AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Boss,” Kim said, turning her attention to David, “I’ll see you in the morning … and I promise to be on time so you don’t have to yell at me.”
When she was gone, David and Paige sat in silence for several minutes, until Paige broke it. “So, are you having second thoughts, now?”
It broke his heart to see her like this, looking utterly wrecked. “About what?”
“Oh, my God, don’t play dumb. After what just happened, it’s painfully clear I’m still fucked up—”
“Aren’t we all, in one way or another?”
“Oh? And how, exactly, areyoufucked up?”
“Well …” Not having expected the question, he floundered for a decent answer. “I’m a total slob.”
“You’re the opposite of a slob, actually.”
“Okay, then I’m a neat freak.”
“Yes, but that doesn’t qualify as being fucked up.”
“Well, I leave the toilet seat up all the time.”
“All men do. I’m pretty sure it’s in the Y chromosome.”
“All right. What about my not liking sugar?”
“That’s weird, and kind of aggravating, but not necessarily fucked up.”
“All right, well, I always want to get my own way, and that’s—”
“Normal. Everyone wants to get their own way, which makes it normal. So, far, you’re really bad at convincing me you’re fucked up in some way, and that’s because you’renot. ButIam, and pretending I’m not isn’t helping.”
“Okay fine, you might be a little fucked up, but I don’t care,” he told her firmly. “And before you start arguing with me, let me repeat myself:I don’t care.” Then softening his voice, he said, “Do you remember what I said, the night we got engaged? The second time? That no matter whatever comes our way, we’ll be able to deal with it together and kick its fuckingass? Well, that includes what happened today.”
Chapter 88
For Paige, the next six weeks were a distracting whirlwind of work during the day and nightly packing of all her shit, in preparation for the move to the loft after the wedding. David had asked if she’d rather use the proceeds she still had from the sale of their house as a down payment on a new house, but she said no. She liked the loft, and at three thousand square feet, there was plenty of room. Plus, there had been a lot of upheaval in Jacob’s life in the past year, and she didn’t want to add another move into the mix, on top of his dad getting married and a stepmother moving in.
“Let’s stay in the loft for a while,” she told David. “Jacob needs to get used to having me in his life, full-time, before we think of moving again.”
“Okay,” David agreed. “We’ll wait.”
Then, there was also the wedding dress that had to be purchased, which she did one Sunday afternoon with Jules and Valerie, and picking out wedding rings with David.
David had put himself in charge of the honeymoon, and Jules had insisted on sending out the wedding invitations and planning the reception. Since Paige’s job included so many wedding receptions, Jules didn’t want Paige to deal with anything relating to her own.
Lastly, there were multiple sessions with Lauren that David attended with Paige, this time to discuss the implosion of the boudoir shoot and the emotional fallout. Lauren also spent some time on the upcoming wedding and any anxiety that might have surfaced. At first, Paige had resisted, but he’d been adamant about going. “This is what it looks like to deal with something together,” he’d told her.
In the end, the sessions had been worth it, helping Paige work through some issues, center her emotions, and set aside thoughts that weren’t serving her well. At night, when she finally crawled into bed, Paige spent some time journaling—a practice she’d mostly put aside—but which she was embracing again.
By the time her wedding day arrived, Paige was equal parts ready and nervous. “I shouldn’t be this nervous, should I?” she asked Jules, as they were getting ready in the church’s ‘bridal’ room.
“I don’t know. I’ve never gotten married before,” Jules answered matter-of-factly. “But it’s a big step, shackling yourself to a man and his dirty socks ’til death do you part—again—so maybe that’s why you have the jitters.”
“I didn’t say anything about ‘jitters’. That’s a terrible word. You know, feel free to try and make me feel better, rather than worse.”
Unrepentant, Jules put the finishing touches on Paige’s hair and spritzed it with hairspray to keep the loose curls in place. “I’m glad you’re not wearing a veil this time.”
“I didn’t want to wear one at my first wedding—God, it sounds so weird to say that—but Claire insisted, because it was tradition.”
