Married for a Month

by Cate Ashwood

  “A movie sounds great,” he said, cutting me off midsentence.

  “Perfect. I can meet you at the Barley Station in an hour? We could grab a beer or something before the early show?”

  “I’m in.”

  I hung up, feeling lighter than I had before Travis called. At least I wouldn’t be sitting around Alec’s place moping and wondering when he was coming home. And since when had I become a guy who moped? It was unattractive and I needed to stop immediately.

  I hauled myself into the bedroom to make myself look presentable. I’d partaken in the beverages a bit too much the evening before, and even the morning of sleep and the double order of Thai hadn’t done jack shit for the dark circles inhabiting the space beneath my eyes.

  Not that Travis would care. Even if he wasn’t with Sarah, he was strictly into girls. I’d discovered that the awkward way our first time hanging outside of work. He bent to tie his shoe and when he turned around, he caught me staring at his ass. I thought he’d be pissed. Most straight twenty-year-olds probably would have been. Some might have tried to beat the shit out of me. Travis bent back over and wiggled a little until we both dissolved into fits.

  I found a pair of jeans and a shirt that weren’t too wrinkly and threw both on, then brushed the taste of cashew chicken out of my mouth before checking myself in the mirror one last time and heading toward the door.

  As I pulled my shoes on, I checked my cell phone in case I’d missed a text from Alec.

  Nothing.

  I turned back around, second-guessing my urge to leave without telling him where I was going, and jotted down a note on a scrap piece of paper.

  I didn’t know why I felt the need to inform him where I was. It was a thing married couples did, right? I tucked the note under the magnet he’d bought when he was on vacation in Cancun, right in the middle of the fridge where I knew he would see it. At the last second, I added a PS that there was food for him as well, in case he tried to go to bed without supper like he had the other night. At least he had the option of the curry.

  The pub across from the theater was my favorite place to grab pre-cinema drinks, but the thought of beer had me feeling a little on the queasy side. Travis was already there when I arrived, and he beamed when he saw me.

  I pulled the chair across the table out, and he began his interrogation before I even had a chance to sit.

  “How are you sort of married? And to Alec? How did that happen?”

  “Jesus Christ,” I said, getting comfortable in my seat and making him wait for the answer a while longer. I enjoyed irritating him. “You’re worse than my sister when it comes to gossip.”

  “Well, when your least marriable friend phones you up and tells you he’s hitched, it sets off some alarm bells.”

  “You called me. And how am I unmarriable?” I resisted the urge to pout, but this assessment people seemed to be making of me was getting pretty old.

  “Come on, Chase. You’ve never shown any interest in settling down. You’ve never made it past the first month.”

  I bit back the urge to correct him with “week” before I could say it. “Just because I enjoy dating and like meeting new people doesn’t mean I want to be single forever. Maybe I haven’t met the right person yet.”

  “And Alec is the right person?”

  “For now.”

  Travis laughed at me. “Please tell me that was in your vows. ‘For richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health… for now.’”

  I suppressed my rising annoyance. Travis wasn’t wrong, and he wasn’t saying anything my other friends hadn’t said, but I still thought they were underestimating me. One day I wanted to settle down, get married, buy a house, have a family. Maybe. It wasn’t like I had a biological clock ticking or anything.

  Fuck feeling queasy. Now I needed a beer. I motioned for the waitress.

  “I didn’t mean to offend you,” Travis said a moment later after she’d come to take our order.

  “No, you didn’t. Just thinking. You’re not the only person who thinks I’m not marriage material. That’s what spurred this whole thing anyway. Reid bet me I wouldn’t last a month married. So I asked Alec to marry me.”

  “And how’s it working out so far?” There was humor in his voice like he was waiting to be regaled with an array of comedic stories.

  “Kind of weird, if I’m being honest.”

  “You’re living together?”

  “For the month, yeah.”

  “His place?”

  I nodded.

  “It can be tough. There’s definitely an adjustment period.”

  “I don’t know if it’s an adjustment period so much as our dynamic is thrown off. Maybe it would have been different if we were truly in love or even if we’d dated first, but I kind of corralled him into the situation.”

  “It’s just a bet, though, right? You guys only have to live together and stuff for a month?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m sure everything will go back to the way it was before once you move back out. You guys have been friends for years. One month of him having to rinse your ball hair out of the shower isn’t going to change that.”

  “I get my ball hair waxed, thank you very much.” The waitress arrived just in time to hear it. She didn’t look impressed as she placed our drinks in front of us.

  I hoped Travis was right. I’d felt off-balance in the last week, unsure of myself and how to be around Alec normally. This went beyond the time I crashed with him while my place was being fumigated. Then, I slept on the couch and we hung out. This was different.

  Chapter Ten

  Alec

  “You want to go get brunch this morning?” Chase asked.

  I stepped into the kitchen where he was pouring coffee into my here’s a cup of calm the fuck down mug. I could feel my level of irritation rising seeing him there, hip leaned against the counter, his T-shirt rumpled and his hair a mess.

  The anger was irrational, and it was fucking with my head. I didn’t want him there, and yet when I’d trudged in from the shop the night before and found his note, I’d been just as angry. I was like a fucking toddler who couldn’t make up his mind about what he wanted.

  All I knew was having Chase in my kitchen, comfortable and at home like that’s exactly where he belonged, made something tighten in my chest. But after everything that had happened, having both of us in the house made the space feel small and claustrophobic.

  When I’d woken the morning before, I knew I couldn’t handle spending all day with him, so I ran, like a fucking coward, hiding out at work under the guise of needing to catch up. I did need to catch up, but I wasn’t a good enough liar to convince myself the reason I’d left the house before eight on a Saturday was to pick up my acetylene torch.

  I was being an asshole and I knew it. When Chase texted me to ask if we were still on for the movie, the thought of going out on a date with him was more than I could handle. It was too much. I felt like shit bailing on him, but there was no way I could force myself to go. Everything in me screamed to run, and staying at work until I was reasonably sure he’d be asleep was the closest I could get to that.

  I was still freaked out about the kiss. Even after attempting to clear the air, things were still murky. It was like my brain recognized who Chase was, but my body didn’t, and the reactions I was having to him flip-flopped between an intoxicating attraction and vehement irritation. Maybe it was because I could never seem to get any time to myself. Having him there all the time was doing funny things to my brain.

  “Alec?”

  Chase calling my name shook me out of the daze I was in. I looked up at him.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “Yep.” My tone was clipped, and Chase obviously noticed. I hadn’t meant it to be, but there was no taking it back now.

  “Okay.”

  “Yeah, we could do brunch, I guess, or not, if you’re too tired after your date last night.”

  I don’t know why I sa
id that, but he stared at me like I’d told him to go fuck himself.

  “What?” I asked. I could feel the tension in the room mounting. I knew Chase. I knew that look. He was getting pissed off.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?” he demanded, setting his cup down and crossing his arms.

  “Nothing.”

  “Bullshit. You’re being fucking weird. Since when do you not tell me if you have a problem with me?”

  I could feel the tension in my shoulders. “I never said I had a problem with you.”

  “Well, you’ve got a problem somewhere. You’ve been a douche since yesterday. If you’re not actively avoiding me, then you’re barely talking to me.”

  “Maybe it’s not about you at all. You ever consider that? Maybe there’s shit going on in my life, and I’m trying to deal the best I can.”

  “Oh, fuck you, Alec. Don’t you dare try to tell me it’s because your guys quit and you’re stressed at work. Maybe you are, but that’s not what this is about. I know you.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “I know you’re better at managing stress than most people, and I’ve seen you bounce back from tougher situations than this. The only thing that’s changed is our relationship.”

  “Our relationship hasn’t changed.”

  “The fuck it hasn’t.”

  “It hasn’t, but you’re always fucking here. I come home from work and you’re here, and suddenly my place feels like it’s half the size it was. I haven’t had a fucking minute to think since you abruptly upended my life.”

  I’d started to pace, but I couldn’t seem to shut my mouth off.

  “I haven’t slept properly in a week because you’re there, and you hog the blankets and you leave your dirty dishes in the sink and there was shaving cream splashed on the bathroom counter yesterday and I tripped over your shoes when I left for work and I’m not used to living with someone else.”

  “You want me to leave?” Chase’s voice was quiet now, some of the anger dissipated.

  “Yes. No. I don’t know.”

  He uncrossed his arms and shoved his hands into his pockets. “How decisive of you.”

  “You can drop the sarcasm, Chase.”

  “Sorry.” He dropped his hands from his hips too. “I don’t know what you want from me. You’ve never in your life had trouble telling me the truth, and I’ve never known you to be one to mince words.”

  “This is harder than I thought it would be,” I admitted. I didn’t want to tell him why. I couldn’t tell him I’d been thinking about kissing him again and what little sleep I had managed to get had been pervaded with the memory of the way he tasted.

  The way Chase was looking at me, traces of hurt etched into his features, made me feel like a total prick. I was a total prick.

  “I think that’s the point of the bet,” Chase pointed out. “Travis just moved in with Sarah, and he told me it’s an adjustment period for them too. I think it’s the same way for all couples.”

  I got my back up at the mention of Travis’s name. I knew Chase wasn’t involved with him, and he had never been. Travis was straight, but even back when they’d become friends, I’d always harbored slight jealousy toward the guy. They’d become so close so quickly it had been difficult to keep from feeling threatened.

  Years later, I was still that guy, hoping his best friend wouldn’t ditch him for someone else.

  “I’m sorry.” I should have said it a long time ago. “Things are stressful and I’m not handling it well. I’m taking it out on you and that’s not fair.”

  “It’s not, but I think that’s what married couples do, so we can call this little experiment a win so far.”

  “I don’t think good couples do that.”

  Chase shrugged. “So we’ll do better from now on.”

  I hoped he was right. I could manage my feelings. I just needed to figure out what they were. There was no reason for me to take my uncertainty and downright pissiness out on him. It was only for a month. Three weeks, actually. I could do that.

  “Okay, yeah.” I echoed his question from earlier. “You want to go get brunch?”

  Chapter Eleven

  Chase

  We rode the high of Sunday right through the first half of the week. After our brunch, we’d spent the rest of the day lazing, decompressing, and hanging out. I read a book, and Alec played video games into the early afternoon. We made burgers and onion rings for dinner—although Alec wouldn’t let me anywhere near the onions with the knife—and afterward, we watched a movie together. It was exactly what we needed to melt away the stress of the first week and everything that was going on in our professional lives.

  Alec’s life at work had loosened up considerably when, Monday morning, the brothers he’d hired temporarily reported to work. When he’d gotten home that night, he’d been happy enough he’d insisted we go out to celebrate. We made it as far as considering a restaurant before we realized it was Monday and sweatpants trumped everything.

  Instead, we ordered in.

  At Liberty, things were working out, and Alec was optimistic everything would be back on schedule by the end of the week. For me, work was opposite.

  No one on my team had quit, thank the Lord, but a project I’d spearheaded was set to complete on Friday, and at the same time, my newest project was still in the planning stages.

  I sat at my desk, my office in a disarray of papers and blueprints. My phone flashed with a message. When I checked the voice mail, I heard the deep voice of the journalist from the paper. He let me know he’d sent me an advance copy of the article he’d finished, which detailed the official opening of the park.

  I smiled, pride filling me. Most of our projects made the news. Being in the city planning office, sometimes those stories painted us in a negative light. It was a pleasant change to be involved in something the majority of the community approved of. Of course, there would always be those who opposed whatever decisions had been made.

  And as though he’d known I was thinking about him, Marcus Fletcher waltzed into my office and plunked himself down on the edge of my desk.

  “What’s going on, Bradley? You making plans to crush our city’s economy even more?”

  I rolled my eyes as exaggeratedly as possible. “Marcus, don’t you have someone’s funeral to picket or something?”

  “Ooh, someone’s touchy this morning. Don’t get mad at me because you’re leading the hippie squad and I’m the one running with the grown-ups. We could easily combine our teams and be a force to be reckoned with.”

  “I’d rather drink bleach,” I replied. I meant it too. If I had to team up with Marcus, I’d literally need to ingest chemicals to get the awful slimy taste out of my mouth. The guy was a douche who only cared about money. He saw spaces in cities as dollar signs and opportunities for commercial business. He might be good with balancing a budget, but he was a terrible planner.

  “Suit yourself. But don’t celebrate your little ribbon cutting too hard. No one gives a shit about an insignificant little park.”

  “Thanks for the tip. I think I’ll be fine.”

  He pushed off from my desk, sending a pile of papers fluttering to the floor. Without looking back, he strode out of my office and disappeared around the corner. I glared at his back as he walked away, wishing the saying “staring daggers” could magically become a literal thing.

  How nice would it be to watch Marcus bleed out on the floor?

  I tucked away my homicidal fantasies and collected the scattered documents, piling them back on the edge of my desk. I shouldn’t let him get to me. I won the last battle—my plans for a pocket park to be tucked between two commercial buildings in the downtown core rather than yet another Starbucks.

  Don’t get me wrong. I love Starbucks as much as the next person, but I’ll walk a block out of my way if it means more public green space in an area that’s quickly becoming overcrowded and monochromatic in shades of concrete.

  Pushing Marcus from my mind, I concentrated on w
hat I needed to get done. It was quickly approaching five o’clock, and there was still more research that had to be done in zoning for the area just beyond the industrial park. It happened to be the industrial park where Liberty was located, and because of that, the upcoming project held special interest for me.

  I wanted to make Alec’s part of town perfect.

  Joy ducked her head in a moment later. “Is there anything you need from me before I head out?” she asked.

  I shook my head. “No. Go on home. Let Jesse know he should head home too. I’ll finish up here.”

  “Are you sure? I don’t mind putting in a little extra time if you need me.”

  “I’m positive. I’m almost done,” I lied.

  She smiled at me, the expression grateful, before she turned and walked toward Jesse’s workstation. They were the only two on my team, and although Joy could occasionally be frustrating, she was a brilliant designer. Jesse too, even if his mind tended to run toward the more practical. The three of us together had most of the bases covered. Our strengths and weaknesses were complementary, and that’s what set us apart from Marcus’s team.

  He had two junior planners beneath him as well, but his guys were number crunchers, same as he was. Focusing on only one aspect of city planning was the fastest way to create problems for the next generation.

  An hour passed and I was no closer to finding a solution to the zoning problem. The office was quiet. Everyone else had left for the day. Alec would be home by now. We didn’t have any plans. I’d kind of figured it’d be a late night, and I wasn’t close to done.

  I texted him to let him know it’d be a while before I finished.

  Chase: Still going to be at least a couple of hours. Go ahead and eat without me. I’ll pick something up on my way home.

  I set my phone back down and scrolled down through another set of regulations.

  A moment later my phone vibrated against the surface of my desk. I peered over to read the message.