Page 7 of Love at Teamsgiving
His eyes get swirly as he stares at the massive roll and says, “Come to Daddy.”
I watch like I’m in the Sahara on safari or the urban jungle as a wild animal takes a big bite of the confection.
Playing at my level involves sacrifice and one of them is watching what I eat. Then again, I’m not big on sweets. Give me pasta carbonara or carne asada and I’m a happy camper.
Shane says, “I’d better eat this on the way; otherwise, we’ll be late.” When I don’t move, Shane must notice my consternation because he adds, “This is literally the only thing that gets me through those shifts. Please don’t mention it to Erica because she has me on a diet for our wedding day. Wants to make sure I fit into my tux.”
Shane is a husky guy, but I don’t think he should be keeping anything from his wife, not even a cinnamon roll.
While we wait for the traffic light to change so we can cross to the next block, I say, “Dude, you have to tell her.”
He winces. “It’s not that big a deal. I only get these babies once, twice, maybe four times a week.”
“Dude,” I chide. “She’s going to be your wife. You can’t keep your overnight shift coping mechanism a secret.”
He sighs. “Any other wedded bliss pieces of wisdom you’d like to share?”
I snort. “We both know I didn’t make it to the finish line. Missed that goal.”
“What happened anyway?” he asks.
I let out a long sigh, rarely having told anyone the full story, but I will as a cautionary tale of whatnotto do, as his own nuptials are only a couple of months away. “I made a bad choice.”
“Like a cinnamon bun bad choice or?—?”
“Worse.”
Gauging the distance between where we are, how long it’ll take Shane to finish the monster cinnamon bun, and the bakerywhere we’re meeting Erica, I tell a slightly condensed version of the wedding that wasn’t.
“Juniper and I were on track. Everything was cinnamon and sugar plums. But as usual, Junie’s mom and mine were fighting over something. The pair are frenemies, real rivals. Always trying to one-up each other with recipes and everything that exists between Italy and this side of the Atlantic. Of course, they involved themselves in planning the wedding. Every day, there was a new disagreement. Seating arrangements. The mix and mingle. Whether to have a flower girl, ring bearer, or both. It was a real Momzilla and Queen Kong situation.”
Shane nearly chokes on his cinnamon bun with laughter.
“Trust me, it wasn’t funny. It turned into a big family thing and became a battle royale. In the end, Junie and I sided with our respective families.”
“Not each other?” Shane asks as if that was the obvious thing to do.
Waiting for another walk signal, I look at the ground. “They were being ridiculous and instead of coming together, we ...”
My heart aches when I remember our final exchange. It went along the lines of me saying that when we got married, I wasn’t going to blindly side with her on everything. She told me that if I can’t be in her corner, I don’t belong on the altar. It turned into a fight about how I never agreed with her on anything. I fired back, pointing out how she’s always telling me I’m wrong.
I continue, “I tried to salvage things by saying that we’ll figure things out as we go. She asked a question about banking. I had my way. The obvious way. She had another. Then the argument devolved. We took low blows.”
“Never fight when angry ... or hungry.”
My brow furrows. “Is there another way to fight?”
“After you’ve taken time to calm down.”
I shrug. “Never thought of that.”
“You can thank the pre-marital counselor.”
“Anyway, Junie is fiery. I’m me. It wasn’t the first time we’d argued. But I didn’t realize it would be the last.”
I tell Shane that when the wedding venue canceled the next week, we took it as a sign. Junie made a grand exit. I let her go while wearing a scowl on my face that dared her to look back. She didn’t. I moved on. Mostly. Sort of. Not really. No one has ever compared to her. Not even close. The press and social media fans and haters alike know that I’ve tried to find a replacement, which might have something to do with my being traded among the teams. I’ve been told that I bring too much drama with me.Pshaw.
Shane says, “That’s some sound advice.”
