“I don’t know what to say, Mark.”
“You taught me to love, Kath. I only learned when I lost it. You were right…about the pain. When it hurts that much, you’d do anything to make it stop. So, I painted. Be well, Kath.”
I nodded, because, well, there was nothing else to say. The painting was incredible and showed our business and the day my future with Holst began. He really did capture a single moment in time.
We left the front door, and Holst reached into the pocket of my thin sweatshirt for the car keys. “Did you pay for parking?” he asked.
“The lot by the bank,” I replied.
I shoved my hands into my pockets and began to walk toward the car when I realized Holst wasn’t next to me. I turned around, and he was just standing there. Pedestrians moved around him, but he was right in the middle of everyone’s path. People were going to dinner or for an early drink or making their way to their cars from work, but it was busy.
“Stay right there,” he said, so I didn’t move an inch.
He put his hand out to a man and woman, a couple, I assumed, and stopped them. And on the other side, he did the same thing, and said to this small group he’d gathered, “You see that woman right there?”
His face became one giant smile.
“Tomorrow, she’s going to be dressed in a beautiful gown, and I’ll be standing just like I am right now. I’m a lucky man to have the love of that woman right there.”
He’d drawn a crowd, something I was positive he meant to do, but I didn’t care. I was always the kind of girl to do whatever felt good and right. And I’d apparently met my match in that department because…he’d outdone me.
With nothing else to give him except for, well, me, I walked to him, pulled his head to mine and laid the biggest, deepest, almost R-rated kiss in the middle of the sidewalk. And I did it with my hand gripping his ass through his jeans. A story I’m sure the good people of downtown Laguna Beach weren’t going to forget anytime soon.
“Leo’s manning the barbeque. Ready to go home?” he asked.
“Yeah, H. Take me home.”
Katherine
We didn’t need to rehearse anything. Ruby was my official wedding planner, and, between her and the moms, everything fell into place. I had no concerns or worries about the next day whatsoever. So, the gathering at our place was just that, a get-together with our close friends and family. No strippers required, and no one got shit-faced drunk. If Holst told me he wanted a night out with strippers…I’d like to think I was secure enough and cool enough to give him my blessing. But I knew I wouldn’t be. I suggested if he wanted to go see strippers or even have that male fantasy of a threesome, I could hang with that, but I needed to be involved one-hundred percent. Then I told him about the time a beautiful women hit on me at a bar and that was the night I tried eating pussy. This led to awesome sex with Holst, and he hadn’t brought it up again.
When everyone left with salutations of “see you tomorrow,” we spent the night before our wedding talking in bed, not about anything in particular, just…stuff. Holst decided we should play a game we always said we would, but hadn’t since that night at the pizza place.
“Where would you like to go? If you could go anywhere, where would it be?” he asked.
I thought for a few minutes then told him, “Disneyland.”
“Seriously?”
“I’ve never been before.”
“How can you live in Southern California and not go to Disneyland?”
“When I was really little, there just wasn’t time. Dad worked seven days a week, so the Mouse was never really in the cards. Then I was older, and, well…I just never went.”
“Baby,” he said against my shoulder. He didn’t need to elaborate. A kid from where I was from not going to Disneyland was very rare.
“How about you? Where do you want to go?”
I was sure he’d say something wild like an African safari…or Mars.
He turned and looked out the window. “I’d like to go to a cabin up in the mountains. Somewhere with a lake where I can make love to you all day, swim naked, look up at the sky at night and just…be. No noise, no smell of coffee grounds.” He chuckled and turned his head back to me. “Just us.”
As the wheels turned in my head, thinking I could make that dream come true for him, sooner rather than later, I had to giggle.
“Is that funny?”
“No. I thought you were going to say Mars.”
He turned to his side and lightly brushed his finger down the bandage on my wrist. “If I wanted to go to Mars, I’d just take us to the desert. At least there, we can walk around outside.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “And the one-way ticket to death on a flight that takes, what, a year? A little less? That’s a really long time to be on a plane. Just sayin’.”
He was quiet for a while. I didn’t pay attention to the length of time; I just lay there, letting my thoughts drift and wander while I listened to his breathing.
“Can’t wait to marry you tomorrow, Katherine.”
I put my hand on his chest, moving my fingers through the tendrils of hair. “It is tomorrow, H. Happy birthday, by the way.” I loved that our anniversary would be on his birthday.
“I’ll need energy to blow out candles and marry you.” He chuckled. “We better get some sleep,” he said and kissed my lips. “One more question though,” he said, not moving his mouth from mine.
“Okay.” I smiled and traced his bottom lip with my tongue.
“Did you and Frodo kiss today?”
Zack.
Troublemaker.
“It wasn’t like that, but yeah. Just lips, no tongue.”
It was dark, so I couldn’t see the expression on Holst’s face, but his silence and the fact he wasn’t moving freaked me out.
“Before you start concocting scenarios in your head…Frodo and I had…a moment. He told me some things about himself that were so personal…it made me understand who he is, but more than that, it made me want to just…I don’t know how to explain it. It was like…kissing the Pope’s ring. I’m not saying he’s a holy man or anything. He’s flawed, but he’s been through so much and still sees the good in people. So, when he finished my tattoos, I leaned down and kissed him on the lips. And also, that Zack has a big fuckin’ mouth.”
“Katherine,” he said softly and moved his thumb under my chin and jaw. “He told you because you’re going to be my wife. He doesn’t feel it’s fair for one partner to carry the burden of a secret without the support of the other.”
“You know?”
“Since he started going to meetings again.”
“I’d never betray you, Holst. Not ever.”
“I figured he must have told you. But the way Zack tells it is much more interesting, so I expect there’ll be talk around the campfire for years to come.”
“Oh, I’ll be having some fun at Zack’s expense. Mark my fucking words.”
Mark.
“The painting…that was amazing what he gave to us.”
“Yes, it was. Get some sleep, baby.”
“Love you, H.”
“Love you, Katherine.”
The next morning, we woke to pounding on our front door. As a rule, pounding on my front door sends me into a confused panic. Is it the cops? Did someone die? Is the car being towed? I know I didn’t win anything, because I never enter contests, so who the hell would be pounding on the door unless it was bad news?
Then, I did panic, because I suddenly remembered. “I’m getting married today!”
The pounding continued, but that didn’t stop me from scooting out of the covers, standing on the bed naked, holding my tits in each hand, and jumping up and down. “We’re getting married today!” I screamed at Holst, my voice a squeal, which was so unlike me, but I couldn’t help it. I was happy, and today, I was getting married.
“Come back down here.” Holst laughed, covering his crotch protectively with his hands.