Page 77 of Save the Date

“I’ve seen some bad pictures. And I think I knew Grandma planned it all,” Emma offered.

“See,” Debbie declared as though she had just officially won a presidential debate. “I’m not saying anything we haven’t both said for almost forty years.”

“I never said I hated our wedding,” Alan said standing up from the table. “But I’m sorry you feel that way.”

“Where are you going?” Debbie asked, confused.

“For a walk.”

“Here?”

“Yes.”

“Are we just supposed to wait for you?”

“No, I’ll find my way home,” Alan replied confidently.

As he took off down the street, Debbie looked panicked. “He doesn’t even know where he is.”

“He has his phone,” Jackie said. “He can call an Uber or something.”

“Your father doesn’t know how to do that. He’s going to end up lying on the sidewalk dead from dehydration.”

“Then maybe you should go after him?” Emma suggested gently, only for Debbie to sit back in her chair and cross her arms defiantly.

“If he wants to throw a temper tantrum, I’ll let him.”

Oh lovely, Emma thought. Things were even worse than she’d feared.

***

“The oven’s on fire!” Emma shouted as flames sprung up from the sheet pan inside. “I told you I didn’t know how to cook!”

Matt, who had been working on the couch, ran over to confirm that the oven was in fact on fire. “Oh shit!”

“I’m so sorry! I don’t know what happened.”

“It’s okay. Let me get the extinguisher.” Matt reached into the high cabinet over the fridge and extracted a never-been-used extinguisher still wrapped in its packaging. He struggled to open it.

“Can you get the scissors?”

“No,” Emma sobbed. “I don’t know where they are!”

“It’s okay,” Matt said as he managed to pat her shoulder while grabbing a steak knife to expertly tear through the plastic packaging. He then put the fire out with a large spray of whatever is in fire extinguishers.

Emma felt her heart start to slow down. She wrapped her arms around Matt in gratitude. “I can’t be trusted to prepare hot food. I tried to warn you,” she mumbled into his chest. She was both embarrassed and annoyed that her first attempt at oven-fried fish had literally gone up in smoke.

Emma had arrived at Matt’s place expecting to order in like they normally did, only to find a batch of fresh groceries and a hand-written recipe waiting for her. Matt explained his mom had sent the recipe for her famous fish fry and he’dhad groceries delivered from Whole Foods so Emma could make it for them while he finished a report for work. Emma tried to convince Matt that she was hopeless in the kitchen but he wouldn’t listen. Apparently Kelly had once said that his mom’s recipes were “idiotproof” so she had nothing to worry about.

But now the kitchen was on fire, which didn’t bode well for Emma’s intelligence.

“Please don’t tell your mom about this,” Emma pleaded as Matt attempted to take the still-smoking sheet pan out of the oven. “We can just tell her it was so good we forgot to get a photo.”

“We don’t need to lie to my mom—hold on.” Matt held up a long rectangle-shaped box. “Did you put the fish on wax paper?”

“Yes…”

Matt laughed as Emma waited for him to explain the joke. “Wax paper is flammable. You have to use parchment paper in the oven.”

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