“Your death? You’re in great shape. You’re not even thirty until next weekend. Why would you even mention that?” she asked, her voice a little squeaky.
“I meant to reassure you that, unlike Lena, you stand to inherit the townhome, the cars and a sizable life insurance policy.”
“Why would you do that? We’re only married for a few months.”
“First, it has to look real and a man in love would think of his bride’s future. Also, if I get hit by an Uber driver, I’d rather the money and worldly goods not revert to Lena who was my father’s next of kin in the event of my death.”
“No texting while you cross the street, okay?” she said, upset by the idea.
He covered her hand with his.
“I’ve got this. I’ve thought it out from every angle and I’ve made certain that you’re safeguarded. Try not to distress yourself.”
“I’m already distressed. This is basically our third date and you’re talking death benefits!”
“True, but, in my defense, we’re on a fairly serious third date, flying cross country, being married already...I already know everything your Pinterest boards can tell me and there’s a list in my phone of pros and cons for backup. Rest assured, Marjorie, I’m going to take care of you.”
She leaned her head on his shoulder and sighed.
“Are you still worried?”
“A little. I’m also trying to avoid turning my phone back on because I messaged Britt this morning about our wedding. I know the notifications are going to explode.”
“Want me to text her for you? You’re facing the paparazzi for me. The least I can do is intercept the bevy of questions she peppered you with.”
“Intercept and bevy are about as hot as sweaty socks,” she said, “however if you’re willing to send Britt a selfie to calm her down, that’d be great. We’ll Skype tomorrow but I just don’t want to get into the meet cute and the sudden wedding just now. I’m too focused on meeting Lena.”
“You must be. You didn’t even call her the Wicked Queen. Here,” he said, taking her phone and powering it on, “Ah, yes, forty-three notifications. Let’s see...” he held her phone at arm’s length and kissed her, the shutter clicking on her phone.
Marj watched in awe and amusement as he messaged the picture to Britt with the caption, “Busy now, ttyl.”
“She’s going to DIE when she sees that. No, wait, do not delete that. It’s about to become my Facebook cover photo!” she said, importing the image.
“That’s what I’ve always dreamed of—kissing a woman until she was overcome with the desire to edit her social media accounts. See, I can be flippant, too.”
“A few more weeks of me and you could be a much less serious person. I may need to take you to play laser tag, to loosen you up.”
“Please don’t.”
“Fine, I couldn’t tag anyone in these shoes anyway. I guess it’s the dinner party circuit for us.”
“The goal tonight at dinner is to be gorgeous, which you have covered effortlessly, and to seem like a real newlywed couple.”
“All over each other? I can deal. But what if she asks me questions about you?”
“This isn’t a game show and no one is going to expect you to know everything about me anyway.”
“Um, help me out...favorite...oh, gosh, I can’t think!”
“Calm down! She isn’t going to quiz you and even if she did, she’d never know if your answers were right! The woman knows next to nothing about me. If pressed she could tell you my birthday because of the will, and that I look like my father.”
“That’s sad. But I’m going to know you better, so you’re not going to be all alone any more. If you can intercede a bevy or whatever, I can stick up for you with the WQ. Trust me.”
“I do.”
“No, that was the love, honor and obey thing. You’re confused.”
“I never promised to obey you. All right, maybe if we’re naked and there’s a blindfold involved.”
“Cates, I think this is going to be one hell of a six months,” Marj smiled, leaning over to kiss him.