I go and open the door and she comes in.
She’s wearing a pair of black trousers and a pale pink button up shirt. Her hair is back up in its French pleat and any sign of the softness I saw on her face this morning when she’d just woken up is gone. Sierra is well and truly back in work mode.
“Okay,” she says, all business. “So the process of annulment is pretty simple. One of us needs to file for the annulment. I’ll do it on the grounds that I was intoxicated. I know we both were, but Nevada state law only permits one person to file the request. Filing the request can be done online and I’ve already found a notary willing to witness it. After that, the court will attempt to contact you to notify you of the claim. Don’t respond and after twenty days, I can then request the court make a decision based on the fact you’re not responding. Hopefully, then, they grant the annulment.”
“Wouldn’t it be quicker if I responded?” I ask.
Sierra shrugs. “Maybe. But then we’d have to go to court. This way, it can all be done behind closed doors.”
“Okay, that makes sense,” I say.
“There’s just one catch,” she adds. “Before I can file the complaint, we need a witness who can verify that I was intoxicated at the time of the marriage.”
“Oh, shit,” I say. “That complicates things doesn’t it?”
“It does. But someone must have acted as the witness to our wedding. If we can track them down, they might be able to help us out.”
“So we need to know where we got married then,” I say.
She nods.
I grab my laptop and sit down on the bed and fire it up.
“I’ve already Googled it. There are thousands of places we could have gotten married,” she says.
“But there can’t be that many within walking distance of The Curious Cat,” I conclude. “I know we could have gotten a cab from there and ended up anywhere in the city, but we might as well start there.”
She frowns a little and then nods. “Good idea.”
“You say that like you’re surprised.” I laugh. “Like maybe you think I’m all beauty and no brains. And before you say anything about not thinking I’m beautiful, just remember you married me.”
She laughs again and her face softens, her eyes sparkling.
I can’t believe I’ve never noticed before, how her eyes sparkle when she laughs. She sits down beside me on the bed as my laptop fires up and I navigate to Google. I pick up the receipt from The Curious Cat from the bedside cabinet and look for the address. I find it and type it into the search bar and then I add wedding.
Within ten minutes, I have a list of twelve wedding venues within walking distance of The Curious Cat.
“Ready?” I ask.
Sierra nods and gets up.
We head downstairs and out of the hotel.
I’m glad it’s still early, way too early for any of the others from our party to be up and about. I just want this thing to go away without anyone having to know about it. I’m fairly confident that only Sierra and I were present for the wedding. The others wouldn’t have let us do something this stupid.
I look around, but there isn’t a cab in sight. Perfect. “Let’s just start walking and we’ll flag a cab when we can,” I say.
We head in what I think is the right direction.
“Thank you,” I say after a couple of minutes of silence.
“For what?” she asks, looking at me with confusion.
“For making this easy. Or at least as easy as it’s going to be. I know you don’t want this anymore than I do. But well, there’s plenty of women who would have seen an opportunity for a hefty divorce settlement rather than an annulment.”
Sierra studies me for a moment. “You know I didn’t think of that. So how much would a quiet divorce be worth to you?”
I look over at her in shock.
She laughs. “I’m joking. Jeez. I know you’re not used to socializing, but sometimes, people make jokes, just for the sheer hell of it you know.” She smiles.
“I do occasionally socialize you know,” I point out.
“You just didn’t think I had any personality?” she asks.
“No. I mean yes. I knew obviously you did, but well, I’ve never really seen it,” I say.
She shrugs. “I like to stay professional. Things get messy when you mix business and pleasure.”
“You don’t say.” I laugh.
Sierra darts away from me and sticks her hand out.
I look up and see she’s spotted a cab which pulls up beside her. She gets in and slides across the seat and I get in beside her.
I pull my list out of my pocket. It could be any of them, so I just decide to start at the top. I give the driver the address and he gives me a knowing smile through his mirror before he pulls away. He knows exactly what we’ve done and exactly what we’re doing now.
Sierra seems to have noticed too and she peers out of the window in silence.
I feel bad for her suddenly, like I want to say something to make this less awkward, but what can I say that will fix this mess?
After a few attempts to make conversation that are met with a grunt from me and total silence from Sierra, the cab driver shrugs and turns the radio on. Marvin Gaye’s voice fills the cab, singing Let’s Get It On. Of course, it does. Because why wouldn’t the universe find a way to make this even more fucking awkward?
I glance at Sierra and see she’s looking at me too.
“I’ve been trying to figure out how to say this, and there’s really no way to say it right. So I’m just going to come out with it,” she says.
I nod for her to go on, already guessing what she’s going to ask. The perfectly timed song has obviously sent her mind to
