Uncharted

Tomorrow was the wedding, and my stress levels had officially skyrocketed. My bride had woken me up close to 5 am and I had been at her beck and call ever since. Today was all about details, and they were making my head spin. By the time noon had rolled around, I was already exhausted, but I still had the rest of the afternoon and a rehearsal dinner to plow through.

The only personal time I got was lunch, which my bride had even tried to take away from me. Thankfully, my assistant, Brook, forced me to leave and took over while I was gone. As I walked towards my car, I pulled my phone out of my pocket for the first time all day. I was greeted by two missed calls, a voicemail, and three text messages.

I started with the texts, but they seemed pointless. Two were from my mom; one just to say "I love you" and another to remind me that she was coming to visit next month. I quickly discarded them and moved on to the third. It was Sara demanding that I get lunch with her. Thankfully, the restaurant was merely two blocks away, so I started my walk that way.

Next came the calls and voicemail. Again, one call and the voicemail belonged my best friend, giving me no option about my lunch plans. Lucky for her, I didn't mind at all. It was the second call that caught me off guard; Jonathan Toews.

His name sent such a sock through my system that I stopped dead in my tracks at his name. It took me a minute to regain myself, though the person that ran straight into me didn't really help matters. Looking around, I continued to the restaurant, having no idea what I should do.

When I reached the restaurant, I found Sara already there. I walked over to her, plopping myself down across from her. When I finally got a good look at her face, I could tell that she wasn't really happy with me at all. "Shit..." I muttered, taking me seat.

"I didn't even know if you'd show up," she started, picking at the salad she already had place in front of her.

"I'm sorry. I would have text you...or called, but I was stuck with Satan's bride-to-be all morning." I sighed heavily at the though and the fact that I had to go back. "Have you been here long?" I questioned just as our waitress appeared. I ordered a glass of water and a salad.

"Not long." Her answered were short and calm, and I knew that I had to be in some deep shit. What had I done? Did I miss her birthday? No...that was a few months away. What about Patrick's birthday? I still had a week or so before that came around. Anniversary? No, her and Patrick just got married in March. Dammit. What was I forgetting? "You missed a hell of a party last night though," she said, snapping me out of my trance.

"I..uhm...I know," I said, fiddling with the table cloth slightly. "I didn't mean to hang up on you. I just...I wasn't in the mood for people, Sara."

"I understand, but it wasn't a party for me, Bails."

My eyebrow rose slightly. "Was it a party for Patrick?" I asked stupidly, not knowing who else this might involve.

"It was for Avery," Sara said simply, a hand falling to her stomach, "Avery Marie Kane."

A smile crossed my face, though it quickly faded as I noticed the look on her face. "Why would you already have a party for Avery? By the way, since you've picked a name, does Patrick know it's a girl now?"

"He still doesn't know. Avery is a neutral enough name that he still has no idea, lucky for me." She put a piece of lettuce into her mouth and began to chew, leaving me to wonder if I would be getting an answer to my other question. Finally, she gave it to me. "It was her baby shower."

"Why didn't you tell me?!" I practically yelled, getting looks from the tables nearby. "Sara, I had no idea that you were holding your baby shower last night."

"Neither did I," she laughed. "Patrick surprised me."

My salad arrived as the words left her mouth. I said my thank you. "Why did he wait until the last minute to call me?"

At first, I didn't think Sara was going to give me an answer. Finally, she started to speak. "He wanted to wait until Jonny left." The words practically came out in a whisper, but they were still enough to make me put my fork down and lose all appetite I might have had.

We sat there for what felt like hours without a word. "Bailey, I'm sorry," Sara finally said. In our entire friendship, she had only uttered those words three or four other times. You never heard Sara say that she was sorry, ever.

"He called me, you know," I said, moving my salad around my plate instead of eating it.

The shock on Sara's face made it obvious that she hadn't been expecting me to say that. It also lead me to believe that there was something she knew that I did. Quickly, she regained her composure and watched my closely. "Did you answer the phone?"

"I couldn't. He must have called when I was doing something with the wedding, like you."
"Well, are you going to call him back?"
"And say what, Sara? 'I saw you called and was in the mood for a good cry, so I figured I'd call you back?' That'll go over well."
"Maybe he has some sort of explanation?"
"Like what? April Fools?"

Sighing, I wasn't sure what I was going to do. Just as Sara opened her mouth to speak again, my phone began buzzing. I hit the answer button before I looked at the number. As soon as the call connected, I could hear screams in the background. "Bailey, Bailey please come back! The bride is going insane!"

I looked to Sara who nodded my way. "Thank you," I whispered before pressing the hold to the side of my face and getting up and walking out of the restaurant. I was headed right back into the lion's den, and I was ready to meet my death.

When I arrived back at the church, I came to find the bride had my assistant hiding in a closet and she had managed to destroy every flower arrangement we had placed around the chapel. I was two seconds from walking out the door the moment I walked inside it. It took me nearly fifteen minutes to coax Brooke out of her hiding spot just so I could send her home. That left me alone to deal with everything else.

My afternoon was spent trying to convince my bride that everything was perfect and redoing the flower arrangements she had scattered all around the place. When it finally got to be 4, I was able to send her home to get ready for her rehearsal dinner which meant I got to have a few hours of peace to add the last minute details to the room. When everything was perfect, I had to change and go straight to the hall to endure the rehearsal dinner.

To my surprise, my bride was about twenty times calmer when she was around her future husband. He was a handsome guy, and seemed to be the absolute opposite of her, but it was easy to tell just by watching them that they were completely in love.

I had been dreading this night for weeks, but it went surprisingly well. The bride didn't complain about a single thing, and a smile stayed plastered on her face almost the entire night. The food was perfect, and everyone seemed to be having an amazing time. These factors meant that my job was easy for the first time in what seemed like months.

As the night wound to an end, I ran over the schedule with the bride one more time before she left. I offered to help clean up, but the caterer told me to go home. He knew just how hard I had been working lately and said he could handle it from there. Sometimes I was thankful that my industry partners paid such close attention to me. With a smile and a wave, I was out the door.

The moment my foot stepped outside of the hall my eyes went to the sky. Raid had begun to fall from the sky, drenching the streets of Chicago. My foot hit the wet streets and my eyes lifted to look around. Just as I did, my eyes landed on him.

There Jonny stood, drenched, a dozen roses in his hand.