#also your Gallagher looks amazing thank you for the feast

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Your Light in the Mist - Chapter 37

TITLE OF STORY: Your Light in the Mist CHAPTER NUMBER/TITLE/ONE SHOT: 37 AUTHOR: http://yourlightinthemist.tumblr.com/ WHICH TOM/CHARACTER: Actor Tom GENRE: Drama, Humor, Romance FIC SUMMARY: Maude Gallagher is a social media consultant to PR firms, speaking at a conference in Kaua’i, Hawaii. Tom Hiddleston is on Kaua’i as well, preparing to shoot Skull Island. After their paths cross, they can’t deny that there’s a connection between them that neither has felt before. Will they be able to reconcile their issues from the past and live the life they’ve longed for, or will everything they’ve worked to build crumble under the weight of it all? RATING: Explicit WARNINGS/TRIGGERS/AUTHORS NOTES: none FEEDBACK/COMMENTS: Thanks for reading!

Thanksgiving Day was spent at Kualoa Beach Park, both of us enjoying a feast of cold turkey sandwiches, cranberries, potato chips and chocolate cannolis while sitting on oversize towels with our toes buried in the warm, glittering sand. Sunday I was granted the immense pleasure of relaxing in a beach chair as Tom learned to surf at Kualoa Point. His instructor, Mark, had short blonde hair and a ridiculously dark tan, a tribal themed tattoo around one ankle, and the words Hau‘oli (happy) and Nalu (wave or surf) around the other. Tom learned rather quickly, which wasn’t unexpected considering he was good at every other fucking thing he tried, and the sight of him in a wetsuit provided me with yet another kink I’d never known I had. He and Mark pestered me to give the board a try, even if all I did was paddle out on my stomach, but I refused on grounds that I’d seen Jaws too many times, which made Tom’s eyes widen. After the lesson was over he revealed that he’d always been terrified of sharks for the same reason, but managed to keep the fear at bay unless he was the person furthest out from shore. A joint viewing of the film followed as soon as we got back to the cottage, complete with lots of clutching, squeaking, screeching, eye covering and thigh slapping.

When Tuesday arrived, it was back to business as usual…Tom filming, me working. Time seemed to have sped up inside the chaos of our lives, and suddenly December 18th arrived, bringing with it the Skull Island wrap party. Though I’d been invited, I insisted that Tom attend on his own, and he agreed with a single contingency…that I’d be present at the wrap party after shooting in Australia was completed. He had no clue, but I’d already been in touch with Brie and Jordan about that particular matter. The finish date would be close to Tom’s birthday, and the general opinion was that a surprise party was in order.

On the morning of the 19th we checked out of the cottage and relocated to Kauai, where we were spending the weekend at ‘our’ Marriott in order to meet with Melanie Hale. I’d spoken with her on the phone several times and had booked the Paddle Room and a beachfront spot for the ceremony, but hadn’t gone over any other details. As soon as we sat down and started a guest list, Tom and I realized that there was no way in hell that everyone could fit inside Talk Story, and we didn’t want anyone to feel left out, so we begrudgingly decided to have it all in one place that offered ample room. Or at least that’s what we were going to TELL everyone. The truth was that I’d asked Roger Marshal for permission to use the store after hours and tracked down a judge willing to come out at the ungodly hour of half-past midnight on the 29th and marry us at there…just the two of us, in private, exchanging our own vows in the exact spot where we’d met. Afterward, we’d head back to the hotel and do it all over again in a few hours, the same judge presiding over our second ceremony and pretending it was the first. He volunteered that it perhaps wasn’t the most becoming conduct for someone in his position, but he was a romantic at heart and said that ‘love should always take precedence over all else’.

Our room was on the main floor this go-round, and as soon as we set our bags down inside we turned back around and walked down the hall to the check-in desk hand in hand, stopping off to the side in order to be out of the way of other guests as we waited for Melanie. I had no idea what she looked like, but I had a feeling she’d recognize Tom with no problem whatsoever. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, my phone rang. I pulled it out of my pocket and looked at the screen…Trudy. It was noon in Hawaii, which meant it was ten PM in London, and on a Saturday, which told me it had to be in regard to something important.

“Hey, Trudy. What’s up? Everything okay?”

“Maude, I’m so sorry, I know you’re busy and that I’m supposed to be handling all this but Mark is being a huge wanker and is now telling me there is no way they’ll have the rest of the servers up and running by January 1st and I…”

I could hear the frustration in her voice, so extreme she was near tears. “Don’t give it another thought. You keep running tests on the server they have up, and I’ll call that asshole and set him straight. Okay?”

A sigh of relief. “Thank you. You’re the best. I’m sorry, again.”

“Totally cool. I’ll text or call you later. Go have some truffles. I hide them…”

She snorted. “I know where you hide them. How do you think I’ve been able to get all this done?”

We both laughed, I hit end call and searched for SecureServe in my contacts. Tom kissed my forehead as I hit call and then speaker, walking further towards the wall away from the desk. Mark picked up on the first ring.

“Maude, I know what you’re going to say but I…”

My ‘this bitch will cut you’ voice was in full effect. “Mark. Did you tell Trudy that you wouldn’t be able to have all the servers up in time for our launch?”

“Yes, because it’s just not possible…”

“And why is it not possible?”

“She didn’t get all the specs to me in time, I didn’t have the proper security settings and they’re SO strict and I need time to…”

“So you’re saying Trudy didn’t send you the specifications you needed?”

“Yes, exactly, it’s entirely her fault for not making me aware…”

“Mark, I want you to pause for a moment and really, really think about what you just said. Okay? Here.” I waited for five seconds. “Do you want to change anything? Last chance.”

“Change what? This is all on her…”

I looked back at Tom, rolled my eyes, then turned around and moved again, nearing ever closer to the wall. “Mark. All of the specifications for the project, including all of the security settings, down to the minutest detail, as in TO THE HUNDREDTH OF A DECIMAL POINT WHERE APPLICABLE DETAIL, were part of the contract you signed at the beginning of October. You initialed every pertinent paragraph. You signed the bottom of every page. Remember that? The contract? The one you signed? The one that very clearly states that if you breach it in any way or are unable to complete the project by January 1st 2016 you are liable for the funds you’ve been advanced as well as any damages incurred by my company as a result? DO YOU REMEMBER THAT CONTRACT? And, now you’re in a time crunch and you’re going to whine and point the blame at the person who’s done a good portion of your own work for you?”

There was nothing but silence on the line.

“And do you ALSO remember the clause that you initialed stating that if, at any time during the final 30 days of the contract, we weren’t satisfied with your performance or had a firm indication that you wouldn’t be able to complete the project by the deadline that we were free to terminate your ass and have the advance refunded to us? Probably not, right? Well, you’ll have lots of time to look it all over now. Because you’ve provided that firm indication and now you. Are. FIRED. I’ll be expecting payment in full within seven business days. If it’s not received, you’ll be hearing from my attorney.”

I hit end call, wondering if steam was pouring  out of my ears, took a deep breath and turned around…to see Tom standing four feet away with a lovely woman, blonde hair braided and twisted around her head, clad in a white floral-print tank dress, standing next to him. She was short, only five four or so, and her blue eyes were wide as she stared at me, speechless. Tom was grinning widely as he cleared his throat.

“Melanie, allow me to introduce you to Maude…”

I strode over, hand extended. “Well, I’m guessing you heard a good bit of that…please don’t be frightened. I promise not to go all Bridezilla on you. Really. I’m a relatively nice person. Most of the time. Probably. Anyway, lovely to finally meet you!”

She took my hand, shaking lightly, then letting go. “It’s lovely to meet you as well.” He voice was high, and slightly nasal. “If you need to reschedule…”

I shook my head. “Thank you, but it’s fine. That’s a multiple alarm fire…like six, maybe? I’d like to get the single-alarm one put out first, if that’s okay with you.”

Tom snorted. “Did you just compare planning our wedding to fighting a fire?”

Turning toward him, I patted his bicep, which was bulging against his white T-shirt. “Yes. Yes I did. Which probably made it totally obvious that I’m a nervous wreck about the whole shebang. Damn.”

He grabbed me, pulled me to his chest and planted a kiss on the top of my head. “You’re perfect and amazing, so by default the wedding will also be perfect and amazing…”

I wriggled away quickly, blushing in spite of my attempt at resistance. “Dude. Stop. Seriously.”

He roared, his laugh making people turn and gawk. When I turned my gaze to Melanie she was smirking, and decidedly more relaxed, lifting her hand and extending it toward the hallway on our right. “Shall we begin?”

Sighing, I shook my head again, feeling Tom’s fingers entwine with mine. “Sure thing. Pass me the extinguisher and let’s roll.”

****************************************

The Paddle Room was 3,150 square feet of open space, walls a muted deep yellow with native wood beams crossing the gable-style ceiling. Floor-to-ceiling windows covered the pool side of the space, with an exit door a third of the way in from the main entrance, allowing guests to move freely between both areas. The outdoor pool and patio added an extra 2,600 square feet, which we hoped would ease any congestion during the party hard and wander around phase of the reception. The Paddle Room was only designed to hold 230 guests, and we were pretty sure we might top that. Not because of my people, of course. Those I could count on the fingers of both hands. But Tom…that was an entirely different story, and by this point I’d either spoken to or corresponded with a good bunch of them so they were quickly becoming my people too, which was strangely, dare I say, delightful. Once they were all in a room together I wasn’t sure that feeling would remain, but there wouldlikely bea bathroom for me to hide in somewhere nearby until someone wondered where the bride had gotten off to and hunted me down.

Two tables had been set up in the center of the room, one round eight-top and one rectangular ten-top. The rectangular was a simple but sturdy-looking folding table, left bare, and the round was likely the same, but had been covered with a dark green base cloth, white topper, with dark green dishware atop silver chargers, dark green napkins, silver flatware, and silver vases with white roses in the center and a dark green ribbon tied in a bow around the center of the container. Melanie motioned to the rectangular table, upon which rested a laptop and several large binders.

“Is it all right if we sit and talk here? If you’d rather go somewhere more private, that’s fine…”

I turned to Tom to discuss his preference, only to find him pulling out chairs for Melanie and me. I sat, chuckling as he pushed me in.

“Looks like we’re good here, Melanie.”

She sat in the chair he’d pulled out across the table from me, and Tom came back around and folded himself into the seat on my right. I rooted in my bag for my tablet, where I’d stored all my notes to date.

“Okay, Maude and Tom. First things first…does this space meet your needs? Does it feel like the place you’d like to celebrate your union?”

Tom snorted, and I kicked him under the table. “If you think it’s large enough, I’m good.” I patted Tom’s hand. “You?”

He nodded. “I’m fine with celebrating our union anywhere, actually.”

It took all I had to not roll my eyes, hoping Melanie wouldn’t pick up on our inside joke. She was smirking again, and cleared her throat before proceeding.

“I believe it will accommodate your guests comfortably, as well as allow plenty of room for a dance floor and so forth. If you’re planning on a live band, we may want to use the rectangular tables, though.”

Tom held up a hand. “We’ve decided to opt for a DJ, and possibly karaoke, if that’s permissible.”

Melanie made a note on her pink legal pad. “Excellent, that’s certainly a space saver. Will you be bringing someone in?”

I shook my head. “Actually, we were hoping Sammy would be available that night.”

Her eyes grew wide again, mouth falling open, then closing quickly. “Wow. Really? That’s…that’s…wow. I’m not even going to check with him…he’s going to be available for this. Thank you. He’ll be over the moon, and karaoke is definitely allowed. Wow. Okay. Where were we? Right. So, when you booked this space, I took the liberty of reserving 100 guest rooms from the 26th through the 30th, just in case you found it easier for most to stay on the premises. I’ve also had our reservation specialists inform everyone booking for your week that the pool will be closed on the 29th, in order to provide you with maximum privacy. Speaking of which, we do have hotel security available but your own and that of your guests are welcome. We can coordinate a plan if need be, and I assure you we’ll do our best to keep the paparazzi off site. They may camp out down the beach, and we can’t control helicopters…”

Tom interrupted her. “No worries, Melanie, but thank you. I honestly can’t think of any guests that will arrive with anything more than a nanny or two in tow. And as far as the media is concerned, we don’t mind at all as long as they keep their distance. Maude’s taught me well…they’ll get their shots no matter what, and making it more difficult for them only makes things less pleasant for all involved. We’d rather just focus on enjoying the day, our guests, and each other.”

I grinned. “I almost have nothing else to add.” Tom laughed. “We’re not advertising the date publicly, but we’re aware that it will probably leak, and that’s just the deal. If we have any fans trying to crash, we’ll just give them some cake or something. But I don’t think it will be an issue, honestly. Tom’s fans are, so far as I’ve noticed, very respectful. And, we’re going to let everyone know that we’ll be posting pics and videos all over social media, so they’ll feel like they won’t be missing out. Except on the cake.”

Melanie laughed. “So you’ve chosen a cake already?”

My jaw dropped this time. “Oh god, no. I haven’t. Nope. I thought I was ahead of the game because we picked out a color scheme. Sorry…I’m like, totally new to this. The only reason I knew I needed a color scheme is because I’m maid of honor for our friends’ wedding at the end of the month and, wow, you want to see a Bridezilla you should meet Simon…”

She pushed an open binder across the table to us. “I assumed you’d already hired a wedding planner and just wanted to use the venue here…and you’re welcome to do that, but we do offer full service packages. Soup to nuts, everything included. Food, flowers, marriage license, all of it, if you’re interested.”

My head spun to the right, and Tom was staring back at me. I raised a brow, and he smiled. I turned back to Melanie. “Oh my GOD am I interested. Yes, please. Where do we sign?”

We went over all the paperwork, and I tried to not flinch at the initial total, which was more than I’d ever thought I’d spend on a single day, and all the custom stuff wasn’t even factored in yet. Two hundred thousand dollars, which, though it included all the guest rooms and meals for the duration of their stay, the planning of the event itself, a bachelor and bachelorette party if we wanted them and the rehearsal dinner, seemed over the top expensive to extremely frugal me.

I bit my lip and looked up at Melanie. “Would you mind giving us a few minutes to look this over, please?”

She nodded and rose from her chair. “Of course not. Take your time. Just text me when you’re ready. I’m going to go admire the pool.” She smiled, and headed outdoors.

Tom twisted himself around in his seat, slipping his arm around me, concern in his eyes. “Tell me what’s on your mind, love.”

I remained silent for a few moments, blinking, then rested my hand on his knee. “Dude, this is, like, a FORTUNE. And we haven’t done food or flowers or cake or dresses or décor yet…is this, like, typical? Are you okay with us spending this much money? We never talked about it and I just…”

His left brow rose, and I could tell he was carefully considering his choice of words. “Well, neither of us has done this sort of thing before, so I’m not sure if it’s typical…but then again, we’re a bit outside the norm as far as financial stability is concerned so perhaps typical isn’t applicable. That being said, I don’t care if it’s a thousand dollars or a million dollars, Maude. All that matters to me is taking our vows and exchanging rings and having you as my wife. But I do feel like it’s an occasion to celebrate heartily, because…”

He’d begun to tear up, brushing a knuckle under one eye in an attempt to contain the moisture. I stood and embraced him, holding his head to my chest. “Thank you. Nothing like a little perspective to clarify everything. I agree, we should make it exactly what we want. Buuuttt…is it cool if I call Simon and see if he’ll dish on how much they’re spending? Not necessary, but man, I am SO cheap…”

A laugh rumbled forth from him, tickling my ribs. “There are simply things that demand splurging. Even penny-pincher me knows that.”

“Yes, but you splurge on things like five-hundred dollar shoes and then wear them over and over until they fall apart, so that kind of makes sense…”

He released me and stood. “True. But, please do call Simon because curiosity has gotten the better of me…”

I snorted as I pulled my phone from my pocket, located Simon in my contacts and pressed call. “Shocking. And shit, it’s late there…but it’s Saturday, so they should still be up.”

He answered on the second ring. “You had best not be calling me to announce a delay in your return, Maude Gallagher, because I AM LOSING MY SHIT LIKE NEVER BEFORE AND I NEED YOU HERE.”

“Jesus. Have some wine or something. Where’s Luke? Hiding in the office again?”

“I HAD WINE. LUKE HAD WINE. WE HAD WINE. IT IS NOT HELPING. Christ. Sorry. This wedding insanity…you guys should totally elope. Really. Elope. SAVE YOURSELVES.”

“Hey, thanks for the warning, but we’re meeting with the wedding planner, like, right now, so day late, dollar short and all that. Which is why I’m calling, actually…she just gave us a price and I have serious sticker shock and I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind divulging how much you’ve spent. For comparative purposes.”

“Maude, you can’t really compare the two because you’re having a big fancy destination wedding and we’re just getting hitched here in London and aren’t paying for guest lodging, but so far, in US dollars, two hundred.”

“As in…two hundred thousand?”

He noted the incredulity in my voice. “Yes. Reserving the space alone for New Year’s Eve was eighty thousand. So, I think we’ve done pretty well…how much were you quoted? A million?  Two?”

“Um, no. Base price is same as yours.”

“What?! Are you fucking kidding me? That’s just for the space, right? Not with rooms?”

“No. That includes rooms. For four nights and three days.”

“Well, now I feel like I got royally fucked. Thanks. Some maid of honor YOU are.” He laughed. “Actually, I think we got a good deal. It’s New Year’s Eve so everything is pricey, and I know I overspent on a bunch of things, but this is an end all be all we’re only doing this one time event, so…but you, YOU are getting the BEST deal. Really. I’m going to go have more wine now, though. LOTS. OF. WINE. See you on Monday?”

“Yep. We should be home by around 9 PM, London time.”

“Good. I miss you, you bitch. The office is tres boring without you, and I’m finding the lack of snark to be DEEPLY disturbing. Good luck with everything. Love you. Tell the beautiful asshat I love him too.”

“Will do. Love you too. Give Luke a smooch from both of us.”

“I’m planning on giving him MANY smooches…”

“Okay then. Bye!”

I hit end call, and Tom held up his left hand, palm out. “No need to repeat any of it…I heard everything even with him OFF speaker.”

“Loud, drunken Simon is loud. And drunk.”

He embraced me again, meeting my gaze. “Feel better?”

“Yeah. One more thing before I text Melanie, though…are you okay with using a wedding planner? Like, you’re not disappointed that I’m not handling everything?”

“You’re joking.”

“Uh, no. You’re filming until spring and have no time for this, so it should be my responsibility and I’m pawning it off on someone else and it’s…”

“Maude. Shush. You’re working just as hard as I am, if not harder. And you just lost your server…thing…so now you have that to deal with and I’m THRILLED you want to use a wedding planner. I wanted to suggest giving it a try but…”

“But your fiancée is a total control freak and you didn’t want to piss her off?”

He chortled. “More like offend, but yes. That.”

“Probably a good call, my man. I’ll text Melanie. And, thank you. To be honest, I feel like this huge burden has been lifted from my shoulders and maybe I’ll actually enjoy the process now, though part of me is still all YOU FAIL AT LIFE, MAUDE…”

He kissed me, tongue caressing my lips before sliding inside my mouth, the retreating quickly, a huge grin spread across his gorgeous face. “I’m sorry, were you saying something?”

My head moved slowly from side to side. “Nope. Nothing. Texting now.”

Melanie rejoined us almost immediately, and though she did a rather excellent job of trying to mask her feelings, I could see the change in her demeanor and realized she thought we’d changed our minds. I sat back down at the table without saying a word, Tom followed, and we began signing all the required documents before she reached her own chair. When I finished the last one, I looked up at her, smiling.

“Okay, Melanie. The Gallagher-Hiddleston wedding is officially your fire now.”

She laughed loudly, then sobered. “Before we discuss your color scheme, which I’d like to do now if you have the time, I just want you both to know that I will do everything humanly possible to make your day perfect for you. My goal is to ensure that the process is as stress free as possible for you both, so you can focus on feeling nothing but happiness and joy. I’m so blessed and honored that you’ve entrusted me with your wedding celebration…it means…it’s just amazing. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.”

I hadn’t thought until that moment about the fact that one, she was a longtime fan of Tom and his work and two, a large ‘celebrity’ wedding could have enough of an impact on her career that she could break off from the hotel and work on her own, if she wished. Life is so strange that way…you’re just moving along and BOOM. The boom can be bad, or it can be good…I hoped this one would turn out to be nothing but good for her. And then I realized that I could do more than hope.

“Melanie, I don’t know if the hotel allows you to promote yourself, and even if you have to include them, but I’d like to make sure you’re given full credit for the work you do for us. Publicly.”

Tom reached under the table to grab hold of my hand, and Melanie blushed a very deep red, clearly flustered as she began to speak again.

“That…that would be…thank you. I can’t tell you how much I’d appreciate that, or how much it means to me. This isn’t the first celebrity wedding for me, but…it’s incredibly special, because, Tom…your work has brought me so much joy and I’ve met some great people online who feel the same way, and a few have become very close friends. Even if I can give a little of that back…well…”

He stood, walked around the table, and bent to hug her, the rose to his full height again after letting her go. “Melanie, thank you for your kind words. One of the best things about doing what I do is hearing that it brings people joy. That’s just…everything. An actor is nothing without an audience for the work. Again, thank you.”

He came back around to sit next to me again, and I was afraid the poor woman was going to pass out. The corners of her mouth turned up in a smile, she took a deep breath, placed her hands palm down on the table, then continued.

“Well, I’m not even going to pretend I’ve recovered from that, so instead I’m going to look at this as if it’s my chance to illustrate my ability to retain my professionalism under any circumstances. So, Maude…your color scheme, then?”

We all laughed, and I pulled it up on my tablet. “We’re going with white, a light neon-esque green, medium lilac-y purple and silver.”

She examined it, nodding, then looked up at me. “The bridesmaids…which color have you chosen for their dresses?”

Pondering, I pictured Simon in a suit of everything but white. “The purple.”

“Okay, good. Men in black tuxes?”

“Yes. With purple vests and silver pocket squares. And orchid boutonnieres. The flower, not the color. Well, they ARE sort of that color, the purple orchids I found online…”

She chuckled. “See, you’ve got much more than a color scheme done.”

My eyes rose skyward briefly. “You’re right. I do. I can see what I want the room to look like, actually.”

Pen in hand poised over the pink pad, she grinned. “Give me the details and I’ll make it happen.”

I turned to Tom, who was grinning like the Cheshire cat. “If you don’t like something or want something different, feel free to chime in.” He kissed my cheek and I continued. “Round tables are a must. Silver fabric as the base cloth…and a subtle, satiny silver, not lame. On top of that white cloth, with a purple square in the center of that.” The round table next to us had three different chairs, one oval backed and padded with a metal frame, a bamboo-ish styled rectangular style, and another which I assumed to be the oval type but slip-covered. “Purple slip-covers tied back with green fabric. No bows, please. The bridal party table will have to be different, though, so let’s do a white base cloth, silver on top, green center square, and green slip-covers tied back with purple.”

“Maude, that’s…I love it. The bridal party table…do you want that round or rectangular, with all of you on one side?”

Tom cleared his throat. “I’d like to be able to chat easily, though I can’t imagine we’ll be sitting down for very long.” He rested a hand on my shoulder and I swiveled to meet his gaze. “Is round all right with you?”

I nodded. “That was my first choice. So, yep.”

Melanie scribbled for a few more seconds. “Excellent. How about centerpieces?”

Shrugging, I raised both hands, palms up. “I don’t really want it to be flowergeddon, and I want at least one thing other than the location to be kind of tropical so I was thinking…orchids there too? I saw some really cool LED light containers online with orchids inside the cylinder, and I love them, but it feels like one alone on a table wouldn’t cut it. I haven’t been able to come up with anything else…”

Tom’s hand slammed down on the table, scaring the living shit out of both me and Melanie. He snickered. “Sorry about that. I’ve got an idea…since we met at Talk Story how about books as a component of the centerpiece? Maybe a circle of them around the LED cylinders, and that would have to be elevated a bit, and we’d put them spine out…”

I slapped his bicep. “Oh my god, that is fucking GENIUS right there. I love it. High five, babe.” As he granted my request, I realized I’d said fuck. “Whoops, sorry, Melanie.”

“No worries. Feel free to be yourselves around me, both of you. I’ve been known to swear like a sailor myself…”

I snorted. “You and I are going to get along just fine then. Just. Fine.”

We all laughed, then decided upon silver flatware, silver chargers, white plates with a silver art-deco pattern along the edges, and napkins to match the seat covers. Glassware would be simple with no embellishments. Melanie finished her notes, then rose from her chair. We followed suit.

“Well, that was some excellent progress. And Maude, going forward, all you need to do is phone or email with ideas, options or changes and I’ll take care of everything. Whatever you need, I’ll handle it and make sure it’s done on time and done right. So relax, focus on the fun parts, and let me do the work. The fire, as far as you’re concerned, is OUT. All right?”

Though not typically in the habit of hugging strangers, I felt compelled to give her a quick squeeze. “Thank you, Melanie. I appreciate you taking this on. So much.”

“You’re welcome. One more thing before you go, though…I have you booked for beachfront, but did you want the ceremony right on the sand or just above the beach overlooking it and the ocean? Let’s take a little walk so you have a better perspective.”

We descended to the water’s edge, stood in the sand, and Tom and I stared at each other, the ocean roaring in our ears. If our actual ceremony wasn’t being held at Talk Story, we both would have wanted it to be right there, barefoot, our toes in the sand. But since it WAS taking place elsewhere and this one would be just for show, we figured it would be more comfortable for all our guests if we set up shop on the lawn overlooking the water. The grass was perfectly green, the view spectacular, and there would be no worries about sand in shoes or…wherever. An arbor would be set up cliff side, draped in our colors with orchids on each post, and the guests would sit in white wooden folding chairs, facing the arbor and ocean. Melanie had shown us file footage, and I could picture it all, me walking to Tom past the crowd, and I panicked briefly, but was then overwhelmed by happiness when I paused to consider that HOLY FUCK WE WERE GETTING MARRIED. I grabbed Tom by the T-shirt.

“I’m so busy that I forget that this is happening, you know? Like, dude, we’re getting MARRIED.”

He laughed gleefully, pulled me to his chest, then picked me up and spun me around. “I KNOW! I’m uncontrollably EXCITED!”

“Really? You? Excited? Get me a blanket because I think I’m in SHOCK.”

As he set me down I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Melanie had her phone up and pointed towards us.

“Sorry, you two…didn’t mean to intrude…I was getting ready to ask if I could snap a quick picture for the files and then…THAT happened. I’ll email it to you.”

Tom ran over to hug her. “Thank you, for all of this. Again. And for capturing that moment.” He released her, then waved me over, standing in the middle, slipping his left arm around my waist and snatching Melanie’s phone with his right hand, extending that arm way, way out. The man was built for taking selfies. “Here, let’s all be in it.”

Five shots later we said our goodbyes, then headed back to our room to change. A few more hours on the beach, dinner, sleep, and then it was off to the airport to begin our journey, Hawaii to LA then on to London. Home.