But they need to know NOW!!
Plus I'm so excited, I feel like I could burst.
So I call them all. I ask Lori to be my yet-to-be-named honor attendant. For my bridesmaids, I ask my best friends from high school, Lisa and Katie; Phillip's sister, Ashley; and my sorority sisters, Chelsea and Macy. They all excitedly said yes, and since I was on a roll, I also asked a couple other sorority sisters to help with the wedding. I'm not sure yet what exactly they'll do, probably be in charge of getting the party started, knowing them, but they may have to do the guest book or something first.
Phillip takes me to lunch at our favorite Italian restaurant to celebrate.
I'm surprised when he tells the waiter, "We'd like a bottle of champagne, please." Phillip never drinks during lunch.
Over champagne and chicken Alfredo, we decide that Danny will be his best man. His groomsmen will be his brother-in-law, Cooper; Joey, one of our best friends from high school; Nick, the Husker kicker who was always hanging out at our townhouse in Lincoln; and his fraternity brothers, Blake and Logan.
"What about ushers?" I ask.
"I was thinking Neil and Brandon for sure. What about Katie's husband, Eric?"
"I love Eric, but they aren't getting along great. In fact, Katie and Neil have been having lunch together."
"Lunch? Is that code for sex?"
"No, they really are just having lunch, but I get the impression that she wishes it was more."
"That sucks. It'd suck to get divorced. We're never getting divorced."
"I don't want to go through that either, so that means you're gonna have to be really nice to me. Always."
Phillip chuckles then runs his hand across my jawline. "I'm always really nice to you."
"I know, Phillip. You're perfect. Everything is perfect right now."
"That might be the champagne talking. And I was thinking we might need to stop at home before we go back to work. Do a little more celebrating."
His eyes sparkle at me, and I have to agree with him. "That sounds perfect too."
I'm sitting in Phillip's office waiting for him to finish up a meeting, so we can go out and do some more celebrating. It's a really good thing he works for his dad because between lunch and our little stop at home, we took a three hour lunch.
I think about what I have to do to get the dream wedding and decide Phillip's right. I'm just gonna do it.
I call Pastor John's office.
A woman answers. "Pastor John's office, Margie speaking."
"Margie, this is Jadyn Reynolds. I'm getting married and need to set up couple's counseling with Pastor John."
"He's been expecting your call, and you're in luck. I've got his calendar right here in front of me."
Wow! This really IS my lucky day. I don't have to talk to him!!
Is it unchristian of me to pray he'll get the stomach flu on the nights of our meetings?
She continues. "How's this Tuesday sound? You'll meet him every two weeks until your wedding."
"We'll be there," I tell her and then hang up as fast as I can.
Okay, so I've been a frugal girl. I inherited quite a bit of money when my parents died. My dad sold insurance for a living, so they were extremely well-insured. I had access to a lot of money at eighteen.
Did I go crazy?
Did I buy an expensive car?
Did I whisk all my friends away to the Caribbean for a party?
No, I put most all of it back into my trust. Safely invested in things I don't really understand, but that Mr. D says are safe and performing well.
And because of this frugalness, I like to buy things like shoes when they go on sale. Because shoes are to me what toilet paper and beer are to Phillip. It's important to him to always have a backup twelve-pack in the frig, and we can never be without six backup rolls of toilet paper, or we're on (flash the lights) emergency reserve status. I feel that way about shoes. A women needs backups in her closet. I mean, you never know when you might need a pair of leopard skin stilettos with red suede trim.
Today after work, I ran to a shoe sale at my favorite department store. And did I score!! I got three pairs of adorable shoes for what one would've cost at full price.
So you can imagine my surprise when I walk into my condo excitedly carrying my sale treasures, and Phillip starts giving me shit about shopping, spending money, and buying another pair of shoes he thinks I'll never wear.
"Phillip, these shoes were a very good deal. I got three pairs for the price of one!"
He's all snotty when he says, "Well buying no shoes is cheaper than that. You have shoes in your closet that I've never seen you wear. You could shoe a small country. You can't possibly need another pair of shoes."
Who peed in his Cheerios?
"Well, Phillip, since I'm paying for the condo that you're living in, and since you aren't contributing to the mortgage payment, or the utilities, or the satellite dish, you probably shouldn't have any say in what I spend. But since we're on that subject, let's see what you've spent lately."
I grab his wallet which I know is full of perfectly folded receipts.
He gets an irritated look on his face, but I go on. "Let's see, what do we have here?" I shuffle through receipts. "Beer, lunch, Taco Bell, beer, gas. Oh! What's this big one?"
"Nothing," Phillip smarts.
He tries to grab the receipt from me, but I avoid him and read it. "Wheels for your car? But Philllllippppp, your car already has wheels. Does she really need another pair?"
He shrugs.
"And wow. Her shoes, I mean, wheels, cost $1500. Fifteen hundred dollars! That's a lot of money. Oh, wait, what's this little note here at the bottom?" I read off the receipt. "Call when chip comes in. Who's Chip, Phillip?"
"It's not a who…"
"I know it's not a who. I know exactly what you ordered. You bought the horsepower chip you and Danny have been talking about when you thought I wasn't listening." I raise my eyebrows at him. "How much is the chip, Phillip?"
"Four grand."
"Four THOUSAND dollars??? You know, I'm having a hard time understanding how you can give me shit for spending one hundred and sixty-five dollars on things I don't need when you've just spent over FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS on things your car didn't need. Tell me it was at least on sale."
"They don't go on sale."
"Maybe you should've waited until they did."
Phillip's fuming. It's kinda funny.
He says, "This is a worthless conversation. I'm not having it."
"You started it."
He squints his eyes at me. "Yeah, well then I guess I'll end it too." He walks out the door to the garage and slams it shut.
I'm still holding his wallet and see his car keys sitting on the counter.
I smile, grab them, walk to the garage door, stick my hand out the door to jingle them at him, and then quick shut the door.
I know he can't leave without them. I also know his spare set is at his parents' house. I run into the bedroom and strip down to my lacy bra and panties.
Yes, I finally got over hating lingerie. Me and Victoria have made up in a big way, and she and her secret are my new best friends. I've been spending a lot of time at her house. Shoes aren't the only thing I've been spending my hard-earned money on, but Phillip never has a bad word to say when I walk in the house with that hot pink bag.