Stephanie spent most of Saturday at home. She had drafted about ten different text messages to Kevin, and deleted every single one of them without sending. Denise met her for dinner at a pub, and could tell right away that something was wrong.
"OK, what happened?"
"Nothing."
"Don't lie to me. You look slightly better than death warmed over. And that's being nice about it." Denise peered at her, "Is it David again? Did he do something else?"
"No. Well, yes, he did text me asking if I got home okay, but that's not it." She gulped down some of her water before continuing. "It wasn't exactly a fight, but I kinda fought with Kevin last night."
"What? Why? Did he try something on you?"
"No, nothing like that. We just said some things to each other that weren't super nice. He implied I was pretending at Com-Expo, so... I implied he was narrowminded."
"Stephanie..." Denise's voice was full of pity.
"And I called him 100% nerd. But I know he's not!" She put her head in her hands on the table, "but he said I was faking, and that was so uncool. I lashed out. I haven't heard from him all day."
Denise sighed. "Did you text him to tell him that?"
"No. I tried, but I just don't know what to say. It's so awkward now. He probably hates me. I would. I don't deserve him."
"I think you're making assumptions." Stephanie shrugged, so Denise continued, "well, I'm not going to tell you what to do, but I'm not letting you turn our fun dinner into a pity party for yourself. Have faith in him. Have faith in yourself. But it's wine time now!" Denise got the attention of the waiter, and they moved away from any discussion about men.
*
For the next week, all Stephanie did was work. She had been assigned to a last-minute wedding. The bride was completely scrambling, and Stephanie was doing everything possible to help her complete her vision.
The original venue had burned down exactly one month before the wedding, and everyone was in a panic to get everything rescheduled for the same date and city. The happy couple lived on the west coast, and most of the guests were out of town as well, so no travel plans could be changed so late. Stephanie was on the hunt for a new venue with very last-minute availability, as the bride would not even be in town until the week before the wedding.
Stephanie used nearly every connection she had ever formed to get everything ready in three weeks. The original venue planned to supply nearly all of the table settings, linen, and décor, which meant the list of vendors to be replaced was nearly four times longer than what the bride had originally hired on her own.
Due to the differing time zones, she could only conference with the bride in the evenings. During their most recent chat, the bride had informed Stephanie that she also wanted her to be the day of coordinator.
Unfortunately for Stephanie, the wedding was the day of the Spellmasters premier, but her boss told her in no uncertain terms, that she absolutely had to be at the wedding. The groom's father was a personal friend, and the bride's family was willing to pay well above the quoted price for wedding services to make it all come together. It would be a huge bump for the company's profits, and Stephanie was specifically promised a large bonus for it.
With two weeks to go to the wedding, Stephanie finally found a new venue that would accommodate the guest list and suit the bride's dream, and was well on her way to hiring all the rentals. With the biggest stress off her shoulders, Stephanie needed a distraction from the long hours and once again found herself opening MatchedUp. She had not heard anything from Kevin, and wanted to get him off her mind.
When David's profile popped up, she wasted no time in blocking him. He had continued to text, email, and call her, and she stopped responding at all when she realized he was completely ignoring her requests that he stop contacting her. She didn't know how else to affirm that she was not interested. She went ahead and blocked his phone number and email address in her contacts as well, effectively marking all future communications from him as spam, and going straight to her junk folders.
She matched with a man named Blaine, and they met for dinner on Thursday night. His profile was promising; he was 28 years old, tall, athletic build, with dark hair and piercing blue eyes. When they met at the restaurant, Stephanie felt her heart start to race. He was quite possibly the most handsome man she had ever met.
He was also the perfect gentleman; he pulled out her chair for her when they were seated, had perfect table manners, asked questions about Stephanie's work, and actually seemed interested in what she had to say. He was in sales, and his work took him on the road a lot. He came from a large and close-knit family, and talked to his Mom everyday.
They walked down to the water after dinner, and sat near the end of the pier, chatting and watching the boats move in and out of the harbour. When they finally got up, he took her hand and pulled her towards him, gazed deep into her eyes and whispered "I really want to kiss you."
Unable to look away, she nodded, and any nerves that she felt as he lowered his head down to hers vanished as soon as their lips touched. It was one of the greatest kisses she'd ever had, and then just as quickly as it started, it was all over.
They broke apart smiling, and headed back towards the restaurant to get their cars.
When they finally reached her Honda parked on the street, Blaine walked her to the driver's side door, and then looked serious.
"So, I have to go out of town for about a month. I'm on a training course in Texas for some new products. I had a really great time tonight, maybe we can do something again when I get back? I really would like to see you again."
Stephanie felt herself blush. "I did too. That'd be great." He bent down and kissed her on the cheek, and turned to open the car door for her. Once she was seated and started the car, he closed the door gently and stepped back, watching her car drive away until it disappeared around the corner.
*
As much as she liked Blaine, she wouldn't limit herself or her prospects completely during the month he was gone. They kept in touch, but they hadn't claimed exclusivity yet, and she went on a few other dates which promptly dashed her positive attitude towards dating once again. Everyone else seemed to pale in comparison to Blaine or Kevin.
She met Taylor for a late afternoon drink on Saturday, but refused to extend their meeting to dinner. He was in sports marketing, and only spoke about professional teams and athletes. Stephanie loved sports, but not in the same way he did, and conversation was tedious.
On Tuesday night, Stephanie was out again, but she could hardly wait for the dinner to end. His name was Joe, and trouble started as soon as they met. Joe looked nothing like his picture. He was rude to their waitress, and would only boast about himself or make offhand racist remarks that had Stephanie's shoulders inching towards her ears.
Not able to bear the thought of spending a minute longer with him, Stephanie ate as fast as she could to get out of there. She faked stomach pains twice and rushed off to the bathroom both times before he asked for the bill. Stephanie offered to pay, but he waved her off, hinting at another form of dessert they could enjoy together. Desperate times call for desperate measures. To his shock and horror, she immediately complained of an unexpectedly violent visit from Mother Nature, threw a twenty dollar bill on the table between them, and rushed out of the restaurant. She made no promises to see him again, and figured her little red lie was enough to keep him away for good.
After that, Stephanie swore off all dating until the wedding was over. The bride was arriving the next day, and they had their first face to face meeting planned. Stephanie prayed that the bride would be happy with everything she had done so far, and there would be no more surprises.
Denise brought Chinese food over for dinner, and together they set about the task of figuring out what she should wear to the wedding. If she was a regular guest, she would wear a dress, but since she was working the wedding, she thought pants might be better.
"So, what about Kevin?" Denise noticed that Stephanie had absolutely avoided mentioning his name for a few weeks, and Stephanie's expression darkened.
"What about him? I haven't heard from him at all."
"So, three weeks of complete radio silence? Has he been on the train?"
"Not that I've seen. But my hours have been crazy recently, so that might be my fault."
"Weird."
"Oh well. I just need to survive this wedding first. This might actually be the craziest event I've ever had to plan."
"I'm still mad you aren't coming to the Spellmasters premiere with us." Denise whined dramatically and Stephanie laughed.
"Well, my boss promised me a bonus for this, and they are paying a premium. So, I do the wedding, and then I'll go ASAP."
"Yeah, but we've always gone together." Denise wore a pout so wounded it could break the resolve of anyone except her best friend.
"Then wait and come with me instead!"
Denise dropped the façade. "Nah, I'm going to the premier. Maybe I'll go twice if you can convince me."
"I'll figure something out. After we figure out what top I'm going to wear to this wedding!" Stephanie got up from the table and headed to her bedroom closet.
*
The wedding was mayhem. Thunder storms started in the morning and continued right through dinner, and the bride and groom had planned all their photos to be outside.
Not to be deterred by a bit of rain (they were from Vancouver after all), and with a photographer wanting to try a new style of portrait with them, Stephanie was sent out at 10:00am to search for a set of perfectly clear umbrellas. The bridal party were still in hair and makeup, but Stephanie had to deliver the umbrellas and lunch to them by 11:45am. She considered it her first miracle of the day that she actually managed to find some.
Her second miracle of the day came when the freezer broke. Dinner service was nearly over, but the dessert was a baked Alaska confection that absolutely had to stay frozen until service. At the ninth hour, Stephanie managed to find ten coolers and twenty bags of ice, and the bride was never the wiser.
Stephanie, on the other hand, felt as if she had aged 20 years overnight, and was aching from head to toe. She spent the following day in bed, her only concern was figuring out when she was going to see Spellmasters. Nothing else mattered.