Live In Reality

Lenore bounced on her heels in the chilly Vancouver weather. She and Taylor were out, walking around the Village and exploring what the Canadian city had to offer.

“It’s so blatantly obvious that you’re not Canadian,” Taylor laughed.

“What?” Lenore scowled. “Because I’m cold?”

Her sister-in-law nodded. “Come on, we’ll get you some coffee. Sid’ll kill me if his wife comes home frozen.”

Lenore slapped Taylor’s arm.

“OW! What the fuck was that for?”

“Don’t say it so loud,” Lenore muttered. “We want to tell people on our own.”

“What? That you two are married? Come on, you’re walking around with those on your fingers,” she gestured to Lenore’s left hand. “People are going to assume things.”

“But not everyone knows who I am,” Lenore said. “I could be anyone.”

Taylor rolled her eyes. “Okay, sure.”

“There had better be a Starbucks around here,” Lenore grumbled. “I refuse to drink fucking Tim Horton’s.”

“So dramatic,” Taylor laughed. “Come on, Miss Drama Queen. Oops, I mean, Mrs. Drama Queen.”

*****

“So what did you and Taylor do today?” Sidney asked as he and Lenore settled in for bed.

“Just walked around. Took us forever to find a Starbucks, but we did,” Lenore yawned as she rested her head on Sidney’s chest.

He chuckled and toyed with the rings on Lenore’s fingers. “You would have to have a Starbucks.”

“Where else would I get coffee? Hotel coffee always tastes like shit, no matter where you are,” Lenore shrugged.

The two drifted into a comfortable silence and Sidney almost thought that Lenore had fallen asleep until she spoke up.

“I don’t think your dad is happy,” she said quietly.

“What makes you think that?” Sidney asked concernedly. “He seemed okay when we told them.”

“This morning at breakfast, he kept looking at me,” Lenore said. “Maybe it was just me. But I felt like he was trying to say something and just couldn’t find the words. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”

Sidney sighed. That sounded like his father. “We’ll figure something out, baby. I’ll talk with him.”

“No,” Lenore shook her head. “I want to. I feel like I need to talk with him.”

“Are you sure?” he asked looked down at her.

“Yeah,” she said quickly. “I am. I’ll talk with him after you leave for practice tomorrow morning. Maybe I’ll suck it up and take him to Tim Horton’s.”

“That would be a sacrifice he would appreciate, I’m sure,” Sidney nodded.

“Then that’s what I’ll do,” Lenore sighed. “Do you think he’s going to be upset with me about something?”

Sidney sat up, bringing Lenore with him.

He cupped her face and kissed her lips gently. “He has nothing to be upset about, okay? You did nothing wrong. I wanted to get married. If anyone’s taking the blame, it’s me. He gives you a hard time tomorrow? I want to know. Got it?”

Lenore nodded. She didn’t want to cause a rift between Sidney and his father, so she knew that if Troy did give her a hard time, she probably wouldn’t say anything. Hopefully, everything would be okay.