Chapter Twenty-Six (1/2)

Chapter Twenty-Six

It’s been an exhausting few weeks between work and spending time with Rochelle and Scott then Riley and Monica with also spending the time with Chase’s mother, I’ve been feeling so guilty about leaving her out that I’m doing absolutely everything I can to include her now. She says she understands and she’s such a sweet lady that she truly does.

It took me a little while to see just how selfish I was being, this isn’t just my wedding, it’s her son’s too and I know she doesn’t have a daughter and I should have taken this time to bond more with her rather than pushing her away, I don’t care if she understands, I feel awful about it.

I wish I could sleep through the weekends but I took time to go shopping with her to find a nice dress for an early spring wedding, it wouldn’t be freezing but it wasn’t exactly the warmest weather while we were outside but then again, it’s a warm space inside.

Even though we’ve been stretched thin and exhausted at best most days, Chase and I weren’t letting our relationship go downhill like last time and we ordered lunch in the office and we worked in his most days together to get it all done.

Thankfully Riley would be back in the office in another week because I needed to cut back my hours here to get everything for the wedding finished, we’ve been working twice as hard with him gone and it’s not like I wouldn’t be there, I would just work six hour days instead of the ten we usually put in. And since he’s taken two months instead of one off, I think that he can just suck it up for three and a half weeks. Maybe it’s time to bring someone else in, but every time we talk about it we just can’t, this was mom and dad’s other baby and It’s hard to trust someone enough.

But with Riley having a new baby and them wanting at least one more and Chase and I planning on starting a family we can’t keep doing this, we work seven to five most days, if not later. Chase and I have been working six to ten the last three weeks, sometimes we even fell asleep here and let me tell you something, sixteen hour days weren’t fun.

To keep things from going downhill Chase and I would take about an hour after everyone had left for ourselves, we would sit and talk or just curl up on the couch we had ordered for here after the first three days with Riley gone.

Anything to just spend a little time together so we didn’t feel so disconnected from each other. Chase and I had decided to stop having sex after the new year until we were married, it fucking sucked when sex could be something to take so much stress away and Valentine’s day, well we spent it here so it wasn’t a big deal but it would have been nice to have some intimate time but it would make our honeymoon that much better so we were sucking it up.

When Riley got back to work I spent a few days catching him up on everything and then after the weekend I would be reducing hours here. With us being so busy we had booked the catering but we haven’t actually picked out the food so I was stealing Chase for a couple hours during lunch and we needed to get that done, we were, at this point, three weeks out and that was cutting it too close.

We had went to the restaurant and they prepared the course for us and I was so stressed I had a hard time even enjoying the fantastic food.

They brought food for the appetizers table we would have during a cocktail hour while we do our pictures and I found nothing I didn’t like from the mini bacon tarts to the dip, the stuffed tomatoes to the shrimp and we decided to do a larger variety since we couldn’t choose.

Next they brought out the food for the main course, we wanted a formal sit down dinner but with this being so last minute we needed to give more flexibility with a buffet, we weren’t able to give anyone the menu to ask them to pick one so we just asked which protein they wanted and would have to go from there.

We would have meat being cooked to order and they could pick what they wanted, the idea was a little all over the place but I was hoping it would make the guest the happiest and be less stressful that way so we weren’t having to worry about remaking anything that they didn’t like, weddings were so difficult.

There were sides from pasta to fruit, eggplant and veggies, we had burgers and macaroni and cheese for some of the kids. There should be enough variety that anyone should be able to eat.

When it got to dessert we opted on a small formal dessert with a variety of small tarts so we could do the speeches during that time.

And then the food was finished and we were very full as I dropped Chase off at work again and I went to go solve the flower disaster, well I attempted to. I went in there, saw the arrangements and called Chase’s mom to just help me because I couldn’t do it alone.

“What’s wrong baby?” she came over to where I was sitting outside.

“Everything, they ordered absolutely everything wrong. The color, the flowers, the arrangements are horrible just everything.” I was close to tears and if we couldn’t fix this now, it was going to cost a fortune to reorder somewhere else and a lot more stress.

I sat back and his mother dealt with the problem a lot calmer than I would, I was about to scream and yell and turn into a horrible bridezilla but his mother was calmer when she demanded they be fixed since it was their mistake and they better be done on time.

“Come on honey.” She wrapped her arm around me and we walked downtown.

“Where are we going?” I asked

“Coffee.” She told me.

“I have to still go to-”

“Not right now you don’t, you need to take a break.” She kept pulling me down the road another couple blocks to a little coffee shop, she ordered coffee and I insisted on buying since she just dropped everything to come help me.

“Thank you.” I told her as we sat down

“Anytime, now tell me what you have left to do.” she said and I groaned

“fittings, jewelry, I have to get Chase’s ring picked out today to have it on time, the girls need to have a fitting for their flow girl dresses, I need Thomas’s suit to be done, we need to find you something to wear, the flowers are a constant stress,we need to finalize the layout of the venue and the linens, the music, all the little things we wanted there like the wishing tree and the frame for everyone to write on, decorations and I still am the maid of honor for Rochelle and have to help her with all that, Michael’s only a few weeks old and-”

“Alright.” She cut me off

“It’s a lot, Chase and I haven’t been able to do anything the past couple months.” This wedding was horribly timed with these babies. I’ve barley even seen Rochelle, though it was incredibly sweet for her to give her son Riley’s middle name.

“Let me help you honey, next weekend we’ll get all the clothes settled and the flowers will be done. If you need me to pick anything up for you I will, Thomas has his suit so don’t worry about him.” Thomas was Chase’s nine year old adoptive brother; his parents finalized the papers a few months ago.

“I just need everything done.” I put my head in my hands.

“It will be and one wedding at a time, If Rochelle needs more help have her call me.”

“Rochelle has more done than I do, thank Scott for that one.” Lucky that she had someone to keep her on track with this thing.

“Well then don’t worry about it and enjoy this time.” I smiled because she was right and sometimes I forgot to do that.

“I can’t wait to marry him.” she smiled at me too