AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The wedding is this afternoon at Matt and Melanie’s lake house up on the shore of Lake Huron. The reception is taking place at a resort a few miles away that they’ve reserved for close family and friends. By the time I’ve gotten my luggage and rented a car, I’m already cutting it close as it’s already past noon here. I’m jetlagged as fuck, but it looks like I’ll barely have time for a shower and change of clothes, let alone a nap.
I arrive at the Tranquility on Huron Resort an hour and a half later, and I’m amazed that despite my telling her I wasn’t coming, Melanie still has my name on the list with a room reserved. Not even thirty minutes later, I’m showered, shaved, changed, and combing my hair on my way back to the rental car.
Chapter Three
Ben
After a not-so-subtle entranceafter the damn ceremony had already begun, I stand on the shore of Matt and Melanie’s lakefront property with the rest of their immediate friends and family, which I can tell includes the rest of the members of Turn it Up. I don’t know all of their names, but I’ve caught glimpses of them in videos and I recognize the lead singer, Melanie’s brother, Jack, and his wife from the headline she and I saw on TV.
It’s definitely a non-traditional ceremony with the bride and groom standing in the water, the sunshine making the water shimmer, with the band’s drummer officiating. The women, I notice, are in dresses of various shades of green, including a little girl in a vibrant lime color.
As I stand here, my senses finally succumb to the different atmosphere I’ve placed myself in. There are no lush green mountains in sight, and the water is more of a denim color than the shades of jade, teal, and turquoise I’m used to seeing. The air is different too; still warm and balmy like in Indonesia, but somehow different when I breathe it in. Still, I can see the peace and beauty here on this lake, and I try to focus on that rather than the fact I’m back in the country I once fled to escape the feelings and memories that were assaulting me too much all at once.
This is the first wedding I’ve been to in so long, and of course, a memory of my own bursts into my mind in a montage of flashes; lifting Jamie’s wedding veil… rice being thrown… our first dance. I brace myself for the pain, for the stab to the chest, and I feel a second of confusion when it doesn’t come. I feel the nostalgia and even a slight sting between my eyes. I even feel the love. But I’m not hurting, and I’m trying to decide if that’s good or bad. I guess after five years, that could be considered a good thing.
“And now, I’m going to have Matt and Melanie recite their vows,” the drummer announces from the water, snapping me back to the moment and I give them my attention. “Matt, you’re up.”
“Melanie,” Matt begins, and from here I can see his eyes are glassy as he squeezes both of her hands tightly, as if silently asking her for strength while she smiles up at him with eternal adoration for him in her eyes. “I thought I was living my life before. But then you walked into it and I came to life so much more than I already was. Having lived both with you and without you, I know without a doubt, my best life is lived with you…” he takes a deep breath before continuing in a husky voice. “I’d promise you the world, but you’ve kind of taken care of that yourself.” Melanie lets out a warm giggle while everyone else chuckles at his reference to her already having traveled the globe. “So I stand here before you, asking if you’ll let me be the one to give you the rest; my love, my comfort, my protection and my devotion. I promise to love you, cherish you, support you, and take care of you, all the days of our life.” Melanie tearfully nods to everything he says before it’s her turn.
“Matt, my love for you has survived so much. No amount of days or miles could even put a dent in it, but rather it only grew stronger, and it’s still growing. So I can assure you, that one thing you can depend on, even on days when you feel like you can’t depend on anything else, is that my love for you is unfaltering. I promise to be there for you know matter where we are or what’s going on in our world; that you can count on my love being there, onmebeing there, to hold you and support you always.”
There you have it.
As much as I didn’t want to leave my comfort zone, or put myself on a plane or be in any kind of social situation, this is what I got out of it - seeing Melanie’s happily ever after with my own eyes. And I’m happy for her; happy it could happen for one of us, and that it gets to be her. As for myself… I’m still trying to decide if I care.
Kasey
“Mom, I’m bored.”
Ah, the mantra of a grade school kid. When we’re around the house, the words are like nails on a chalkboard and I’ve managed to diminish the frequency at which they are uttered by making sure my kid always has something to do. After being given chores like scrubbing grout, cleaning the shelves in the fridge, and reorganizing her drawers, she’s learned not to abuse this complaint. However, tonight, I get it. She’s the only kid here, and the fun stuff is over, i.e., the cake has been cut and the bouquet has been thrown. What is left? But even though this whole resort has been reserved for close family and friends, our room is not somewhere I want her to be alone, so it looks like I may have to take my leave, which is a shame. It’s a really lively reception with dancing, a lot of good conversation, and flashy mood lighting.
“Okay, critter,” I concede. “Just let me make the rounds and say good night and we’ll-”
“Nonsense Kasey, you stay. I’ll take her to the room with me,” my mother steps in, wrapping her arm around Luna who beams up at me in her lime green taffeta dress. My mom flew in for the wedding, but my stepdad, Rick, had to stay behind when he got hit by the flu.
“Mom, you hardly get to see everybody, you can stay.”
“That includes my favorite granddaughter.”
“I’m youronlygranddaughter,” Luna cocks a comical eyebrow up at my mom.
“For now,” my mom revises, as she glances over at Matt and Melanie stealing kisses between bites of cake. “Even more reason to put in some quality one-on-one time. What do you say Luna-bug? Want to smuggle some cake out of here and head up to the room and have a pajama party? Movie’s your choice!”
“Yes!” Luna does her double fist pump. “Mom?” She looks up and gives me the old‘Can I?’look.
I shake my head and grin.
“Have fun… but not too much cake!” I hug them both goodnight and they sashay over to the cake table to load up for their night of indulgence. Oh well. Sugar-crazed Luna is my mom’s problem tonight.
Speaking of sugar, I’ve been extremely well-behaved over the last few weeks in order to fit into this dress that is silky and beautiful, but has no give. Mission accomplished, now on to the reward. I glance around the dance floor just once, just to make sure there isn’t anyone I haven’t said ‘hi’ to yet, and continue toward the cake table when I smack into a well-dressed body of a man, andohhhh no… a man that I thought was attractive for about five minutes a week ago.
“Oh, excuse me, sor-” he starts, and then recognition falls over his face like a drape. “Heeeey…” he looks me up and down approvingly.
Fuck.
“Kaley,” he addresses me with a cocky grin.
“Kasey,” I correct him with a no-bullshit glare. Where’s another iced tea when I need one?
