Tiffany choked on the pizza in her mouth, and began to cough.
“Here, have some water.” Shawn said, offering her a glass of water.
“What did you just say?” She asked, after the coughing stopped.
“My Dad called earlier today to inform me. And of course, your father is aware.” Shawn explained.
“So, how do we prepare?”
“Honestly, I am clueless about how these things work. I will call my friend later.”
“Okay. But I think our fathers are rushing things.” Tiffany muttered.
“I second that.” Shawn replied.
“I have never seen your mum before.” Tiffany suddenly said, and Shawn looked up at her in surprise. “She is on a vacation in Tanzania.” He finally replied.
“Tanzania? That’s East Africa!” Tiffany exclaimed.
“Yes. You must be smart to know that.”
“Ofcourse, I am. I learned about it in Geography. Mount Kilimanjaro is actually situated there.”
“I’m somewhat impressed, I must say.” Shawn said, giving her a mock applause.
“You should be.”
SHAWN’S POV
He was impressed by her display of knowledge. He must admit that she seemed intelligent.
But he is not swayed. She was still a brat that was probably being nice because he saved her ass.
He made a mental note to call Bryan after they finished eating.
“I’m done eating. Thank you for the pizza.” Tiffany said, bringing him out of his thoughts.
“Oh. As you can see, I’m not done. You can go to bed. I will clear the table once I’m done.” He replied.
“Thank you.” She mouthed before leaving.
He grabbed his phone as soon as she was out of sight.
“Hey, Man.” Bryan’s voice sounded.
“Hey. I’m sorry if I disturbed you.”
“No, it’s fine. Did she reject your apology?”
“Oh! About that? She accepted, and we are cool now, but that’s not why I called.” Shawn said.
“I’m listening, Man.”
“How does one get married in court?” Shawn asked.
“Wait…are you getting married?” Bryan asked in disbelief.
“Maybe. Just answer my question.”
“I will, I will. But you have to promise to tell me what’s going on.” Bryan insisted.
“Fine. I will.”
“The thing is, I don’t know much about how that works, but I know who to ask.”
“You do? Who is it?” Shawn asked.
“Remember the lady I said I was going on a date with?”
“Yes, I do.” Shawn replied, Wondering what that has to do with their discussion.
“Well, she is a lawyer. And I think she should know how this marriage thing works.”
“Okay, then. Please ask her, and get back to me. I will be waiting.”
“Wait, Man. Ummm…she is actually here.” Max said.
“What the hell? She is at your place?” Shawn asked, trying to suppress the urge to tease Bryan.
“Don’t do what I think you want to. I will just pass the phone to her.”
“Okay, then.”
After a few seconds of silence, A calm but eloquent and firm voice sounded on the phone. ” Hello, Mr Gold. I am Ava, Bryan’s friend. He said you wanted to speak to me about something.”
“Oh, yes, Miss Ava. If you don’t mind, I would love to ask about the requirements for a court wedding.” Shawn replied.
“Okay. First, you and your partner have to go to your preferred court and apply for a marriage licence. To be able to apply, you both need your Driver’s licence, Social security card or number, Birth certificate, proof of residence and passport. It takes approximately 16 days to get it. After that, on the day of the wedding ceremony, it is to be signed by the officiant and two witnesses, after which it has to be returned to the county clerk’s office or any other designated office within a given time frame to have the marriage officially registered. Usually, the time frame to return it to the county clerk is within 10 days. You will be given a free certified copy, but if you want additional copies you would pay to get them. Did this help, Mr Gold?” Ava asked.
“Yes, It did. Thank you so much, Ava.”
“You are welcome. I will give the phone back to Bryan now.” And then her voice was replaced by Bryan’s. “Hey, Man. Did she help?”
“Yes, She did. And hey, she is for keeping.” Shawn said.
“I know, Man. I know.” Bryan said, laughing.
“I have to go. Thank you and help me thank Ava, too.”
“Sure, Man. Good night.”
Shawn stared at the wall for sometime after the call with Bryan ended. He was a few steps away from getting married, and the whole thing still felt surreal to him.
Not wanting to dwell his thoughts on anything, he decided to go upstairs and sleep.
TIFFANY’S POV
She was about to retire to bed when her phone rang. She reluctantly picked it. “Hey, Dad.”
“Hey, princess.”
“You are still up?” She asked.
“Yes, I am. I just got back from a meeting with some foreign investors from China.”
“That’s good, Dad.”
“I asked Shawn to pick you up from school. Did he?”
“Yes, he did.”
“Promise not to get into trouble again.”
“I promise, Dad.”
“Good girl. I will ask Rafael to bring your car over tomorrow.”
“About that, you don’t have to worry, Dad. Shawn gave me one of his cars.”
“He did? That’s so nice of him. See, I told you he was a good man. You are in good hands, baby.”
“I guess I am.”
“Okay, princess. Dad has to go to bed. I have emails to reply to, and another meeting to attend tomorrow. Be good, okay?”
“I will, Dad. Don’t overwork yourself. I love you.”
“I love you too, princess.” Mr. Dion said, and the line went off.
Tiffany turned off the bedside lamp and gave in to sleep.
Lights out, Tiff.
SHAWN’S POV
As usual, he was down before her the next morning. He made breakfast of bacon, pancakes and maple syrup with freshly squeezed orange juice.
“Did you sleep at all? If Yes, when did you wake up to make all of these?” Tiffany asked as she took a seat at the dinning.
“And good morning to you. Yes, I sleep, but I woke up early to make all of these.” Shawn replied.
“Good morning. My bad. Are you doing this because you want to earn my forgiveness? If yes, I already forgave you. The seafood was apology enough and coming to pick me at school was like icing on the cake.” Tiffany said, helping herself to the goodies on the table.
“I see. I just discovered the secret of getting on your good side.” Shawn said.
“Don’t be too sure, Mr Gold.” Tiffany said, as she filled her mouth with pancakes.
“Now, is that what you call your fiance and husbandtobe?” Shawn teased, and she choked on her food.
“Hey, I was just kidding.” He said, offering her water.
“You don’t need to apologize.” She said, accepting the water.
Shawn shrugged and continued with his food.
They ate in silence, until they were done and Tiffany cleared the dinning.
She carried her bag and made to leave, when he stopped her “Let me drop you off in school…”