I nodded calmly, slipped off my wedding ring, and dropped it onto the pile of bills.
"Ms. Sanchez is joking, of course. I'm not upset at all."
"After all, I've been planning to find a new partner to file a marriage certificate with myself."
——
Silence. The kind where you could hear a pin drop.
Lauren smashed the ashtray beside her against the table. Her expression darkened like a storm rolling in.
"Laurence Henson, it was just a game. Do you really have to be this petty about it?"
"Fine. Here's another ten thousand. Take back what you just said and stop ruining the mood for everyone."
She spoke as though scolding a child who didn't know any better.
Looking at that face, the one that once made my heart race, all I felt now was revulsion.
"I think I made myself perfectly clear. We never filed the paperwork anyway. We're done."
"Oh, and consider tonight's wedding my gift to you, Ms. Sanchez. A little practice run for the real thing. No need to thank me."
The temperature in the room plummeted.
Noel suddenly hooked his arm through mine, all smiles.
"Laurence, don't be mad. Lauren was just worried I wouldn't know what to do at my own wedding someday. She was giving me a head start, that's all."