My Kind of Love

"He’ll be here" Angie assured the priest as we stood at the church waiting for Ricardo.

"I’m sure he will Miss Santino but I have other things scheduled before tomorrow’s ceremony" Father Martinez told her and she asked him to wait a few more minutes before she went outside to call him.

"She better get used to the disappointment" my mother said as she walked up to stand next to me.

"Ma be nice"

"What? I am being nice. I’m just stating the obvious. If he is busy now imagine how it will be once they are married" she questioned as I rolled my eyes.

"He be a good husband" I told her, not sure if I was trying to convince her or myself.

"Don’t defend him Gerard. He is not good enough for her" she told me before walking back to the bench she was sitting on.

"He’s not answering" Angie sighed as she walked back to me. "What am I gonna do Geri?" she asked as tears began to form in her eyes.

"Marry me" I answered without thinking. "I mean we can rehearse for your wedding together then when I see him I’ll tell him what to do” I explained in an attempt to sound less desperate.

"Are you sure?" she asked and I nodded. "OK then let’s do this" she said excitedly as we called the Priest and started going over what would happen.

"Then you guys will look into each other eyes and recite your vows" he said while we both looked each other in the eye.

"I’ll say other stuff about the sanctity of marriage, you will exchange rings, and then I’ll pronounce you man and wife. And once all that is done I’ll instruct you to kiss the bride" he continued as I followed his instructions by pulling Angie towards me and aiming for her lips.

Before anything could happen someone coughed, forcing us out of the trance we were in.

"Ricardo" Angie breathed when she realized he was the one who coughed.

"Did I miss anything?" he asked as I looked over to my mom, who looked disappointed by the intrusion.

"Nothing important" I assured him, while Angie ran to give him a hug.

Their interaction was awkward and I could tell from her eyes that she knew what she wanted to do was wrong.

"Maybe we should re-do the ceremony with just the two of us" she offered as he reluctantly agreed.

"Unfortunately we can’t" Father Martinez told us while admitting that he had other things scheduled.

We bid him farewell as the 4 of us stood there, all feeling uncomfortable.

"Well we should leave Angie. We don’t want you tired ahead of your big day" my mother said as Angie nodded. She gave her fiancé one brief kiss before they both waved goodbye.

When she was out of sight Ricardo turned to me.

"Is there something you need to tell me?" he asked as I shrugged my shoulders.

"Look Ricardo, you weren’t here and she needed someone to fill in for her while she went through the routine"

"And you were just the man to do that weren’t you?" he said threateningly while standing toe-to-toe with me.

"Look here. You have her for the rest of your and I was there for just one night. Stop being insecure about what you think is going on and be thankful about what you do have" I snapped before pushing him away and walking to my car.

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"How was the rehearsal for tomorrow’s wedding?" Cesc asked as I when I walked through the door.

"It was good" I said as I went into the kitchen to get something out of one of the cupboards.

"You sure about that?" he asked while observing what I was doing.

"No but it’s not like there’s anything I could do to change what’s gonna happen tomorrow" I admitted as I pulled out a blue box.

"What’s in there?" he asked as he watched me open and close the box.

"Just a few reminders to Angie about how much she is loved" I answered cryptically as I headed upstairs to bed, in order to prepare myself for my best friend’s wedding.