That Wedding (16 page)

I called Phillip's parents and told them what I'd planned for this weekend. I even spilled my guts to Phillip's dad about what happened at Danny and Lori's wedding. Beings he'd heard the rumors, I thought I'd set the record straight. He was all for me making it up to Phillip.

I'm up at five am, which is way earlier than even Phillip usually gets up. I hear the phone ring, and Phillip hit speaker. His dad's voice booms into the room. "Son, I hear you're taking the day off."

Phillip says groggily, "Uh...what? Who did you hear that from?"

"Your mom."

"Mom? Why would she....oh, no, is she making us do wedding planning? I don't think JJ is ready for that, and I'd really rather come to work."

I hear his dad say, "I think you better talk to your future bride about that. Have a great day."

Phillip looks confused when I come into the bedroom and say, "Hey."

"What's going on, and why the hell are you up so early?"

"Well, I have a little surprise for you, sweetie."

"You only call me sweetie when you want your way. We're doing wedding planning with my mom all day, aren't we?"

"Nope, but you better hurry up and get dressed. We have a flight to catch."

"A flight? Where are we going? I'm not packed."

"I packed for you, and we're going on a naughty dream road trip."

Phillip grins big and wipes the sleep out of his eyes. "Really? So where are we going?"

"It's a surprise."

"Is it somewhere I dreamed about?"

"I don't know, honestly, but I think you hoped it'd go differently. And that's all I'm saying."

We get to the airport, and of course, he sees where we're going.

"Cancun, huh?"

"Yeah, you good with that?"

"Oh, yeah. Are we staying somewhere we have maybe stayed before?"

"We sure as hell aren't staying at that dive we stayed at that one year for spring break, but, yeah, we might be."

"Lori and Danny's wedding?"

"Bingo. You're smart."

"And what are we gonna do there?"

"Probably the same things we did when we were there for the wedding."

"That wasn't fun."

"Well, there might be some new twists to the story this time, but I'll warn you, just like at the wedding, I got us separate rooms."

"You're such a liar."

"Stop asking me questions I don't want you to know the answers to, so I won't have to lie."

"So it's my fault you're lying?"

"Absolutely."

He flicks the end of my nose. "Watch out. It's gonna start growing." Then he laughs and tells me, "You know, Dillon and Neil told me yesterday with this whole naughty week that I've been spending way too much time with you. That we've been
hiberdatin
g."

"Hiberdating? What the hell does that mean?"

"It's like I'm hibernating. I'm not seeing my friends because I'm always with you."

"You have always, always been with me."

"Yeah, but we've been spending quite a bit of time alone."

"Are you saying you don't like the time we spend alone?"

"No, I'm just saying our friends miss us and are giving us shit. I'd hiberdate you forever if I could."

We get to Cancun and immediately head to the beach. This time, I'm relaxed and happy. I'm not feeling the stress or pressure to be with Phillip. I'm with him because I want to be. We drank fruity drinks, which I'm still convinced contain some kind of love potion, went jet skiing, and laid on the beach. After that, we went back to our room to
take a nap
. We did sleep a bit. Like after.

When we were here before, I had big plans. I was going to take Phillip dancing, get him a little tipsy, and then invite him back to my room. But as we all know, last time I drank a little too much, ended up dancing with other guys, and made Phillip really mad. He thought I wasn't trying, that I didn't want a relationship with him, and we were lucky to have stayed friends. The next day at Danny and Lori's wedding, he pretty much ignored me.

But not this time. This time was the way it should've been. Romantic dinner, fruity drinks, and dancing only with him.

We danced together and had a blast. Last time, I danced with other boys. This time, I couldn't even tell you for sure if there were other people on the dance floor. I only had eyes for Phillip. After dancing, we went for a walk on the beach, and I asked if he wanted to come back to my room. He teased me and said that he didn't want me to think he was that easy, but then he did, and we definitely made up for the last time we were here.

The best part of waking up this morning was having Phillip in bed with me. We lounged in bed, ordered room service, tanned on the beach, snorkeled, parasailed, then came back to our room to get ready for dinner.

When I'm dressed and ready, Phillip takes my hand and says, "Let's sit down."

My mind immediately flashes to the hospital. I can see the waiting room. I can smell the popcorn. I can picture the doctor telling me to sit down. I can hear him say that my dad isn't going to make it.

What horrible thing is Phillip going to tell me?

I try to prepare myself. He's breaking up with me, he has cancer, he's joining the Peace Core, he's going to become a priest, he doesn't really want to marry me, he's in love with someone else, he's really gay, he found out he has a baby, he made a mistake.

I suck in a deep breath and hold it in my chest. I don't say anything. I just squint my eyes at him and try to shut out whatever pain is coming.

"Breathe," he says. He tilts his head and studies my face. "It's good news."

I let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, I didn't know what you were gonna say. I just sorta flashed back to that night at the hospital when the doctor made me sit down and told me about Dad."

Pain flashes across Phillip's eyes. He reaches out and runs the back of his hand across my cheek. "I'm sorry I scared you."

I smile at him, grab his hand, and kiss it. "It's okay. So tell me your good news."

His eyes brighten. "You know how we recently signed that big deal at work?"

"Yeah."

"Well, part of that deal is that we have to open an office in Kansas City. That means both Dad and I are going to have to spend more time there."

"That's exciting! And cool too, since Danny and Lori are there."

"Well, there's more." He has a huge smile plastered across his face, and I can tell he's really excited about all this. "So because of this, I got a promotion. I'm going to run the Kansas City office."

I throw my arms around Phillip's neck. "I'm so proud of you!" I have to tease him a bit though, so I say, "Must be rough having your dad be your boss. So wait. Does that mean you'll be traveling a lot?"

"Um, well, no. We kinda need to move there."

"Really? That'd be so cool! I'd love to live close to Danny and Lori, but jobs aren't easy to find. Like with the economy, a lot of people I graduated with still don't have jobs. I'd have to find a job first, I guess."

"You already have a job there, if you want it."

Phillip's grin has turned into a sneaky smirk. I can't help but smile back at him. "Why don't you tell me everything."

He's practically bouncing with energy and starts talking fast. "The first thing we have to do is find temporary offices. We've already bought some land, and we're going to build our corporate headquarters on it. You can design the whole thing from the ground floor up. Wouldn't that be awesome? We'd be working together!"

I stare at Phillip for a few beats. Design my very own building? Is he serious? That's like my dream!

"How long have you known about all this?"

"It all just fell together in the last week, Princess. How bout we discuss the details at dinner? We can negotiate your pay over some good wine?"

We go to dinner, eat some food, and drink some great wine. Phillip keeps talking excitedly about his new job, about the new building, about living close to Danny and Lori, and I can't help myself, I get really excited too. It would be really cool to design a building on my own. That's what I went to school for, but at the job I have now, it'd probably be years before I ever got something like this as my own project.

Phillip assures me that I'd have lots of freedom, that he wouldn't boss me around, and that once the project is done, I could find a job there, start my own business, or whatever I wanted to.

Before I know it, I'm agreeing to it all.

After dinner, we walk along the beach for a while. It's amazing how just being together, holding hands and not saying a word, can be so romantic. I feel like we're the only two people on earth. We find an empty hammock and lay together in the moonlight.

"Talk to me about our wedding," Phillip says. His body is always so warm, and with his arms wrapped around me, I barely feel the cool ocean breeze. "Do you want a big wedding or a small one?"

"I kinda think I'd like a big wedding. All our friends. A fun party."

"I agree. What about colors?"

"I'm not sure. Do you have any ideas?"

"Just please don't make me wear a white tuxedo. I think black looks best."

"I like black too, but black makes it more formal."

"I think a wedding should be formal, don't you?"