“Bradley,” Emilia answered as she pulled out her phone.
Poor Bradley was about to get the surprise of a lifetime with this pair. But then again, I had a feeling that we were all going to be jumping through a ridiculous number of hoops to get them to the altar.
Emilia started typing. “Can we take a minute to go through my punch list? I want to make sure that I didn’t miss anything.”
“Yeah, let’s do this,” Carter replied. “Honey?”
“Sorry, can you excuse me for a minute?” Kristen asked in a quiet, strained voice. “I’ll be right back.”
“Sure, babe,” Carter said.
I was the only one with eyes on Kristen as Carter and Emilia started debating what was on their endless to-do list. I assumed that Kristen was going to head for the ladies room but I watched her take a left into the maze, just out of view of everyone else.
She was clearly unhappy and I couldn’t let that stand. I made sure that the rest of the group was engaged in Carter’s demands and took off after her.
I heard sniffling as I got closer to where she was hiding in the maze. I rounded a corner and found her with her head in her hands, full-on crying.
“Hey, hey, what’s going on here?” I asked as I walked closer.
She jumped, then started crying harder. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to ruin everything being dumb. I just need a few minutes to …” She gestured to her teary face.
“Kristen, please don’t apologize for having big feelings. Weddings bring up a ton of emotions, good and bad. Is this about your grandfather?” I asked gently.
She nodded, her chin trembling. She was tryingreallyhard to keep it together.
“I just miss him so much. He should be here with me.”
“C’mere,” I opened my arms and she collapsed against my chest, crying harder.
I’d never have expected that I’d need two handkerchiefs today.
She sobbed and I rubbed her back, not saying anything and not pressuringherto say anything, either. I wasn’t always the best at knowing how to deal with emotions—my own or anyone else’s—but I understood at least this much about grief. Sometimes, you just had to sit with it for a minute, let it wash through you. Let it win. And then, after enough time had passed, you could build back up your walls. Be strong again.
I could give Kristen that minute, and give her someone to lean on until it had passed. I had absolutely no words that could make this better, but I knew there was nothing she wanted to hear anyway. She just wanted this minute. Being present with sadness wasn’t easy, but most of the time it was exactly what the mourner needed.
Kristen finally moved away from me after composing herself. She ran her fingers under her eyes. “Thank you. That helped.”
“Your grandfather was a special guy, and I’m glad that I got to meet him.” I smiled at the memory of the first time I met him. “Boy, did he give me the runaround when you and I started dating. He gave me the whole shovel talk, you know. Asked me if my intentions were honorable.”
Her face brightened a little. “He did that?”
“That, and more,” I assured her. “He told me stories about your grandmother, and how hard he courted her despite the fact that her father hated him at first. I tried not to take offense about what he was implying.”
“He didn’t mean anything by it; I could tell he liked you,” Kristen insisted.
“And he loved you, so much.Adoredyou.”
Whoops. She looked like she was on the verge of crying again. I moved towards her, ready to give her another hug but froze with myhand on her shoulder when a crowd of people burst around the corner just beyond the hedgerow from where we were standing.
“That was fucking amazing! Absolute gold,” Dorian exclaimed, rushing towards us. “But can we get it again? The sound was muffled at first, I’m assuming it was when you were hugging, blocking the mics. And can you slip in some additional backstory? The audience needs context if the two of you have dated in the past.”
My stomach dropped. “The mics?” Shit, had my microphone been on this whole time?
Yeah, this wasbad.
“Yeah, you left it on,” Dorian replied. “Rookie mistake. We heard everything. Or most of everything. Who knows what went down between the two of you when the sound was messed up?” He tapped his headset.
Emilia frowned at me like she could sense all of the ways this little snafu was going to blow up.
