Man of the Year (20 page)
I laugh loudly and push up on my hands so I can look at him.
“Me too,” I nod and kiss his lips. “Hey, what were you trying to pull just now, by the way?” I tease. “Were you going for some kind of world-record-marathon-championship-sex-title or something?”
He chuckles in this adorably goofy laugh as he nods.
“Well, let’s get the people from Guinness in here because that should definitely go in the book. We’ve been going at it for … three and a half hours?! That can’t be right!” I say, glancing at the clock.
Another hilariously un-suave laugh and he flips me over so I’m on my back and he’s lying beside me with his arm draped over my stomach.
“Is it bad if I really want to pass out right now? Like, if I don’t want to eat dinner or shower, I just want to go the fuck to sleep?” he snickers.
“No, it’s not bad. In fact, it’s exactly what I’d expect after that,” I chuckle, “and I’m in the same boat as you.”
“Good,” he smiles tugging me against him until my back is to his chest.
I feel him sigh deeply and he kisses the back of my neck before he whispers into my ear.
“Lo,” he says, “you’re the first girl I’ve ever done this with—cuddled like this, I mean. Even if I did sleep with somebody before, I didn’t have this. Sometimes holding you is the thing that shows me how much I really love you, because everything feels different when you’re in my arms.”
I turn with his arm still wrapped around me and move to face him.
“James,” I whisper, “I am so deeply in love with you and … when you say things like that … I don’t think anyone could be more perfect for me than you are. I love you madly.”
He grins in his wonderful, mischievous way and gives me a little kiss.
“Right back atcha, cupcake!” he winks.
I giggle and snuggle into him as he strokes my back until I give in to the exhaustion and fall asleep.
I’m awakened by the sound of an old school telephone. It takes me a second to realize that it’s Lola’s iPhone on the nightstand.
“Motherfucker!” she grunts, sitting up in bed. “Am I not allowed to sleep in ever?!”
I laugh hard at her outrage. She likes her sleep and I thought she was going to punch me when I woke her up yesterday—but when she saw why I woke her up, she completely forgot that she was annoyed.
After how tired we both were when we went to bed, I’m guessing she’s none too pleased with another 7 a.m. wake up call.
“Who in the fuck would—oh shit!” she gasps when she picks up her phone.
She answers it before I have time to ask her who it is and I hear her gulp before she manages to speak.
“Hey, mom,” she says as cheerfully as she can.
Fuck!
“Yes … I know … I know I should have told you first … I’m sorry. We just got really swept up in it and we were in Vegas so it was convenient and everything … no, I’m sorry … no, you’re totally right,” she says apologetically.
Oh shit!
Theresa’s pissed that we both totally spaced out calling her to tell her we got married. I’m going to be in deep shit for this because she’ll know it was my idea.
I have kind of a history of getting Lola into trouble with my impulsive behavior. I used to convince her to stay out late with me or to sneak me into her house when she and her girlfriends were having slumber parties. When we were really little, I’d get her to see scary movies with me and she’d get totally freaked out and have nightmares for weeks. Thinking back, it was kind of a dick move to talk her into watching The Shining when she was nine years old, but she used to act all tough like she could take it and I kind of liked calling her bluff.
“I know … mom, I know. It wasn’t right for you to find out on Facebook. I agree with you. That was my bad and I apologize,” she says.
On Facebook? How did this get on Facebook?
I put the ring pic on my Instagram, but I didn’t post it to Twitter or Facebook.
“It was a live stream?” Lola asks. “Ok, but how did you see the video?”
Video? What video?
“The chapel’s YouTube?” she says, shaking her head with annoyance. “I see. Well, we didn’t know they had a webcam of the weddings.”
Shit!
I should have looked into that. A lot of those Vegas chapels will stream your wedding so your family back home can watch, but I didn’t consider the fact that they might post a video of us getting married on YouTube and shit.
If Lola’s mom knows, that means my parents probably know, but I have no idea how they’ll react to it. I haven’t talked to them in half a decade and I’m sure they’ll think I duped Lola into this, since they’ve always thought I was a bad influence on her.
“Alright, but you can’t yell at him,” Lola says after a pause.
Fuck! Theresa wants to talk to me!
“Seriously, mom, you cannot freak out at him for this. It’s as much my fault as it is his and I don’t want you to make him feel bad for it.”
Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!
“Ok … alright … here he is,” she says, handing me the phone.
My eyes are the size of basketballs as I reluctantly take it from her like it’s made out of hot lava.
“Hey, Theresa,” I say, preparing for the Wrath of Theresa Coletti.
“What the hell were you kids thinking?!” is her response.
“We’re in love, and we were there. It was really easy and we just—”
“Do you understand that this is a commitment, a legal commitment?!”
“Yeah, that’s why we wanted to do it. We love each other, Theresa, and we wanted to lock that down for good, you know?”
“I would have appreciated being informed that my only child was getting married!” she says. “It would have been nice to at least get a phone call.”
“I’m sorry. I really am,” I explain. “It was really a spur of the moment thing—it’s not like we planned it.”
“Great! So this was a snap decision for you guys! That’s just
lovely
!”
“No—look it wasn’t like that,” I say, standing up and going into the living room. I want to talk to her and I don’t want Lola to listen in.
“I wanted to watch her walk down the isle, James,” Theresa says, the anger leaving her voice. “She’s my little girl and I wanted to be there.”
Of course that’s what she wanted! I was such a dick to not think about that.
“I’m so sorry, Theresa. I really am,” I apologize again. “I should have thought about that. It’s not fair to you or to her. I should have done something that would make her feel like a princess. She deserves a big wedding and I’m sorry that I took that away.”
She sighs and calms down. “I understand, James. Given your situation with your mom and dad, I can understand why you wouldn’t want to do something big.”
She gets it. That’s a relief.
“I didn’t want her to have to go through all that drama, you know?” I explain. “We should have told you, though. It was wrong to not tell you and I’m sorry you had to find out from Facebook. Hey, who put that up, by the way?”
“I was checking my Facebook when I saw that one of my nieces put up a picture and said, ‘Congratulations to my cousin, Lola, on getting married!’ You can imagine my shock,” she laughs.
“Wow, news travels fast,” I chuckle.
“I know that you love her, James, and I know that you’re a good kid, but you two owe me a wedding,” she says.
“Huh?” I laugh.
“I want to see my daughter walk down the isle in her wedding dress, goddammit!” she snickers. “You guys need to have a re-do. I want a real wedding, young man. Do you understand me?”
I’m laughing hard, but I agree.
“And don’t worry about your family. We’ll work everything out,” she adds. “I want everyone to be there so we can watch our babies up there at the altar.”
“I have no idea how that’s going to happen,” I admit. “My parents don’t want anything to do with me, so I seriously doubt they’ll want to be at our wedding.”
“Let me work my magic, James. I’ll see if I can soften them up, since we’re all family now,” she replies.
“You’d do that?”
“Of course I would!” she says cheerfully. “You’re my son-in-law and I want my grandchildren to know both sets of grandparents.”
I swallow hard.
She’s already thinking grandchildren? Jeez!
“So, you’ll give my baby girl a big wedding?” she says with a laugh.
“Yeah, alright,” I chuckle.
“Good. Well, congratulations, sweetheart. You two kids have been dancing around the fact that you love each other for years, so I’m glad you’re both embracing it now. I think you’ll be very happy together.”
“Really?” I grin widely.
“Yes, honey,” she says softer. “I love you both and I wish you all the best. But just know that, if you fuck this up, I’ll kick your ass myself.”
I crack up laughing and she laughs along with me.
“Alright, go talk to your wife and tell her that she better get her narrow ass ready for a wedding, because she will be having one,” she snickers.
“I’ll tell her exactly that,” I agree.
“Ok, bye-bye, sweetheart,” she says. “Love you both.”
“Love you too,” I reply before hanging up.
Lola’s nervously clutching the sheets when I step back into the bedroom.
“How pissed off was she?” she asks timidly.
“She was pissed, but she calmed down. I think she understands, you know?” I reply.
“Did she yell at you?”
“A little bit, but it was cool. Apparently we owe her a wedding, though.”
“What?!”
“She said we have to have a real wedding, one with our families and stuff,” I explain.
“Goddammit! And you let her talk you into that?!”
“Lo, you’re her daughter. She just wants to see you being a princess for a day,” I laugh.
She groans and flops back down on the bed, pulling the sheets over her head.
I’m snickering as I get under the covers with her. She continues to whine as I slide my arm around her waist, but it’s really cute, so I pull her against me and start kissing all over her face.
"Is this what you want?" she softly asks me as she looks in my eyes.
"Hmm?"
"A wedding," she clarifies. "Do you want a real wedding?"
"I want whatever makes you happy, and I don't want Theresa to think I'm an asshole who's taken advantage of her gorgeous daughter," I smile.
She nuzzles under my chin and sighs like she's frustrated.
"Dude, you know you want this a little bit," I say. "I know some part of you wants to be a Bridezilla and start screaming about how 'this is your day' and shit."
She laughs and presses her forehead to my chest.
"Come on, Lo," I nudge her, "you want a real wedding, don't you?"
"Maybe a little," she mumbles like she's embarrassed.
"See!" I chuckle. "You don't have to be Little Miss Smart-Ass all the time. You can be girly and have a princess wedding if you want one."
"There's going to be so much bullshit, so much drama, James," she whines. "Your dad—Christ,
my
dad!"
"Don't worry about it, babe," I assure her. "It's like initiation. It's something we just have to do, like a rite of passage."
She snickers and I tilt her chin up so I can kiss her.
"So, let me get my laptop and we'll start looking up wedding stuff," I grin, scooting out of bed.
She throws her head back and makes this incredibly overdone grunt of frustration before she grabs the pillow and puts it over her face.
"Yeah, 'cause that's not completely overdramatic," I tease as I step out into the living room to get my MacBook Pro off the dining room table.
I come back in the room and pull the pillow off her face. She's pretending to be angry, but she's smiling and she sits up so she can see the screen.
I give her a quick glance and suddenly the monumental task of planning a wedding doesn't seem so bad. In fact, I kind of like the idea of seeing her in a white dress, maybe some flowers in her hair, standing with her in front of all our family members and exchanging vows. A normal wedding. Something normal people do. It could actually be kind of cool.
She looks up at me and smiles and I know that everything's going to be alright. We have each other. Just me and Lo, 'til death do us part.
"Ok, wedding stuff. Here we go..." I smile, opening up my browser.
###
First and foremost, I'd like to thank every single one of my readers and all the people who have rated my books on Smashwords, B&N, Amazon, Goodreads and elsewhere on the web. I'm absolutely delighted to see that people love James and Lola as much as I do. Rest assured, their story is far from over and I'm already jotting down ideas for the next book in the Vice & Virtue series.
I'd like to say a huge thank you to Erin and Ben for being subjected to my endless brainstorming and to my mom for reading through my early drafts—though they were the watered down, PG-13 versions.
This series began as a creative outlet for me to explore after an otherwise mundane workday and I never could have imagined that the words I typed on my MacBook Pro in my bedroom would go on to connect with people I'd never even met. Thank you all so much for reading!
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