AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Sue, Neil’s former housekeeper, had graciously agreed to come back for the wedding weekend, even though she had another job with another family already. She knew the place better than our once-a-week cleaning lady did and would be better equipped to take care of all the family who would be staying in the apartment.
“Why aren’t more of them staying at the Plaza?” Neil asked, still bewildered by my family’s disdain of “putting on airs”. We would have my grandma, my mom, my aunt Marie, Marie’s two kids and their significant others, and my cousin Leanne all staying at the apartment with us. The rest of the family would stay in our block of reserved rooms at the hotel, but I expected them to pile into the apartment for meals and to meet up for sightseeing.
This was an entirely alien concept to Neil, whose past experience with weddings and family boiled down to “find out what time Mum is flying in and hope she knows enough Italian to get her to the hotel”.
“They don’t want to stay at the Plaza. They want to be on hand to be helpful.” I would have made air quotes, but I was too tired.
We arrived at the apartment at two-thirty, and I went through my checklist of things to have prepared, four sheets of paper laid out neatly side-by-side on the kitchen island.
“Okay,” I said, in what was meant to be a decisive tone, but came across as frazzled nerves. “I’ve got Mom and Grandma in the guest room, Marie and Leanne in Emma’s room, Carrie and Dean in Sue’s old room, and John and Beth in the TV room. You put a password on the porn, right?”
“There has always been a password on the porn,” Neil reminded me. “How on Earth are we supposed to live with this many people here?”
“This many people? Our apartment has more square footage than my grandma’s house, and she hosts twice as many people for Christmas. Just thank god some of my family was content to stay at the hotel. There would be people sleeping on the couches and on blow up mattresses in your library.”
“No one, absolutely no one, may go into my library.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “For any reason.”
“Oh, because you’re so protective of all those books you’ve never read?” I snapped.
His expression hardened. “No, because it will be my only escape.”
Okay, that was officially it. “Why are you being such a prick, all of a sudden?”
“Because it’s two days before our wedding and you’re flooding my apartment with people who are practically strangers—”
“Your apartment?” I shrieked. “And they’re not strangers! They’re my family.”
“Well, they’re certainly strange!” he shouted back.
“Fuck you!” I stormed from the kitchen. I hoped he followed me and that the swinging door would hit him in his stupid face. We were two days from getting married, and I didn’t even want to look at him.
Oh god, was that a sign?
I went into our bedroom and slammed the door, because it was the most satisfying thing I could do at the time. The worst part about fighting with Neil was that the only person I wanted comfort from was him.
He knocked on the door and said, softly, “Sophie? Can I apologize?”
I went over and pushed down the handle, opening the door just a crack. “I don’t know, can you?”
I opened the door and let him in. It felt good to act like it was an invitation, after what he’d said about “his” apartment.
“I’m not ready,” he went on, and my heart and stomach tangled together. It must have registered on my face, because he quickly amended, “Not about marriage! I’m ready for that. But I know it’s going to be a very busy weekend, and I’m not quite ready to embrace the chaos, as it were.”
“You should have said this whole arrangement was bothering you. Like, way before my family was en route,” I pointed out. But I understood what he meant. Having a big wedding had sounded so awesome when we were planning it, but now that it was here, I just wanted all the stressful parts to be over.
“I should have. And I’m sorry I called your family strange.” He tilted his head and grimaced. “I mean, they are quite strange—”
My stony glare stopped him.
He sat on the edge of the bed. “I’m sorry, darling. I’m exhausted and nervous and overwhelmed. But I’m so looking forward to marrying you. And, besides, staying with your family will only be for one night.”
“Exactly. Tomorrow, you’ll be at the Plaza.” I wrinkled my nose. “And at your bachelor party.”
“Nothing untoward will happen,” he assured me. With the tension broken, he reached for my hand and pulled me in to stand between his knees. Gazing up at me adoringly was a good way to defuse the rest of my anger. “Rudy is planning it, for God’s sake.”
Oh yeah, like Rudy was going to run the most chaste party in New York. “That doesn’t mean anything. There are male strippers in New York, you know.”
“I do know.” He grinned widely. “Rudy planned my last bachelor party, too.”
