Chapter 2 - The Paperwork in the PurseI sat in the guest room on the second floor, staring at the framed photograph resting against the foot of the pine bed.

Ten years ago, Noah and I had been young, foolish, and madly in love. We had taken a spontaneous road trip to Nevada after graduating college, got married in a twenty-four-hour chapel on a dare fueled by desert heat and cheap wine, and panicked three days later when the reality of our different career paths set in.

We agreed to sign annulment papers, split up quietly, and never speak of it again. Noah returned to Vermont to take over his family’s struggling pine farm, while I moved to Boston to pursue my dream of becoming a master florist.

Or so I believed.

A soft knock sounded at the bedroom door. Noah stepped inside, wearing a dark wool sweater, his dark hair dusted with melting snowflakes from unloading my luggage.

“Eleanor,” Noah spoke quietly, leaning his shoulder against the doorframe. “I didn't lie to you deliberately.”

I pulled the twenty-five-thousand-dollar contract from my leather purse, smoothing the folded paper over my knee. “You brought me here under a fraudulent contract, Noah. You told me we were pretending to be engaged so the agricultural bank would renew your operating loan. But we are legally married.”

Noah took three slow steps into the room, stopping at the edge of the rug. His deep blue eyes were filled with an intense, unyielding emotion I hadn't seen in ten years.

“When we filed the annulment paperwork in Nevada ten years ago,” Noah confessed, his voice dropping into a rough whisper, “the county clerk rejected the filing because of a missing notary stamp. I received the notice six months later. I was supposed to fix it and resubmit it.”

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My breath hitched in my chest. “And why didn't you, Noah?”

Noah looked down at the wedding photo on the bed, then back into my eyes. “Because every time I sat down at my desk with a pen in my hand... I couldn't bring myself to erase the best mistake I ever made.”