“All right,” he said quietly. “If it gets you out of this mess. Just know, I’m not one to back out once I’m in something.”

Relief rushed through me.

“Thank you,” I whispered. “Thank you, Ethan.”

He smiled knowingly.

“Guess I’ve always been a little crazy. But this—this might just take the cake.”

That afternoon, we went directly to city hall.

No wedding dress.

No flowers.

Just paperwork and two strangers signing their names.

When we stepped outside, Ethan grinned.

“Well, looks like we’re in this together now.”

Only then did the reality sink in.

I had just married someone I had met that same day.

The days that followed passed in a blur. Ethan and I settled into an unusual routine that somehow became comforting.

His life was simple and unhurried. He taught me things I had never bothered learning—how to cook breakfast without relying on anyone else, how to shop carefully, how to stretch a grocery budget.