The scratchy lace of my twelve-dollar thrift store dress rubbed against my collarbone every time I took a breath.<\/p>\n
We sat in the corner booth of the downtown diner, where the smell of old grease and floor wax always clung to the blue vinyl seats.<\/p>\n
Outside, the Ocala afternoon was thick with the kind of damp heat that makes your clothes stick to your skin before you even cross the parking lot.<\/p>\n
Between us sat a red plastic basket of french fries, already growing cold and limp.<\/p>\n
Daniel wiped his clean hands on a gray rag from his garage, his fingers still stained black around the knuckles from a transmission job he had finished at noon.<\/p>\n
He had not even had time to wash the oil from under his fingernails before we met at the courthouse.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should have gone somewhere with tablecloths,\u201d Daniel said.<\/p>\n
His voice had that rough, gravelly scrape from twenty years of breathing motor oil and Florida dust.<\/p>\n
He looked down at his own shirt, a clean but faded blue work button-down that had seen too many wash cycles.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is what we can afford,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
I twisted my simple silver band around my ring finger, feeling the newness of the metal against my skin.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it is exactly where I want to be,\u201d I added.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have forty-two dollars left in our joint account, Daniel. Tablecloths are for people who do not mind starting their lives in debt.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel did not look at his burger.<\/p>\n
His eyes kept dropping to the heavy wool of his brown jacket, which sat on the bench beside him despite the October heat.<\/p>\n
He had kept his hand near the inside pocket since we sat down, his fingers twitching toward the lining every time the diner bell rang.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lady at the desk in the courthouse had a coffee stain on her sweater,\u201d I said, trying to make him smile. \u201cShe didn\u2019t even look up when she stamped the license.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was busy,\u201d Daniel said, his mouth twitching with the smallest hint of a grin. \u201cBut she gave us the good pen to sign with.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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