Page 88 of Doing It for Love

Dress Hurdle…well, I finally gave up onthedress. It was enough to drive me to The Cheesecake Factory with my last ten bucks where I received a phone call from Satan my future mother-in-law to inform me that they’re coming in for Christmas.

Cue in-law Hurdle.

My mom and dad are already in New York and staying until the wedding, which means Landon and I need to stand united on the in-law warpath, but the closer the wedding date comes, the farther we drift apart, only half-murmuring “love you”s whenever we see each other. It makes me wonder if he’s just as terrified as I am that we’ll be husband and wife in less than a month.

Cue the biggest Hurdle…don’t be scared of forever being the vegetables of lovemaking. Because after we were raisin bran, we went right back to peas and carrots. It’s inevitable.

After I got off the phone with Landon’s mom, Theresa ordered me another piece of double raspberry, (enabler!), but I ended up staring at it with this weird eye twitch and so we packed it up and it’s been sitting in my fridge.

Speaking of our fridge, it was practically empty. And unless my family wants to have a box of baking soda and that teeny slice of cheesecake for Christmas dinner, I have to do something I know will piss Landon off.

I have to ask for help.

I don’t want to be a mooch. I get his mind-set when it comes to asking for help, but he has to understand where I’m coming from. All I want to do is ask Mom if she’d be willing to take some of the wedding money and put it into Christmas dinner. Landon and I have stretched the honeymoon fund to its limit. I have exactly enough for two plane tickets and a hotel for two nights. It’s not the longest honeymoon in the world, but it’s something. And if I use any more, we’ll be celebrating our marriage on our couch.

I take a deep breath before knocking on our guest room door. Mom and Dad are noisy houseguests, so I have to knock a few times before the chatter stops and Dad finally opens up.

“Oh, we weren’t expecting company,” he jokes, pretending to straighten his nonexistent hair. “Please, please, come in, but excuse the mess.”

“Is the lady of the house in? I need to discuss an important matter with her.” I play along as Dad shoves the loose underwear under the bed. I try not to cringe, opting for looking at Mom paint her nails red and green. ’Tis the season and all.

“Madam Fanning. A charming young woman requests your presence in the dining hall.” Dad gestures to the card table you can see peeking down the hallway. Mom rolls her eyes at the both of us when I curtsy, and he kisses my hand. She blows on her nails as we make our way to the “dining hall.”

“So…how much money is in the wedding budget?” No point in beating around the bush.

“Well, with the cost of your dress lowering, we have an extra few hundred. I was going to use it to cover the flowers, since Landon’s mother wasn’t too keen on helping with those.”

“Youtalked to Landon’s mom?” I thought Landon said he’d do it…

Mom nods, continuing to blow across her freshly painted nails. “They’ll take care of the groom’s attire.”

“So his tux.”

She nods again.

“Mom…why didn’t you say anything?”

“I didn’t want you to worry about it.”

Now I feel like utter shit. I slump my shoulders and rest my chin in my palm. So much for a Christmas dinner. It’ll be Top Ramen Thanksgiving all over again.

“What was that?” Mom asks, pausing her nail drying.

“Nothing.”

“No…Elizabeth, you said something.”

I huff out a breath and repeat the thought that must’ve escaped my mouth. “I don’t have any food for dinner tomorrow night, and Landon’s family is coming in. I was just hoping…but it’s okay. I’ll figure something out.”Bye-bye honeymoon money.

Mom plucks up my chin, being careful not to ruin her nails. “Let’s go get a turkey.”

“Mom…”

“It’s a compromise. I’ll buy, you cook.”

“I’ll probably poison everyone.”

“I’ll supervise.”

---