Page 32 of Only Time Will Tell

Trinity typed as fast as I spoke. When she finished, she turned the screen toward us and we both squealed. This was far more fun that I thought it would be, or maybe it was just the person I was with who made it that way.

“It’s perfect,” I told her.

“Excellent. Minimum order is fifty, how many do you need?” She finalized the design while mom and I decided on the amount.

“Let’s do seventy-five, just to be on the safe side. How long will it take before they’re ready?” It was all coming together. Ordering the invitations made it so real.

“With full payment today, we can have them ready to pick up in two weeks. Will that work for you?”

“Perfectly.” I handed her my credit card before Mom had a chance to pull hers out. Alex and I had already discussed this, and we didn’t want our parents to pay for anything.

“Tomorrow after the tasting let’s go back to our house and work our way through the planning list. I’ll pick you up in the morning at ten thirty, Alex can meet you there after work. We’ll have dinner, then you two can go home. Sound good?”

“That sounds great.” She pulled in next to my car and I kissed her cheek. “In case I haven’t told you, Mom, thank you, for everything.”

“It’s my pleasure, Charlie. I’ll see you tomorrow.” I closed the door and waved as she pulled away.

I got home before Alex, and started laundry then decided to make dinner. Midway through he came home.

“Hi honey, I’m home,” he sang from the garage door in the kitchen then came and slid his arms around my waist and nibbled my neck.

“Mmm, hey, babe. How was your day?” I asked.

“It’s a lot better now that I’m home. Look at you, all domesticated,” he teased, grinding against my backside.

I blew him a raspberry. “Down boy, dinner’s almost ready.”

“Ugh, how long?” His assault on my neck was relentless.

“Twenty minutes,” I said as I set the timer.

“Twenty minutes is plenty of time.” He ground harder against me, picking at the button on my pants.

I swatted his hands away. “Go get changed. Dinner’s almost ready and I promised Mom we’d get the guest list done tonight.”

“Ugh, fine, you win.” He stalked off toward the bedroom, bitching about being cockblocked by a stupid guest list.

“Want a beer?” I asked when he came back, still pouting.

“That would be great,” he said as he sat at the table. I had already set it, so there was nothing left to do but wait for the timer. It was rare we ate here, but today just felt right for a more intimate dinner. “How was your day with Mom?”

“Oh my God, we had the best time. I’m so glad we asked her to help. We got the invitations ordered and we’re going to the bakery tomorrow for the tasting.” I took a long draw from my beer. “This IPA isn’t too bad.”

“And it’s local which is pretty cool. The wedding’s only a few weeks away, when do we need to get fitted for our tuxes?” Alex finished his beer, tossing the bottle into the recycle bin like a basketball.

I rolled my eyes. Once a jock, always a jock. “Not sure, I’ll try to find out tomorrow. We still need to plan the menu, but the DJ is taken care of as well. Do you remember Tyler?”

“Yeah, I met him at the Christmas dinner last year, didn’t I?” He headed to the fridge. “You ready for another?”

“Almost. Yes, he sat at the table with us. He DJs on the weekends and agreed to do it at our reception.” The timer went off on the rice, so I plated our food and brought the plates over.

“Sounds great. Oh, stir-fry. Nice.”

I honestly believed I could literally put anything in front of Alex and he’d eat it.

“So, back to the guest list. Do you know how many people from work you’re inviting? I only have ten.” Kinda sad when you stop and think about that. “Could we do something different with the seating, that way my side won’t look so empty?”

“Here’s an idea. Why don’t we set the seating theater style? You and I can enter from the back and each walk up the opposite side and meet at the front?” he suggested.