Big Man's Bride (Big Men Small Towns 1)

He gives me a long, hard look before taking the money. “Okay.”

“Perfect.”

The wedding will be splashed across the gossip columns by tomorrow morning, showing my family without having to tell them that I got married. I’ll act surprised when my mom calls me after seeing the news, and it’ll seem even more authentic that I swept Ally off her feet and convinced er to marry me.

“Come here, wife, let’s get some pictures for our future grandchildren,” I bellow into the house.

Ally comes to the door and rolls her eyes. “I’m so glad you’re finding the humor in all of this,” she says, scrunching up her nose at me.”

I haul her up into my arms and she lets out a scream, but she’s smiling, and the photographer follows us down to the river where we take more pictures. Ally looks particularly adorable when she takes off her shoes and hikes up her dress to splash a bit in the river. She stomps her feet and squeals, reaching out her hand to me. “Caleb, come. Have you even set foot in the Cumberland yet?”

I sit down on a rock and take off my shoes and socks and roll up my pants. The setting sun casts a beautiful light across Ally’s face, and she looks like a little kid on Christmas morning. The photographer’s camera keeps clicking, and I step into the cool river water, taking Ally’s hand, and despite that this is just an elaborate set up, I can’t help but smile and feel just as excited as my wife.7AllyI look out into the fading light through the window of the guest bedroom. The room is a little dirty, but I can clean it. It’s fine. It’s bare but it will do. Right now there aren’t even sheets on the bed. I’ll ask Caleb if he has any extras. I’m frankly amazed that there’s even a bed in here at all. I’m going to think of this as a kind of extended stay hotel. I can always run back to my apartment to get a few things if I need them. That’s not against the rules.

I smile to myself. This used to my room when I was a kid—where I stayed when I would visit my grandfather. I can even see the outline in the faded paint of the old pictures Grandpa had hanging on these walls. The wood floor still creaked in just the same way when I stepped in the room the first time today. It seems only fitting that I would stay in here again. There’s a satisfying sense of things coming full circle. Hopefully once this month is over and the deed is signed back over to me, I’ll think that it was worth it. I’ll finally be home.

The wedding band on my finger is a little bit loose. Now that it’s there, it’s a little hard not to face the reality of what I just did. I sold myself to Caleb. I know I didn’t, not really, and I did it for the right reasons, but still. There’s a feeling that’s nagging at me that I just made a terrible mistake.

As if my thoughts had summoned him, there’s a creak on the flooring, and I turn to find the man himself leaning against the door frame, hands in his pockets, the picture of ease. His suit jacket is gone, shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His hair is less than perfect now, like he’s run his hands through it a couple of times, and I’m jealous of how good he looks even though he’s disheveled. When I’m in that state, I resemble a drowned rat more than anything else.

“Do you have any extra sheets?”

He nods. “I was waiting to have all the furniture delivered until I was sure that the interior didn’t need an extensive overhaul, but the repairs it needs are minor, so it’ll be delivered this week.”

“Oh.”

Silence hangs in the air between us. It feels tense and slightly awkward in a way that it hasn’t so far. But it’s different. We are actually married, and there’s no way to avoid that.

“Thank you for the dress,” I say. I’d gone to pick it out this morning, and I loved the way it made me feel. It’s the most expensive item of clothing that I’ve ever owned, and it didn’t even quite cost the amount of money that he’d given me yesterday. “And for the paperwork. Now that it’s done, I won’t bother you for the next month. I still have to work, and I’ll help you with the repairs for the house, but mostly I’ll stay out of your way …”

I trail off as I notice the way he’s looking at me. Like he’s seeing me. Caleb doesn’t respond to anything that I said. He just stares, a hungry gaze slowly running up and down my body. It heats me up against my will, and I feel the blush bloom across my cheeks and chest. “You look beautiful,” he says.