrow.”

“I know.”

“Do you? Do you really?”

Tears filled her eyes. “I’m a hot mess, and I’m so sorry to do this to you when we should be worry-free and looking ahead not back.”

An idea occurred to him right then and there, leaving him breathless with the desire to see it through immediately.

“Do me a favor,” he said, running with it.

“Sure.”

“Wear something really pretty to Town Hall, and I’ll take you to Stephanie’s for lunch after.”

“I can do that.”

Alex leaned in to kiss her. “Everything is going to be just fine, babe. I promise you.”

“Keep telling me that.”

“Any time you need to hear it.” He went into their room to retrieve what he needed to make his plan a reality and dropped her at the retail store on his way to work. “Kiss me.”

She reached for him over the center console and obliged him, wiping away the lipstick she left on his lips. “Love you. Be careful today.”

“I’m always careful. See you at noon. Don’t be late.”

“I’ll be there.”

The second the door shut behind her, he was on the phone with Evan McCarthy. “I need a favor, buddy.”

“Sure. What’s up?”

Alex outlined his plan to Evan and told him the reason for it.

“Dude, that’s seriously awesome. I’m in. I’ll meet you there at two.”