“G-4,” I told the guys while plastering a wide, very insincere smile on my face.

Tucker laughed, remembering what I said about why I took the picture, and that was a good thing, because it just so happened to be the moment some sneaky photographer took our photo, and when they printed it later, it did make us look like that happy, newlywed couple coming back from eloping in Vegas.

Despite me originally thinking that Wes would hope in the Audi with us, he ended up arranging a different ride home so that Tucker and I would have time to talk on the way back to my new husband’s apartment. Despite really not wanting to be there, I didn’t see as I had much of a choice in the matter, for now, so I went without a fight. Once we made it to the privacy of the apartment, with a locked door separating us from the rest of the world, I managed to ask the all-important question.

“Where exactly will I be staying?”

“The apartment is temporary,” he informed me before taking my hand and walking me to the living room where there were a few printed pages of what looked to be real estate listings scattered on the coffee table. “Pick one, and we’ll call it home as soon as the sale goes through.” Just like that, we were picking out our future home. Everything somehow continued to move ahead at lightspeed, without any sign of slowing. I had to take a minute, along with a deep breath or twelve, in order to calm the rising panic over what I had done and the implications that decision held for my future.

I glanced at the three options that were sitting there, read through the details of each, and eventually picked the one I did because it had a privacy fenced back yard with lots of trees blocking the rest of the view, and a swimming pool that I would love to utilize. If I had to be fake married and live with the indignities that the arrangement would bring, I might as well be able to have one thing that would make me happy, right?

“This one,” I told him as I handed him my choice.

“All right, I’ll get Cynthia on it right away.”

“For now, where am I staying?”

“I have four bedrooms in the place, pick one, though your clothes and shit will have to go in the master in case anyone stops by.”

“Who in the hell is going to stop by the bedroom that doesn’t already know?” I meant the fact that our parents would know the marriage was fake, for the most part.

“Listen, I know our parents – well our fathers – set this up, but you have to understand that they fully expect this to be a lasting marriage that produces heirs and all that crap,” he announced.

“They what?”

“Come on, your dad had to have this conversation with you.”