Page 101 of For All It's Worth
Charlie: Max and I are getting married today at city hall. 4 pm. We would love it if you could join us.
I sent the message to the family chat that Alex, his girlfriend Sarah, Will, Andy, Mom, and Matty were part of. Then sent it to Henry, his sister Holly, and Heather from the café.
“Do you want me to message Kristen or do you want to call her? I told Heather, but I’m not sure who else out of the staff you’d want to be there.”
Max popped his head out of the closet. “I’ll offer to close Books & Biscuits early and they can all come if they want. The ones that need the hours can stay and close if there is a supervisor available.”
“Reid’s been going on about needing hours, so he’ll probably stay.”
Reid was someone that we’d found by chance and he fit in perfectly. He rented the one-bedroom above my photography studio for a reduced rate and took classes at the local university around his shifts at Books & Biscuits.
“I’ll head down and talk to everyone. Kristen is down there now.” He came over and gave me a sweet kiss and a grin. “Can’t believe we’re getting married.”
I grabbed his hand to stop him from leaving. “Do you wish we’d done this before? Do you need a proper wedding? Because I’ll give you anything you want. It doesn’t have to be today.”
He cupped my face and said quietly, “No, it’s perfect this way. We don’t need this, so it isn’t a big deal. We already know we’re forever. You make me happy every day and I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
Max disappeared downstairs as I noticed my phone was buzzing and buzzing on the bed next to me. There were at least a dozen notifications.
Andy: We’ll be there!
Sarah: Us too
Mom: Call me
Matty: Mom is freaking, call her. I’ll be there
Henry: Finally. See you at 4
Holly: Trying to get a shift change. Will try to be there.
Heather: I’ll be there. Congrats!
My heart warmed at the responses and I took a second to bask in the happy feeling before calling my mom.
“Hey, Mom.”
Max
I felt like I was going to vibrate out of my skin, I was so excited to get married. It was stupid to be so worked up about it, but I couldn’t help it. I’d been perfectly happy with not getting married, it wasn’t how I’d seen my future, but now that it was happening, I couldn’t imagine a future where Charlie and I hadn’t tied the knot.
Quickly closing the doors to both the bookstore and the café, turning the signs to closed, I gathered the staff and told them our news.
“Congratulations, Max!” Kristen said amid other congratulations, as she pulled me into a fierce hug. “I’ll go call Rachele and see if she can get out of work. I’ll need to change my clothes!”
“Go home. You have three hours to make yourself more beautiful and meet us there.”
Kristen kissed my cheek and went to get her things.
I talked to each staff member in turn. Some hadn’t been with us long, like Reid, which was one of the downsides of hiring students, so a few were happy to stay on until close.
“Reid, will you be okay locking everything up?”
He looked worried for a second. “Um, yes? I’ve done it before so it should be fine.”
“Call if you have any problems, okay? You can come meet us after work if you want.”
