"Baby, I think we should talk about our wedding," Kris said the next day. We'd woken up around the same time and after a cup of coffee and the morning news we'd settled down in the living room together. I smiled.
"Sure, Kris, what do you want to talk about?" I asked.
"Well�when is it going to be? We decided that we were going to do the hotel thing with a minister, so we don't have to be engaged for a set amount of time, but we've got to have at least a rough estimate." I shrugged.
"Okay. When do you want to get married?" She thought about it. "It really doesn't matter to me. Don't make it in March, though, because we've already got three birthdays to take care of in March and I'll just get confused." She smiled.
"You get confused already," she said. "And one of those is your birthday too. How about February, then? That gives us�nine months. That's plenty of time to plan everything."
"February works for me. When in February?"
"Well it's got to be a Saturday, because who doesn't get married on a Saturday?" She got up and found a calendar. Flipping through it, she came across the Saturdays in February. "How about the twelfth?"
"The twelfth of February�that's awfully close to Valentine's Day. Do you think we'll be able to rent out a hotel on Valentine's weekend?"
"Well, if we find out which hotel we want, say, within the next few days, then yeah, maybe. I might not be able to, but you can."
"Why me?" She gave me a look.
"Think about it. 'Hi, my name is Taylor Hanson, can I get married in your hotel on February 12th?' 'Sure, Mr. Hanson, although it's booked, we'll clear it out because it's you.' "
"They're not going to clear any bookings out for me," I said. She snorted.
"You don't think so? This place gets to say 'Taylor Hanson got married here,' meaning Isaac would be there, and Zac would be there, and Zac would bring Ginger, who's just as popular now as you guys are�Do you know how good that is for business?" I shook my head.
"How popular do you think I am?"
"More popular than you think you are, obviously," she said. "Come on, baby, you haven't done anything in a while and people still love you! Don't ever forget that." I rolled my eyes. "Anyway, so we're getting married on February the twelfth�" Her face lit up with a big smile.
"Where do you want to get married?" I asked.
"I don't know," she said, "I mean I'd have to do some wicked searching through hotels and stuff�"
"No, I mean, what city?" I asked. "I mean, we could get married here but your family's in Tampa, so we could get married there, and my family's in Tulsa, so we could even get married there."
"You know, I never thought about that," she said.
"I mean we could go wherever you want, babe, it doesn't necessarily matter to me." She looked at me.
"You know this isn't just my wedding," she said. "You're getting married too. It isn't always about what I want." I shrugged.
"I just want you to be happy, honey."
"But I want you to be happy too." I sighed. "Baby?" I looked over. "Do you want to get married in Tulsa?"
"You know what?" I asked. "No. I want to get married in Tampa."
"Tampa? Are you sure?" I nodded. "Why?"
"Well of all the places I've lived, Tampa was the best and it's where your family is. It would be more convenient. My family is used to traveling places. As much as you may think this is my wedding too, it's all about you, babe." She smiled. "I love you, baby." She walked back over to me.
"I know. I am just the perfect woman." I pulled her down on my lap.
"Yes you are." I kissed her. "So, in nine months we'll be married. You know, if you were�"
"Don't say it. I know what you're going to say."
"Oh, why not?"
"You might jinx it! We're going to wait until after we're married to have kids, remember? And anyway, I might end up being overdue and there's no way in hell I'm going to get married with my stomach out to here and have a chance I might go into labor during my wedding."
"All right, whatever�so anyway you better get cracking on finding a nice place for us to get married."
"Me?" Kris asked. "I have a million and one things to do! You find the hotel!"
"Okay�"
"Good. Pick, like, three or four places and we'll compare." She kissed me. "Thanks, baby."
"And what are you going to be doing while I'm getting a place for us?"
"Well," she said, "there's the guest list, the invitations, my dress, my bridesmaids' dresses, decorations, the photographer, the vows, gift registry�everything! We've got quite a bit of work ahead of us, honey, and Ginger's almost finished with her book so you know what that means."
"Do you think it'll be released before we get married?" I asked.
"You never know," Kris said. "She might finish it tomorrow, and the publisher might like everything about it and it'll be out before we're married. But that's very unlikely and Ginger would make sure it wouldn't interfere with us. I mean she might be on tour, but she won't take me with her and she'll stay in the country and stuff. Don't worry about it."
"You better tell her about this before she makes any plans, though."
"Well I'll do that right now. You get cracking on that hotel." She got up. "Oh, there's my notebook." She picked up her notebook that was lying on the table with her pencil. "I have an idea of how I want to decorate the hall, but I'll have to see it first to plan anything specific." She opened her notebook and flipped to a new page. "�Baby?"
"Wassup?" I asked. She smiled.
"Don't ever say that again," she said. "What's this?" She showed me the page I wrote on last night.
"Oh, I was just doing a little writing," I said, reaching out for the notebook. She turned away and looked at it.
"Writing, eh? What were you writing?"
"Just some lyrics. Give it to me."
"No!" I got up but Kris ran away, clutching her notebook to her chest. I ran after her and tackled her near the front room. She held the notebook away but me, being much taller, could reach it easily. I grabbed it but she bit me.
"Ow! No biting!"
"Get off of me!"
"No! Give me that notebook!"
"No!"
"Are we interrupting something?" Ginger asked. Kris and I looked up. Zac and Ginger were standing in the doorway; Zac still had his hand on the doorknob. They were both very confused. I sat up.
"Kris won't give me her notebook."
"I'm sorry," Zac said. "Are we in second grade again? I must have missed the memo."
"Shut up." Kris got up and ran away. "No! Come back here! That's a first draft and it doesn't even rhyme!" I ran after her. I caught her again in the bedroom and pushed her down onto the bed.
"Taylor! Let me go!"
"Give me that!"
"I don't understand why you won't let me read it, baby. It's better than anything I could ever write."
"Yeah, but it's not done yet. I haven't written anything in a long time and you've heard better stuff."
"Well I want to read it anyway. Why the hell would you write it in on my notebook if you didn't want me to see it?"
"Ugh," I said. "Fine." I got up and left. Kris sat up on the bed to read it. Zac and Ginger had settled in the living room with the TV on. "Zac, don't you have to go to work?" I asked.
"Not for another few minutes," he said. "So what was that about?"
"Just a little friendly sparring," I said, sitting down. "And I needed an excuse to tackle her." He nodded.
"Ah, I see."
"Oh, by the way, Kris and I settled�"
"No!" Kris said, running into the room. "I wanna say it, I wanna say it."
"Or Kris will say it." Kris put her arms around me from behind.
"We have a date for the wedding," she said. She kissed my cheek. "We decided on February 12th."
"February?" Ginger asked. "That seems so long from now."
"It's only nine months," Kris said. "And we need all the time we can get because this is going to be a hell of wedding."
"Do you know where you're having it yet?" Zac asked.
"Well, we know it'll be in Tampa," Kris said. "But we don't have a place yet. Taylor's supposed to be looking for hotels instead of throwing me to the floor and trying to take my notebook."
"Tampa, eh?" Zac asked. "Why Tampa?"
"Because that's my hometown," Kris said. "Anyway, we've got loads to do, and Zac you better get to work or you'll be late. Taylor, find somewhere for us to get married!"
"Okay, okay�you act as though we're getting married tomorrow." Kris kissed me and then made me get up. I slugged over to the computer and turned it on. Zac kissed his wife and his daughter before he left for work. Ginger and Kris disappeared to talk about various wedding stuff, leaving me to keep an eye on Jenny, sitting on the floor watching TV. "How you doing, bubs?" I asked, looking at her. She didn't look back at me. "That's what I thought."
I already had an idea where I wanted to get married. The Wyndham Harbour Island hotel was supposedly an awesome place and Harbour Island was supposed to be nice and swanky, suitable for the kind of wedding Kris would like. I wrote it down along with some other nice places I came across in the next twenty minutes. Where were Kris and Ginger? Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Jenny was still tentatively watching TV, a little smile on her cute little face. I could see her bright eyes all the way over here that already had hues of violet in them.
"So I finished my book this morning," Ginger said to Kris as they walked out of the bedroom. "I'm going to read it over again and then send it to Kelly."
"Do you think it'll be released before February?" Kris asked.
"If it is, I'll work around the wedding," Ginger said. "You won't have to come with me until after it's over and everything and I'll spread the dates on the tour out so I can still perform my maid of honor duties."
"You already made her your maid of honor?" I asked.
"Yeah," Kris said. "I told her right away."
"Oh," I said. "Well I better tell Zac he's the best man, then."
"I didn't know you already picked him," Kris said.
"Of course I picked him. Who else is there?" Kris opened her mouth but my pressing look made her shut it.
"Right," she said. "Who else is there? Anyway, baby, how's the search going?"
"I have your three or four hotels to choose from," I said, holding up the piece of paper I'd written the names down on. "I don't know which ones you know or not." She took the piece of paper as Ginger sat down on the floor with her daughter.
"The Wyndham Harbour Island is number one?" Kris asked.
"Ooh," Ginger said. "That is a nice place. Nice, nice place."
"You've been there?" Kris asked. Ginger nodded.
"Yeah, we went there for school once for something or another�I don't know, but that was the most awesomest place you'll find in Tampa."
"Most awesomest?" I asked. "And you're a writer?"
"Shut up," she said. "I'm just stressing how nice it is. What are the other choices?"
"Um�the downtown Marriott and the Hilton by the airport."
"Go with the Wyndham," Ginger said.
"Have you been to every hotel in Tampa?" Kris asked. Ginger gave her a look. "Well you seem to be the expert on hotels�"
"My homecoming junior year was at the downtown Marriott and Zac was staying at the Hilton when he came to town in March. From what I saw, the Wyndham is the best place. It's the most expensive, but it's the best place."
"Expensive?" Kris asked, raising an eyebrow. "How expensive?" She looked at me.
"What are you worried about anyway?" I asked. "It's your wedding and we're not worried about money."
"I'm worried about money! I'm paying for it!"
"Whoa," I said. "What makes you think you're paying for it?"
"It's tradition! The chick always pays for the wedding." I scoffed.
"You're not going to pay for all of it. It's our wedding and our money and we'll pay for it together. And even if you do pay for it, after we get married my money is your money so if you do go in debt, which you won't because you make more money than I do at this point, then you'll have my money." She shrugged.
"Whatever�" she said. "And I don't make more money than you do."
"Okay, dear."
"Oh, bloody hell, Jenny," Ginger said. She got up, taking Jenny with her, and brought a particularly smelly Jenny into the nursery.
"So, anyway," Kris said. "Well go with the Wyndham hotel. You call them and tell them we're getting married there. If they say they're booked, slip 'em your name and they'll comply."
"They're not going to�"
"Trust me," Kris said, eyeing me. "Ginger did it all the time in Britain and at that point she wasn't even as half as notable as you are, baby." I shrugged. "Oh, and by the way, I absolutely love that song you wrote."
"You do?" I asked.
"Yes, I do. You're one talented man, baby." She kissed me. "Well, I've got loads to do. You just make sure we can get that hall and to be convenient, we might as well have everyone stay there for the night, so we need to find out who we're inviting ASAP, and we'll have the reception there as well."
"All right." She left the room, and I noticed she still had her notebook in her hands. I had a feeling I was going to be seeing a lot of that from now until the day we get married.