Chapter 19 #2
“We got a call about a fire.” One of them pulled down his aviator sunglasses and winked at me.
His act did absolutely nothing for me.
“Oh, Sha-ay?” I called in a singsong voice I knew she’d hate.
She met me at the door with a look of abject horror on her face.
“Did you call about a fire?”
“No? What do you… Oh, God. You’re here for the bachelorette party?”
The tallest one stepped forward, held up his phone, and flexed his biceps as he did. “Is this five-zero-zero Lakeshore Road?”
“It is, but you’re needed around the other side of the house. By the pool. Not here.”
The shortest one, who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, looked down at his nails and said, “You sure, little lady?”
“So sure.”
She turned around and stormed back into the kitchen, and I fought to keep from laughing in their faces.
The winky one ran his tongue over his teeth and tilted his head to the side. “How ’bout you?”
“Thanks, I have my own fireman’s pole.” I winked back at him and shut the door.
“Francis! You crushed that poor man.”
I entered the kitchen to find Mom and Auntie Judy looking at my phone.
“What are you…?”
They’d pulled up the camera feed and were watching as two of the fire boy strippers consoled the one I’d shot down.
“You two are impossible.”
“Strippers and sex toys? Without question, you’re going to need to decontaminate that building, Francis. Maybe ask your fireman’s pole if he’s got a Hazmat unit.”
Shay shrieked, Mom and Judy high-fived and laughed their asses off, and I just shook my head.
“I’m descended from comediennes.”
The bachelorette party lasted way into the night. By the time I went to meet Kendall in the gazebo around midnight, when he got home from his shift, I was in a foul mood.
“Why is this kid even marrying her? She’s so rude. Do you know when they arrived, she asked if the security cameras on the property could be turned off? What the hell?”
I’d told Kendall all about my conversations with Evelyn and Karen. If I wanted to remain polite with them, I had to get all my snark out somewhere.
Todd also came from a Foggy Basin legacy family.
He had brothers in the police department and was currently attending college.
He’d come with Karen on the first of her twenty-plus visits to the house, and he’d been bashful and sweet, and every time I asked him a question, Karen cut him off and answered for him.
Eventually, he just went quiet and looked terribly uncomfortable.
I’d had no idea that part of being the host of a wedding would mean observing the best and worst of human behavior.
“Yeah, and her friends have terrible taste in strippers. Your mom sent me screenshots from the camera. Those uniforms were assuredly not regulation.”
He was trying to make me feel better, but I was in my feelings.
My father had left another message. He’d been trying at least once a week for the past month now, but my life was going so well—minus the drama with Bridezilla Karen—that I didn’t want to let any negativity into my cocoon of happiness with my new life or with Kendall.
“I guess this whole situation has soured my opinion of marriage. Or at least weddings. If a nice guy like him marries a monster like her, what does it all even mean?”
Kendall turned me to face him. “What opinion did you have of marriage before all this?”
The more time I spent with him, the more I knew that he was the one for me.
He’d said as much to me two months ago, but I’d been too nervous to ask him his thoughts about marriage.
It wasn’t a dealbreaker for me if we didn’t get married, but if I was honest with myself, I’d be disappointed.
It was yet another worry I didn’t want to let into my cocoon of happiness.
“I guess positive? My parents were happy until My Demise.” He hated when I called it that, but it sounded so melodramatic, I couldn’t help it.
“And Auntie Judy and Uncle Gordon were like best friends. He was so funny, such a nice man, very personable, a lot like Derek. I thought of marriage like a team sport, both of the partners smacking the ball of life together like a doubles tennis match, taking everything life threw at them without missing a hit. Sounds corny when I say it out loud.”
“I don’t think it’s corny. I think it’s a pretty awesome way to look at it.
I was only twenty when Susan and I got married, so I guess I just thought that’s what you did.
You fell in love, you got married, you had kids, you worked until retirement age or you kicked the bucket, whichever came first.”
“Kicked the bucket? That’s harsh.”
“Probably, but I came from a different school of thought. I like yours better.”
I smiled. Kendall Warren. My person. The man who’d I’d spent nearly four months sharing my dreams with, and now, in the middle of this important discussion…
I froze.
I could have easily asked him, “What do you think? Wanna go for it?” Or even, “Is that something you’d want to do someday?” Instead, I fell back on my stupid jokes.
“Be careful. My school of thought includes making all the bad fire boy jokes you love so much.”
Instead of rolling his eyes or shaking his head, he cupped my jaw and ran his thumb over my cheekbone. “If it means being with you, I’ll take all the bad jokes.”
My heart swelled, but I still couldn’t do it.
It was fine. Four months was just the beginning, right? We didn’t have to discuss marriage yet. I could continue to love this man and not marry him. Nothing would change. We’d continue to spend time together and… be happy.
We held each other for another few minutes, and then I sent him off to bed.
“You want to come with?” he asked, his expression concerned.
“I do, but Bridezilla and her Kaiju sisters might burn down the guest wing just to get the firefighters to come in. I probably should stay close, just in case.”
He sighed and nodded. I hated disappointing him. I wished we could sleep together every night, but with my guests and his creatures, we were kinda stuck.
“Thank God second shift is on. Although, some of those guys would be into a bachelorette party. I wouldn’t have been surprised if those strippers were actual firefighters from second shift.”
I wanted to laugh with him, but I was off tonight, and I knew I was acting weird, but I couldn’t seem to stop.
“Good night,” I said, pushing up on my toes to kiss him. “Love you.”
“I love you, too, baby. You sure you’re okay?”
I gave him my best attempt at a Saucy Boyfriend smile, but it fell flat.
“Yeah. See you tomorrow.”
But I didn’t see him the next day, or the next, because I was held hostage by Evelyn and Karen, and he was on shift.
Turned out three of the guys on second shift were needed for the wedding party, and their volunteer subs couldn’t make it, so Kendall, Rog, and Arnie ended up working back-to-back shifts.
We wouldn’t even get to see each other on his birthday.
I took delivery of the equipment for the wedding, but other than setting up the tent, which was going on my back lawn nearest the lake, the rental company said we were on our own for labor.
That meant Shay and I had to set up the chairs next to the gazebo for the actual ceremony, then set up all the tables and chairs in the tent.
The bridal party was staying in the guest wing, so I needed to keep them in towels and fresh linens like a damn hotel—I had so many things to add to the contract when this was all over—and then I helped Shay decorate the cottage for their wedding night, which made me want to vomit.
I had indeed ordered a new mattress. Because ew.
I didn’t want Kaiju babies sprouting out of the earth.
Thanks be to all the deities, they’d decided to have their rehearsal dinner in town. Shay and I collapsed onto the couches in my great room when they left.
“Everything’s done. The florist, caterers, and bartenders will be here at eleven tomorrow morning. Ceremony is at one, reception to follow, and the guests should all be out of here by five.”
“If we’re lucky.” I needed to have a positive outlook, but I just couldn’t dig deep enough to find it tonight.