Chapter Three
It was a rare occasion when Old Julie woke up on a Saturday without a hangover. My weekends used to start around noon with me rolling over to reach for a bottle of water from the case I kept under my bed. Breakfast was a handful of Advil and a glass of orange juice, often containing a couple shots of vodka. It was only then that I could face the day.
I wished I could say my Saturdays were now filled with waking with the sunrise and healthy breakfasts and restorative yoga. That I didn’t still lie in bed until 10:00 a.m. waiting for the rolls of nausea to pass. Waiting for the cravings to subside. That I didn’t spend most of the morning in bed watching re-runs of Friends on my iPad.
Now, though: now I had a wedding to plan. Now I had a goal to achieve. Almost a month after I had volunteered, the day had finally arrived. Today was the beginning of something important. Today I would start the process of proving to myself, and everyone around me, that I was no longer a hot mess in heels. And today was also the day I would get to meet the famous Hudson. I honestly didn’t know what to expect. What kind of dude wanted to help plan a friend’s wedding anyways? Men don’t even like planning their own weddings.
I forced myself out of my warm cocoon of blankets and trudged into the bathroom, hoping a shower would provide the energy of the healthy breakfast I now didn’t have time to eat.
I chose one of my more flattering outfits—a burgundy halter dress that hugged my slim frame and hung just below my knees and a pair of chunky black sandals. I wanted to look like I was put together. Like I could handle things by myself. Like I wasn’t a recovering alcoholic that needed something to do to keep her mind off drinking.
We were meeting at Kate and Ben’s apartment at 1:00 p.m. so I stopped at Tim Hortons for a tray of coffees and a box of Timbits. I hoped Hudson enjoyed coffee. Actually, I didn’t really care; if he didn’t want it, I’d drink it.
I arrived just before 1:00 p.m., early for once, and took a sharp right into the parking lot, ready to slide into the guest spot.
“Shit!” I yelled as I slammed on the brakes, almost smashing into the car that was already parked there, coffee splashing all over the passenger seat. “What the fuck?” I said, looking around for the jerk who had parked in their guest spot. Each apartment was allowed one guest spot and this one was basically mine.
Someone is in the guest spot.I texted Kate, refusing to back out and park farther away.
It’s Hudson. Sorry! She texted back immediately.
Tell him to move.
LOL
I wasn’t joking.
I sighed, deep and dramatic, reversed my car and continued through the parking lot to (the very far away) group of extra guest parking spots, instantly regretting my chunky heel footwear selection.
Well, I didn’t know I would be HIKING.
I wiped the coffee off the seat the best I could with a dirty napkin I found on the floor and blew off the Timbits that had escaped from the box. These can be Hudson’s.
Ten minutes later, I yanked open the lobby door, set the coffee and treats on the ground and groaned as I peeled the strap of my right sandal away from a newly formed blister. Beads of sweat had darkened the back of my dress and I uselessly fanned my glistening face with my hands, trying to will away the scowl. I couldn’t.
By the time I made it up the stairs to the apartment, I’d had about enough. For the first time in a long time, the only drink I wanted was a tall glass of ice water. I lifted my hand to knock on the door and took a deep breath. It’s all right, I told myself. This is the worst of it. The day can only get better from here.
It’s funny how life can kick you when you’re down. Because when the door opened and a familiar, wide-grinning, red-bearded, irritatingly cheerful face greeted me, I knew my day was about to get much worse.
“Oh!” I blinked, astonished. “What are you doing here?” I couldn’t move. The fact that the overly chatty lumberjack from the infamous AA meeting was standing in front of me had stunned me into stillness.
“Oh good, you’re here.” Ben pulled the door open wider and grabbed the cardboard tray of coffee from my hands, scrunching his nose at the mess.
“This is my sister, Julie,” he said, gesturing that I should come inside. “And, Julie, this is my good friend and best man, Hudson. Luke Hudson.”
Fuck. Me.
“I’m not working with that guy,” I said to Kate, who was staring at me with equal parts confusion and wariness.
Right after Ben had announced who Hudson was and confirmed the role he was going to play in the tragic comedy that was my life, I had grabbed Kate and pulled her into their bedroom, shutting the door behind us.
“Why?” she asked. “Hudson’s great! He was a rock for Ben when they were in university and, since he moved here, they’ve started hanging out again. If it wasn’t for Hudson, Ben would likely never leave the house.” She smiled and her face softened in the way it always did when she talked about my brother. It now shocked me that it had taken them decades to get together. If Kate hadn’t abruptly decided in her forties that she wanted to try online dating, giving Ben the kick in the pants he needed to tell her how he felt about her, who knew what would have happened?
“Stop calling him Hudson,” I hissed. “His name is Luke. And if you had called him Luke from the beginning, I would have asked more questions.”
Kate looked taken aback, her face contorted into her own unique expression of bewilderment, head tilted, brows furrowed. Which was fair; she had no idea how I knew him. How embarrassed I actually was about the whole “I will not give my life to God” breakdown.
I sat on the cracked leather recliner that was tucked into the corner of their bedroom, one of the few pieces of furniture that had migrated from Ben’s apartment when he’d moved in. I closed my eyes, breathed slowly, and counted in my head, just like Ben had taught me.
“He was at the meeting,” I finally said.
“What meeting?”
“The meeting, Kate. The meeting where I irrationally screamed at a bunch of innocent people trying to get their lives together. If I ever mention a meeting again, that will forever be the meeting I’m referring to.”
“Okay, sorry.” Kate held up her hands. “That meeting, I get it.”
“You know that super cheerful guy I told you about? The one who kept looking at me with concern?” I rolled my eyes to emphasize that I thought showing genuine concern for a stranger was ridiculous.
“Yeah, that sounds like Hud…Luke. He’s a really nice guy.”
“Well, I don’t care if he’s Keanu Reeves,” I said. “He’s not only annoying, but he saw me at my absolute worst. The last thing I want to do is plan a wedding with him, especially one that is this important.” I did not want some outsider ruining my chance of proving to Ben and Kate that I had my shit together. Despite the fact that, at this moment, I clearly didn’t.
Kate opened her mouth to speak when the door opened and Ben slid into the room, closing it behind him.
“What are you both doing in here?” he whispered. “You’re being rude.” His eyes darted in my direction.
I scowled, ready to protest, but grabbed the glass of water Ben had been drinking and drained it instead.
“Someone please catch me up on whatever is happening.” Ben looked at Kate.
“Julie hates Luke because he was at the AA meeting, and he’s super cheerful, and he cares about strangers and now she doesn’t want to plan the wedding with him,” Kate said all in one breath, glancing at me to see if she had gotten it right.
Ben nodded as he took it all in, his hand sliding to the back of his neck.
It was at that moment that Luke chose to burst through the door like the Kool-Aid man.
“What’s going on?” He looked around the room with concern. “Is everyone okay?”
“We’re fine, Luke,”I said as I got up to close the door, trying to nudge him backwards with my look of disdain. “We’re having a private conversation.”
He didn’t move.
“With family,” I added and moved my hands in a sweeping motion towards the door.
“Well, technically Kate isn’t family yet,” Luke said with a grin, unfazed.
“Listen, buddy,” I started but was interrupted by a hand placed firmly on my shoulder.
“Please stop.” Kate sighed, brushing away a tired curl that had fallen from her scrunchie. “You both offered to help with the wedding and I am incredibly grateful for that. But I am also very stressed right now and, honestly, I don’t care who hates who and who finds who irritating.”
Luke opened his mouth to speak, but after a look from me promptly shut it.
“If this is truly a deal breaker, you need to tell me now,” she continued. “I took on an extra client to help pay for this wedding because, thanks to your generous offers, I had room in my schedule, which means, if I don’t actually have your assistance, I’ll need to find someone else. And that person will cost a lot of money. And we don’t have a lot of money. And all I want to do is marry Ben in June and, if we don’t get married, I may very well never be happy again,” she concluded, matter-of-factly.
By this point Ben had scooped their cat Mittens into his arms and slowly backed into their walk-in closet, always one to disappear at any sign of confrontation.
“So?” She looked at me and I nodded.
“Of course I’ll still help,” I said.
“And you?” She looked at Luke and he nodded and shrugged, not really having any idea what was going on.
“Good.” She gently pulled Ben out of his hiding place and walked him over to the door. “Thank you both for your help. I appreciate it,” she said as they left.
“For the record though—” Luke stepped through the doorway and yelled down the hall “—I never said I hated anyone.”
“Ugh,” I groaned quietly from the chair, head back, eyes toward the ceiling.
This was going to be a long ten months.