She Woke Up Married Read Online Free Page A

and Please God; don’t punish me for my sins. She decided to try and remember how to say Hail Marys on her long string of pearls.
     
    “Where’s the coffee, and why are you sitting in a chair like a lump? You never sit in a chair like a lump. What’s up?”
    “I got married last night.”
    “Well I’ll be a ring-tailed no-boobed old showgirl. Where the hell is your bride? Did you lose her in a poker game?”
    Turner looked up at his roommate, Millie, standing in the doorway. True, she’d seen better days, but she had an irrepressible spirit. She looked just like the greeting card cartoon character Maxine at the moment, with her floral robe gaping over a slinky negligee, her hair in curlers, and a cigarette in her hand. Where do old showgirls go in Las Vegas, anyhow?
    Turner looked at her with gratitude. They’d been together quite a few years now. She was a great cook and great support. He felt the arrangement was more in his favor.
    It made him feel a little odd that Millie made a living doing phone sex, astrological charts, and telemarketing, but she made fairly decent money, so who was he to say what she could or couldn’t do? He sometimes got a good laugh over her “gentleman callers”—if they only knewwhat the woman on the other end of the phone was really like.
    But hey, she still had great legs. She’d survived a bout of breast cancer and was still kicking strong. He just wished he could get her to stop smoking.
    Millie sucked on her cigarette and stared at Turner. “Well? Who was she?”
    “A woman I went to high school with came into the chapel and we had a great reunion. I took her out dancing, and she told me she was ready to settle down and have a family and that now that she’d found me again, she wanted to get married right away.”
    “Was she drunk?”
    “Yes.”
    “Were you?”
    “Way.”
    “Oops.”
    “She’s a little confused today. She doesn’t quite believe it was legal—or real. She hopped a flight back to New York.”
    “And you’re sitting here? Have you gone soft in the head?”
    “We both just need to think things over. I believe she’ll get back to the fact that she married me for a reason. I’m just going to give her some space.”
    “Space is highly overrated.” Millie came over to Turner, sat on the arm of the old overstuffedchair, and ruffled his curly black hair with her thin fingers. “Do you love her?”
    “I was in love with her in high school. She’s very special.”
    “She’d have to be to get a guy like you to take the plunge just like that. Did you at least have a wedding night?”
    “Unbelievable. Wilder than my wildest dreams.”
    “So what’s the deal, are you going to let her forget the whole thing and call it a wash?”
    “I would like to talk to her again and find out if there is anything to it. I’m pretty darn conflicted. I took vows, I married someone I know, but it’s all under questionable circumstances. At least we should sit down and talk it out. I’m not happy with the outcome.”
    “Well, what are you waiting for, preacher man? Get on your horse and go get that gal!”
    “It’s not that easy. I said I loved her in high school. That was then. I need to get to know her again. Besides, I’ve got responsibilities here. I’d have to get a replacement at the chapel, and I’ll need to be sure you’re okay, Millie.”
    “That’s you—Mr. Responsible. Well, then, take care of your business, then go on. You don’t have to worry about me; I’m tough. Tina Hicks has been looking for a place to stay. She was one of the original Sparkle Plenty girls, remember?”
    “I remember.” Millie had a scrapbook of LasVegas showgirl history that should be in a museum. But he didn’t trust Tina to make the rent. She was living off a boyfriend who would probably dump her for a younger version and bail someday. “I can arrange to have the rent on this place taken out of my bank account automatically,” Turner mused.
    He helped Millie off