All This Time

24 ⦿ in which i win the argument

"Xander's your lawyer?" Wolf gapes, dumbfounded.

"Obviously, van der Waals," Xander drawls, walking into the room with a casual elegance he lacked five years ago. "Should have thought that was obvious, man. I am a lawyer, you know."

The two men shake hands in a weirdly formal, manly-man way and then it's right down to business. "You two are idiots," Xander proclaims the moment he sits down in the chair next to Wolf. Without waiting for a response from either one of us, he pops open his briefcase and withdraws the contract. "Charlotte's already looked it over and signed. Now it just needs your signature."

Wolf, still looking a little peeved that I didn't tell him our mutual best friend was my lawyer, makes a huffy sigh and reaches into the inner breast pocket of his suit. He pulls out a gold ink pen, which he uncaps with a flourish, and dangles between his fingers. "Show me where."

"Don't you want to read it?" I interject, my tone shocked. He's a businessman, surely he knows the importance of reading anything before he signs on the dotted line.

"I trust you," he says, not looking up from the contract Xander proffers. Without batting an eye, Wolfram signs his name with a quick scrawl, the pen scratching the surface with each stroke.

Does he give his trust away so easily, now? I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from saying anything. It's too bad that he wasn't as free with his trust five years ago when he and his sister all but accused me of being a shameless gold-digger.

"There." His pen vanishes into his pocket and he gives me a serene smile.

I don't know what I expect, but the moment our two signatures are side by side, it feels like something momentous should have happened. Fireworks, a parade, bolts of lightning...instead, the three of us just stare at it, as if we're all flummoxed by the total lack of monumental outpour.

"I know we're not getting married for real," I say finally, "but I expected something a little..."

"A little less anti-climactic," Wolfram agrees, looking vaguely perturbed. "I thought it would be different, too."

Even Xander looks like he doesn't know what to say. "I can still rip them up," he offers, but his voice carries a tone of resignation, like he knows it's an offer neither Wolf nor I will accept.

I have to admit, for a moment, I'm tempted. It would be so easy to reach out and rip the paper into satisfying shreds, watching as Wolf's hope dwindles in front of me. It would be the perfect aha! sucker! moment to pay him back.

"I feel like 'Dear Future Husband' should be playing in the background or something," I joke, chagrined when neither Wolf nor Xander crack a smile. "Seriously?" I raise an eyebrow. "You guys have got to get out more."

"Speaking," Xander says, "of getting out, would you guys be free for dinner this weekend?"

"Sure," I say at the exact moment Wolf says, "We'll have to check."

"Ahem." I clear my throat. "Just because we're pseudo-engaged does not mean that we make team decisions. I am me and not a we. Got it?"

The nerve of this guy, sheesh. Thinking I'll actually be consulting him on my dinner plans.

"Well, Charlotte," Wolf says, and I kind of hate that tone of patronizing patience in his voice, "I was just thinking that we might need the weekend for moving."

"Where are you moving?" Xander asks, glancing between me and Wolf in confusion.

Wolf raises an eyebrow at me in challenge.