Annihilate Me: Holiday Edition (18 page)

“Fireworks!”
Daniella said.

“Exactly,”
Alex said.
 
“And we’ll have plenty
of them on hand.
 
Most of all, I
want all of my friends to know how happy I am.
 
And how happy I hope that Jennifer
is.
 
I’ve told her this a few times,
but I want all of you to know that she’s the love of my life.
 
She’s my best friend, she’s my first
thought and my last thought, she’s been beside me in ways that few have, and
right now—even if Tank might disagree with me right now, which I feel
that he might—I’m fairly certain that I’m the luckiest man in the
room.”
 

Alex
turned to face me, I saw that his eyes were glimmering when they met mine, and
he held up his glass of champagne to me.
 
“Thank you for coming into my life.
 
Thank you for standing by me when others would have fled after all that we’ve
gone through.
 
I think the world of
you, Jennifer.
 
You’re strong and
smart.
 
You’re kind and you’re
loving.
 
And you’re so beautiful to
me.
 
I’m grateful that you’re going
to be my wife, that I’m going to be your husband, and that we’re going to raise
a family together.”

“Is
she pregnant?” Alexa asked.

I
laughed at that, and looked over at her.
 
“No, Alexa.
 
Marriage
first.
 
Then a year or three to
ourselves.
 
Then we’ll start a
family.”

“Thank
God,” Blackwell said.
 
“And so
sensible.
 
Pay attention,
girls.
 
That’s how it’s done.”

“May
I say something to you?” I asked Alex.

“Of
course.”

“If
I get emotional, everyone should probably just look the other way right
now.
 
It won’t be pretty.
 
But I love this man, whom I’d never run
from, regardless of what challenges might be ahead of us.
 
You need to know that, Alex.
 
You need to know that I’d never do
that.
 
In fact, I’ve proved that to
you, so if you have any fears of that happening, put them to rest.
 
I look forward to our wedding.
 
And to having all of our friends there
to support us.
 
I look forward to
waking up to you each morning—not that I don’t already, but you know what
I mean.
 
What I especially look
forward to are all of the new adventures that are ahead of us.
 
I love you so much.
 
As Lisa can attest, I think I fell in
love with you, at least on some level, on that day you ran out of Wenn and
helped me catch my flyaway resumes.”
 

When
I recalled that day, I started to tear up.
 
“It was on that day that my life took a dramatic turn, for better and
for worse.
 
And that’s what we’re
going to say to each other on July Fourth.
 
For better and for worse.
 
I
can’t tell you how eager I am to officially say those words to you, and to
finally be your wife.”

And
with that, I leaned forward and kissed him while our friends clapped and Tank
whistled.

“Now,”
Alex said when we parted.

“Just
one moment.”
 
I took my cocktail
napkin and wiped my lipstick off his lips.
 
“OK, you’re good.”

“I
need a best man,” Alex said.
 
He
turned to Tank.
 
“And I’d like that
best man to be you.
 
We been friends
for years.
 
You’re one of the finest
men I know.
 
What do you say?
 
Will you back me on this?”

“I’ve
always had your back.
 
I’ll also
have it when you get married.
 
Absolutely, Alex.
 
It’s an
honor.”

“And
Lisa,” I said.
 
“This goes without
saying, but would you be my matron of honor?”

“As
if I won’t.”

I
turned to Barbara, who was standing across the room, next to the entrance to
the hallway that led to the kitchen—her glass of champagne bubbled in her
hand.
 
On her face was a conflict of
emotions I’d never seen on it before.
 
She looked almost wistful, as if she was part of this moment, but also
somewhere else.
 
I wondered where
she was and what she was thinking.
 
She was looking at us, but also through us.
 
There was a sense of contentment about
her that was palpable.

“Barbara,”
I said.

She
immediately came back into herself.
 
“Yes?
 
Sorry.
 
I was lost for a moment there.
 
Of course I will ask Bernie to do your
hair and makeup, Jennifer.
 
I’ll
take care of all of that.
 
And your
dress.
 
Together with Lisa, we’ll go
shopping for the perfect dress.”

“I
appreciate that, but that’s not what I was going to ask of you.”

She
moved to speak, but didn’t respond.

“It’s
no secret that I’ve come to see you as a mother figure.”

“I
suppose it isn’t,” she said.

“I
don’t really have a mother or father.
 
They were lost to me years ago—at least emotionally.
 
I was wondering if you’d be willing to
walk me down the aisle and give me away?
 
That would mean the world to me.”

“Oh,
my dear,” she said.

“Will
you?”

She
crossed the room, took me in her arms, and said in my ear, “My sweet, sweet
girl.
 
Of course, your mother will
walk you down the aisle.”

*
 
*
 
*
 

Later
that night, when the party was over and all of the glasses and dishes had been
collected and put in the dishwasher, Lisa and I joined Blackwell, Daniella and
Alexa, and stored what was left of the appetizers in the refrigerator.

The
girls were abuzz about the wedding.
 

“Since
I’m a certified flower child, can I be your flower girl?” Alexa asked.

“You’re
a bit ancient for that,” Daniella said.

“I
am not.”

“Oh,
please.
 
And by the way, aren’t you
being more than just a little hypocritical?
 
You’d be taking fresh flowers away from
the bees just to toss dead petals down the aisle so Jennifer can step on
them.
 
Tell me how that’s good for
the environment, my little flower child?”

Alexa’s
eyes popped.
 
“I never thought of
that,” she said.
 
“You’re
right.
 
I’d become everything I
hated.
 
We need to save the
bees.
 
What was I thinking?”

“You
sure as hell weren’t thinking green.”
 
Daniella turned to me.
 
“By
the way, sweet necklace.
 
Totes
looks hot on you.
 
Where are you
having the wedding, anyway?”

“We’re
not sure yet.
 
Maybe on a certain
island.”

“Which
island?”

“Maybe
one day you’ll see.”

“You’re
being frustratingly vague.”

“Maybe
we have more surprises in store?
 
But those will be revealed closer to the actual wedding.
 
Alex and I still need to talk things
through and plan.
 
It’s still
several months off yet.”

“But
never too soon to plan,” Blackwell said.

“I
hear you.”

Just
as we were finishing up, Alex and Tank came into the kitchen while Lisa and I
were wrapping up the last of the appetizers.

“Hello,
boys,” Daniella said.
 
“Oh,
look.
 
You’re too late for the
clean-up.
 
Imagine that.”

“Somehow,
we must have missed it,” Alex said.
 
“I don’t know how.
 
Do you,
Tank?”

“I
have no idea.”

I
felt Alex’s arm curl around my waist and he kissed me on the back of my
neck.
 
“I was just dropping by to
say how much I love you.”

“All
right,” Daniella said.
 
“Now it’s
officially become too much.
 
I’m so
deep in schmaltz, I’m going to puke.”

“Then
you better grab a bag,” Tank said.

She
screwed up her face at him.
 
“Why?”

“I’m
just giving you fair warning.”

“Fair
warning for what?”

“For
this.”
 
I saw him wrap his own arm
around Lisa before he dipped down to kiss her on her own neck.
 
“After all, I might have come here to
tell Lisa that I love her, too.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

The
next morning, Alex and I woke early.
 
For the first time in years, I actually
woke on Christmas Day with a sense of anticipation, and not a sense of dread.
 
I couldn’t wait to give Alex and
everyone else their gifts.
 
I
couldn’t wait to pull Lisa aside and talk about Tank’s unexpected statement
last night.
 
It was going to be one
insanely full day, and by tomorrow morning, we’d be back in Manhattan.

Or
at least I thought we would.

When
I sat up in bed and looked out the window, I saw that it was still snowing, but
this time at a good clip and with a strong wind driving it.
 
The ocean beyond was a slate blue sea of
rough of waters, with white caps crashing onto the shore.

“We’re
having a storm,” I said.

Alex
sat up next to me and squinted out the window.
 
“Where did this come from?”

“No,
idea, but I haven’t been paying much attention to the weather.
 
I hope we don’t lose power.
 
That would be the worst.
 
I’m already worried enough about Barbara
making it through the day.
 
We have
a gas-burning stove and oven, which is great.
 
But even as light as it is outside right
now, she’s still going to need real light to cook.
 
She can’t cook without proper lighting.”

“Which
is why we have a generator,” he said.
 

“We
have a generator?”

“I
made sure of it before we came.”

“What
don’t you think of?”

“When
you don’t want anything to go wrong, you think about what could go wrong, you
talk to the right people—in this case, my caretaker—and take care
of things, which is what I did.”

I
traced my finger along the curves of his well-defined chest.
 
“How about if I take care of you, Mr.
Wenn?”

“How
about if I return the favor, Ms. Kent?”

“How
about if I get all freaky on you?”

“How
about if I bend you over my lap and give you a spanking?”

I
laughed at that, we slid beneath the sheets, I rolled on top of him, and we
made love.

*
 
*
 
*
 

When
we were showered and dressed, it was only nine o’cock.
 
I wanted to get downstairs early in case
Blackwell needed help.
 
Already I
could hear sounds coming from the kitchen.
 
Unless she decided to let her daughters help her, which I doubted, she
was in there alone.
 
At the very
least, I needed to ask if she wanted help.

But
when we stepped into the living room, Daniella and Alexa were each curled on
either end of the sofa facing the ocean and looked at their iPads.
 
They glanced up at us and Daniella said,
“Get ready.”

“For
what?”

“The
Greatest Show on Earth.”

“It’s
epic,” Alexa said.

“Are
Lisa and Tank up yet?”

“Those
two love birds won’t stumble out of their nest until it’s time to eat.”
 

Alexa
nodded toward the kitchen.
 
“Go and
have a look, but I’ll warn you right now, it’s dangerous.”