“Great, see you then.” Next, Alex called Sydney and Erin to get them on board.

Erin sniffled when he told her what he wanted to do and why. “Poor Jenny,” she said. “And you… You’re brilliant, Alex Martinez. I’m so happy you came into her life and made everything better.”

“That means a lot to me coming from you, Erin.”

“Toby would approve of you. And he would like you.”

“Christ, you’re going to make me bawl like a baby over here.”

“I’ll see you at two.”

“Thanks, Erin.” It totally sucked that Paul was off-island today, but Alex hoped his brother would understand. He made a call to Town Hall, spoke to the clerk about what he wanted to do and received her full support. His final call was to the mother of Ethan’s friend to ask if he could go to their house after school for a couple of hours. Hope had given him the number in case he needed it, and Jonah’s mom was happy to have Ethan and promised to pick him up from the bus stop. Another hurdle cleared. This was coming together almost too easily.

The hours at work were largely a waste as he was incredibly preoccupied with his plans. The clock inched slowly forward until it was finally eleven thirty. Feeling like a little kid on Christmas morning, Alex changed into shorts and a clean polo shirt in his truck before heading for town. He would’ve worn something nicer, but he didn’t want to tip his hand before he was ready to.

Looking gorgeous in a pretty summer dress, Jenny waited for him on the front steps at Town Hall. As they were going in, Blaine Taylor was coming out.

“Hey, guys,” Blaine said. “What’s up?”

“Marriage license time,” Jenny said.

“Wow, it’s getting close. Looking forward to the party this weekend.”

“I am, too,” Alex said. “See you there.”

“Wouldn’t miss it.” He shook hands with Alex and kissed Jenny’s cheek before continuing on his way.

“I love living here and seeing friends everywhere we go,” Jenny said.

He patted her on the ass as they walked through the main doors. “I love living here a whole lot more since I met you.”

She giggled at his words and the ass grab.

They filled out the paperwork and emerged from Town Hall twenty minutes later, marriage license inside a sealed envelope, just the way Alex had requested. After a leisurely lunch at Stephanie’s, Alex made his move. “Take a ride with me.”

“Where? Don’t you have to get back to work? Paul’s off-island—”

“It’ll only take a few minutes. I want to show you something.”

“All right, but you can explain to my boss why I was late getting back from lunch.”

“Your boss can suck my dick.”

“Ugh, that’s so gross.”

“You love to suck my—”