After I Gave My Husband Away, He Begged Me to Stay Chapter 14
The following spring, Grant and I went to the county courthouse to make it official.
No wedding dress.
No photographer trailing us.
I finished a meeting that morning, and he came down from the office next door to pick me up.
Traffic ate up twenty minutes.
By the time we reached the courthouse, there was only half an hour left before closing.
The clerk looked over our paperwork.
“No photo?”
Grant and I froze at the same time.
“We didn’t bring one?”
“We forgot.”
The clerk pointed downstairs.
“There’s a little photo studio downstairs. If you want a courthouse portrait, go now.”
So we ran back down.
The photographer told Grant to move closer to me.
“Groom, smile a little.”
Grant said,
“I am.”
The photographer looked up at him.
“That’s nerves. Not a smile.”
I burst out laughing,
When the photo came out, I was grinning much harder than he was.
Grant studied it for a long time.
“Can we retake this?”
“Why?”
“I look like I don’t want to be here.”
“Do you not want to be here?”
“I don’t want anyone thinking I didn’t want this.”
“Who’s going to study our courthouse photo?”
“Me. I am.”
The photographer laughed from beside us.
“All right, all right. I’ve got another couple waiting.”
We took the photo and hurried back upstairs.
While we filled out the final forms, my phone buzzed.
An unfamiliar number.
【Claire, I’m in San Jose. Can I see you?)
There was no name.
But I recognized the last four digits immediately.
Ethan.
Another message came almost immediately.
[I’ve been divorced for six months.)
[This time, I took care of everything before I came.]
Grant slid his form toward me.
“Check my driver’s license number. Make sure I copied it correctly.”
I checked it once.
“It’s right.”
The clerk took our paperwork.
you
both entering into this marriage of your own free will?”
Grant said, “Yes.”
I said, “Yes.”
She entered the information into the system.
The printer whirred to life.
My phone was still lit on the counter.
Ethan sent one more message.
[I’m downstairs at your campus.]
I turned the screen off.
The clerk placed the certified marriage documents beneath the county seal.
Click.
The seal pressed down.
Grant took the documents and slipped them into the clear folder we’d just bought.
Above the counter, the electronic number display changed to the next appointment.