Текст книги "That Wedding"

Автор книги: Jillian Dodd

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Текущая страница: 7 (всего у книги 25 страниц)

Phillip and I have decided to elope. We're going to skip Vegas and get married on an amazing beach. We spent all last night looking at exotic locales. We haven't figured out where, but since it's just the two of us going, we're going somewhere really posh. Somewhere decadent. We narrowed it down to four places, and I'm going to call them this weekend and find out about their wedding packages. It's not what I dreamed of, but it's how it's gonna have to be.

Like Phillip says, All that matters is that we get married.

And I keep telling myself that he's right.

Even though it doesn't feel that way.

I'm sitting at Phillip's desk at work, sketching out some very rough ideas for the front of the new building. They've been floating around in my mind for a few days, and I want to get them on paper.

My cell rings. I don't recognize the number, but notice it's the KC area code. "Jadyn Reynolds," I say very professionally, assuming it's one of the realtors we've been working with.

"Miss Reynolds, this is Maggie from the International Hotel in Kansas City. I got your message the other day, and I wanted to let you know that we had a cancellation for our rooftop ballroom and wondered if you were still interested."

OH MY GOSH!!! OMIGOSH!!! Ohmygosh!!! I can barely breathe!!! The International Hotel is the dream spot!!! Rooftop ballroom overlooking the Lights!!! Can this really be happening??? Am I awake?

"Are you serious?" I ask.

But, shit. What happened? Why did it come available? Did some other couple call off their wedding?

Would it be bad karma to take their place?

Do I really care about karma?

"May I ask why the event got cancelled?"

"It was scheduled for an annual company holiday party, but you know with the way the economy is a lot of companies are cutting back. They've decided to cut out their party this year."

"Wow, okay." AHHHHH!! "What date is available?"

"Saturday, January the thirteenth."

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's like a bolt of lightening just flashed straight down from heaven into Phillip's office.

January the thirteenth!! My parents' anniversary was the twelfth.

"The thirteenth would be perfect," I hear myself say. I'm beyond thinking. I'm just doing. "Wait. Are the Plaza Lights still up then?"

"Yes, it's their last weekend," she says cheerfully.

"I'll take it."

I can't believe my luck, my being blessed, I'm not sure, but wow. I'm sooooo excited.

It gets even better when she says, "I don't know if you're interested, but the wedding and event planner who normally does this function is free now as well. She's very talented and has other vendors you might be interested in hiring. Would you like her number?"

OMG!!! YES!!! A wedding planner AND the dream location!??!! Is this really happening?

Thank you, God.

Thank you, Mom and Dad.

Thank you, whoever listened to my prayers and made this happen.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

"I'd love that," I say.

I do want a wedding planner. I want to go over my ideas with her, my colors, the scrapbook of stuff that I've been collecting in my mind, and have her fret the tiny details. I want us to enjoy our wedding weekend. I think a wedding planner is exactly what we need.

Then she says, "The company also had a block of rooms held. Would you be interested in those?"

Uh, yeah!!!

"Yes, it will be a destination wedding, so we'll definitely need the rooms."

Before I know it, I'm giving her my credit card number to put down a deposit, and she's faxing me over a contract.

This isn't just any venue that became available. This is the dream one. This is the gorgeous hotel with the view of the Plaza Lights. It has a rooftop ballroom, great food, and sparkly chandeliers.

All of a sudden, I can see my wedding again.

I know what I want. I know what colors I want, and I can picture it.

I hang up the phone and scream with joy.

Phillip comes rushing into the doorway.

I look at him and can't help it.

Happy little tears start trickling down my face.

I look up to the sky and say thank you again.

I'm pretty sure I just got a wedding gift from my parents.

I excitedly tell Phillip what just happened.

He tilts his head at me. "But that means we're gonna have to do couple's counseling. I thought you were vehemently opposed to that?"

SCREEEECCCHHHH!!!

CRASH!!

BOOM!!

I'm pretty sure the truck carrying all my wedding dreams just crashed into a brick wall, burst into flames, and blew to pieces on impact.

My heart drops.

Oh my gosh. He's right. I can't have this wedding. I'm going to have to call her back and cancel.

I cover my face with my hand. "You're right, Phillip. I forgot. I got so excited that I forgot I can't afford it. I'll have to call her back and say no."

Phillip pulls me into his arms. "Princess, you want the big wedding. You never let anything stand in your way of getting what you want. Why are you gonna let a few couple's counseling sessions get in our way?"

"You know why, Phillip."

"I talked to Danny about it. He said couple's counseling was a breeze. They met with Lori's pastor like twice."

"It's who they want me to do the counseling with."

He pushes my chin up gently, so I have to look at his gorgeous brown eyes. "What do you want?"

"I want the big wedding, Phillip. I really do."

"Then let's do it. We'll go to counseling, make everyone happy, and we'll have the wedding of our dreams."

"What if counseling breaks us up?"

He looks at me seriously. "Really? Nothing will ever break us up. And I'm calling Mr. D right now." He grabs his cell, calls Mr. D, and says, "Hey, it's Phillip. We're considering going to marriage counseling. I agree a big wedding is what her parents would've wanted, and it's what she wants. But before we agree to your terms, I want to make one thing clear. We'll go to couple's counseling. We'll talk about our future marriage, but we will not be talking about her parents. You cool with that?"

Phillip nods his head and smiles at me. "Awesome. Then you can be the first to hear. We're getting married on January thirteenth at the International Hotel in Kansas City."

"Yes, sir. I'm excited too. I'll tell her."

Phillip gets off the phone and gives me a smug grin. "Done."

I wrap my arms around his neck. "I love you, Phillip. You always know the right thing to do. How do you always know the right thing to do?"

"You used to hate that about me, remember?" he teases.

"That's true. Sometimes it got in the way of my fun. It's funner when we're on the same team."

"It is. I think you better call the wedding planner right away, and then I'm taking you out for lunch. We seriously need to celebrate."

I call the wedding planner. Her name is Amy, and we connect right away. I can't wait to meet her! We talked about my budget, how I want the event to flow, and all of my ideas. I email her a powerpoint full of all my wedding inspirations.

She tells me, "We have exactly ninety-nine days until your wedding. Normally, the Save the Dates would go out ninety days in advance, so that's the first thing we need to do. Do you have a guest list you can send me?"

"Uh, well, no," I say. Then I give her the quick version of our first date engagement, how we've been engaged for less than a month, why we want to get married quickly, and how adorable Phillip is.

She's like, "Wow. Well, I'm glad you're used to moving fast because we have a lot of decisions to make and a short time to do it. Your wedding will be here before you know it."

I can't even believe it.

I'm going to be Mrs. Phillip Mackenzie in ninety-nine days.

I start to sing in my mind. Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of beer, take one down, pass it around, your wedding will soon be here. Hey!

I agree to get our guest list to her by next Sunday. She'll order the Save the Dates, go through all our ideas, and make a plan.

I immediately call Phillip's mom and tell her we have a date and a location. Normally, my first call would've been to Danny and Lori, but I was afraid since Mr. Diamond knew, she might get pissed if she heard it from them and not me. Then I called Lori and Danny and gushed about it some more.

I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Like in case no one noticed.

I know I should do what it says in the wedding magazines and take each one of my bridesmaids out for a drink or a special lunch and ask her to be in my wedding in a very personal and loving way.

But they need to know NOW!!

Plus I'm so excited, I feel like I could burst.

So I call them all. I ask Lori to be my yet-to-be-named honor attendant. For my bridesmaids, I ask my best friends from high school, Lisa and Katie; Phillip's sister, Ashley; and my sorority sisters, Chelsea and Macy. They all excitedly said yes, and since I was on a roll, I also asked a couple other sorority sisters to help with the wedding. I'm not sure yet what exactly they'll do, probably be in charge of getting the party started, knowing them, but they may have to do the guest book or something first.

Phillip takes me to lunch at our favorite Italian restaurant to celebrate.

I'm surprised when he tells the waiter, "We'd like a bottle of champagne, please." Phillip never drinks during lunch.

Over champagne and chicken Alfredo, we decide that Danny will be his best man. His groomsmen will be his brother-in-law, Cooper; Joey, one of our best friends from high school; Nick, the Husker kicker who was always hanging out at our townhouse in Lincoln; and his fraternity brothers, Blake and Logan.

"What about ushers?" I ask.

"I was thinking Neil and Brandon for sure. What about Katie's husband, Eric?"

"I love Eric, but they aren't getting along great. In fact, Katie and Neil have been having lunch together."

"Lunch? Is that code for sex?"

"No, they really are just having lunch, but I get the impression that she wishes it was more."

"That sucks. It'd suck to get divorced. We're never getting divorced."

"I don't want to go through that either, so that means you're gonna have to be really nice to me. Always."

Phillip chuckles then runs his hand across my jawline. "I'm always really nice to you."

"I know, Phillip. You're perfect. Everything is perfect right now."

"That might be the champagne talking. And I was thinking we might need to stop at home before we go back to work. Do a little more celebrating."

His eyes sparkle at me, and I have to agree with him. "That sounds perfect too."

I'm sitting in Phillip's office waiting for him to finish up a meeting, so we can go out and do some more celebrating. It's a really good thing he works for his dad because between lunch and our little stop at home, we took a three hour lunch.

I think about what I have to do to get the dream wedding and decide Phillip's right. I'm just gonna do it.

I call Pastor John's office.

A woman answers. "Pastor John's office, Margie speaking."

"Margie, this is Jadyn Reynolds. I'm getting married and need to set up couple's counseling with Pastor John."

"He's been expecting your call, and you're in luck. I've got his calendar right here in front of me."

Wow! This really IS my lucky day. I don't have to talk to him!!

Is it unchristian of me to pray he'll get the stomach flu on the nights of our meetings?

She continues. "How's this Tuesday sound? You'll meet him every two weeks until your wedding."

"We'll be there," I tell her and then hang up as fast as I can.

Okay, so I've been a frugal girl. I inherited quite a bit of money when my parents died. My dad sold insurance for a living, so they were extremely well-insured. I had access to a lot of money at eighteen.

Did I go crazy?

Did I buy an expensive car?

Did I whisk all my friends away to the Caribbean for a party?

No, I put most all of it back into my trust. Safely invested in things I don't really understand, but that Mr. D says are safe and performing well.

And because of this frugalness, I like to buy things like shoes when they go on sale. Because shoes are to me what toilet paper and beer are to Phillip. It's important to him to always have a backup twelve-pack in the frig, and we can never be without six backup rolls of toilet paper, or we're on (flash the lights) emergency reserve status. I feel that way about shoes. A women needs backups in her closet. I mean, you never know when you might need a pair of leopard skin stilettos with red suede trim.

Today after work, I ran to a shoe sale at my favorite department store. And did I score!! I got three pairs of adorable shoes for what one would've cost at full price.

So you can imagine my surprise when I walk into my condo excitedly carrying my sale treasures, and Phillip starts giving me shit about shopping, spending money, and buying another pair of shoes he thinks I'll never wear.

"Phillip, these shoes were a very good deal. I got three pairs for the price of one!"

He's all snotty when he says, "Well buying no shoes is cheaper than that. You have shoes in your closet that I've never seen you wear. You could shoe a small country. You can't possibly need another pair of shoes."

Who peed in his Cheerios?

"Well, Phillip, since I'm paying for the condo that you're living in, and since you aren't contributing to the mortgage payment, or the utilities, or the satellite dish, you probably shouldn't have any say in what I spend. But since we're on that subject, let's see what you've spent lately."

I grab his wallet which I know is full of perfectly folded receipts.

He gets an irritated look on his face, but I go on. "Let's see, what do we have here?" I shuffle through receipts. "Beer, lunch, Taco Bell, beer, gas. Oh! What's this big one?"

"Nothing," Phillip smarts.

He tries to grab the receipt from me, but I avoid him and read it. "Wheels for your car? But Philllllippppp, your car already has wheels. Does she really need another pair?"

He shrugs.

"And wow. Her shoes, I mean, wheels, cost $1500. Fifteen hundred dollars! That's a lot of money. Oh, wait, what's this little note here at the bottom?" I read off the receipt. "Call when chip comes in. Who's Chip, Phillip?"

"It's not a who…"

"I know it's not a who. I know exactly what you ordered. You bought the horsepower chip you and Danny have been talking about when you thought I wasn't listening." I raise my eyebrows at him. "How much is the chip, Phillip?"

"Four grand."

"Four THOUSAND dollars??? You know, I'm having a hard time understanding how you can give me shit for spending one hundred and sixty-five dollars on things I don't need when you've just spent over FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS on things your car didn't need. Tell me it was at least on sale."

"They don't go on sale."

"Maybe you should've waited until they did."

Phillip's fuming. It's kinda funny.

He says, "This is a worthless conversation. I'm not having it."

"You started it."

He squints his eyes at me. "Yeah, well then I guess I'll end it too." He walks out the door to the garage and slams it shut.

I'm still holding his wallet and see his car keys sitting on the counter.

I smile, grab them, walk to the garage door, stick my hand out the door to jingle them at him, and then quick shut the door.

I know he can't leave without them. I also know his spare set is at his parents' house. I run into the bedroom and strip down to my lacy bra and panties.

Yes, I finally got over hating lingerie. Me and Victoria have made up in a big way, and she and her secret are my new best friends. I've been spending a lot of time at her house. Shoes aren't the only thing I've been spending my hard-earned money on, but Phillip never has a bad word to say when I walk in the house with that hot pink bag.

In fact, he gets pretty excited about it.

He's always like, Ohhhh, what's in the bag?

Not once has he asked me how much I spent on it.

I wrap his key chain around the side of my skimpy underwear.

I hear him march into the house. He yells out, "Give me my keys!"

I yell back. "You'll have to come and get them!"

He storms through the bedroom doorway in an angry haze, sees me lying on the bed, and freezes. Well, his body freezes, but his eyes are running down my lace.

"Damn," he states with a shake of his head. "You do not play fair."

"Have I ever?" I ask coyly.

"No," he says madly. He takes two quick strides to the bed, pulls me roughly off it, and takes his keys back.

I thought he was going to take the keys and leave, but he throws them on the dresser, takes off his shirt, and throws me back on the bed.

And there's something really kinda exciting about the way he's sorta manhandling me.

Actually, it's not kinda exciting, what it is, is freaking HOT!

I don't wanna be at couple's counseling. I think it's stupid. Phillip and I are perfect for each other. We get along amazingly.

Like last night was amazing.

The way he sorta threw me on the bed.

How he was kissing me hard. The way he madly stripped off my lace.

It makes me hot just sitting here thinking about it.

And it's a good distraction because I hate the man sitting at the desk in front of me. If it weren't for Mr. Diamond holding my wedding money hostage, I'd never be here.

Write me down as a hostile witness.

Phillip held my hand as we walked in the room, and it calmed me down a bit. He told me in the car that worst case scenario, we'll learn how to deal with each other even better.

Pastor says, "Phillip, JJ, I'm glad you're both here. I understand you weren't very excited about couple's counseling."

I don't say anything. I just fold my arms across my chest.

Phillip says, "I think JJ is still upset about you suggesting that her parents abandoned her."

"I didn't say they did. I said some people feel abandoned. JJ may not realize it, but their death has affected her. It had to affect her. I want to make sure that your wedding lasts. I assume that's what you both want as well?"

Phillip says, "Yes, we do."

I don't reply. I just sit here. No one said I had to do anything other than show up. I probably look like a spoiled little brat, but I don't care.

Pastor nods his head toward me. "Jadyn, is that what you want?"

I roll my eyes. "No, I want an unhappy and miserable marriage just like every other starry eyed bride."

Phillip glares at me, says to Pastor, "She's being sarcastic. Of course, we want a happy marriage."

"We're all on the same page then. Here's what I'd like you to do first." He hands us each a paper and pen. "I want you to write down three things that you love about each other."

I put the paper on my knee.

Would it be bad if I wrote down three very specific parts of Phillip's body? And like how amazing those parts were last night?

Uh, probably.

What do I love about Phillip?

Hmm, I love the way he talks to me. Well, the way he used to talk to me, like every night before I went to sleep. Now we usually just fall asleep after being exhausted from our pre-sleep activities.

I also secretly love the way Phillip has always rescued me. How he always chose me over, well, everyone. When I needed him, he was there.

I also love the way he makes me feel safe. Like I'm where I belong.

Hmm, those are all really good things. I'm really good at couple's counseling.

I can't wait to share my answers with Pastor. I'll show him. They're like the perfect answers. Phillip and I will get an A+. We'll be done with counseling and can get on with the happily ever after.

I try to hand him my paper.

He says, "Oh, no. They're for you to keep. I wanted you to think about it. Get you in the mood, so to speak. I understand you've set a date."

"Yes, everything has fallen into place. We're very lucky," Phillip says.

Pastor replies, "Okay, so tell me about your relationship. How long have you been dating?"

"A little over a month," Phillip says proudly.

I roll my eyes. Pastor John has known us our whole lives. He baptized us both, and he was at our engagement party. He totally knows this already, but whatever. If Phillip wants to play along, I'll let him.

"Wow," Pastor says. "That's not a very long time."

"No, it's not," Phillip replies. "But we've known each other our whole lives, so it's not like we don't already know everything about each other."

"Okay, so how are you handling conflicts?"

Uh, what conflicts?

As usual, Phillip reads my mind and answers, "We don't have any conflicts."

I'm quite proud of this.

Phillip and I are the perfect couple.

Pastor should consider using us a model for perfect coupledom. Phillip and I never fight. And on the rare occasion that we do, I pout, and Phillip gives in. It works really well.

"Hmmm, that's interesting," Pastor says. "So you're telling me you don't fight? You've never had a fight?"

Phillip admits, "We sorta had a little fight yesterday about her buying shoes, but we, um, resolved that conflict pretty easily."

"Great. How did you resolve it?" Pastor asks.

Uh. I tricked Phillip into forgetting he was mad at me with a sexy lace bra and a barely there thong.

I give Phillip a worried glance.

Phillip says, "Well, she diffused the situation by making me laugh."

Phillip is good. I diffused the situation. I sure did.

Pastor drones on. "Laughter is a key ingredient in a good marriage. So what will you do if you disagree, but you can't laugh about it?"

"Sex, probably," I accidentally burst out. I didn't really mean to say that, but Phillip has been totally hogging this conversation. Not that I really wanted to be a part of it, but it's hard for me to keep my mouth shut for extended periods of time.

Pastor raises his eyebrows and gives me a pointed glare. I've seen that glare before.

A few times.

Katie and I used to be candle lighters. We'd go in before the service, light the candles, and have to sit behind a column during the service. We were off to the side, hidden from the congregation, but in plain view of Pastor. One time, Katie had me practically rolling down the pew laughing. She and Neil dated most of their sophomore and junior years. She was telling me about the first time she touched his boy part. How it felt, and how she'd screamed when he made it grow in her hand. She thought something was wrong with it! We were clutching our sides, laughing silently, until I accidentally let a laugh escape. It was maybe kinda loud, almost a scream. Pastor stopped in the middle of his sermon, turned, and glared at me. Which totally got me in trouble with my parents afterwards. I should've hated him then. I mean, he's a professional!! He should have better sermon giving concentrational skills.

He says, "I see." Then he does that thing he always does when he's pissed, but he doesn't want to say it. He runs his hand down the sides of his little beard, stroking it. Which I can't help it, I glance toward Phillip and start thinking about a part of him I'd like to stroke.

"Well, I guess we can skip the part about saving it for the wedding night," Pastor says haughtily.

What an asshole.

Seriously.

I wanna rip that little beard right off his face. We're all adults here. Surely, we can discuss sex.

Sex is what keeps a marriage good.

I would assume.

"Sex is a good conflict solver though, right?" I ask because I'm trying to be a good student. Plus, I love answering questions when I know the right answer.

"Actually, no," Pastor says, "I don't think it is. Why don't you tell me about the fight."

I start because I'm going to prove him wrong. "I went shopping right after work because there was a great shoe sale. The sales lady that always helps me called me and told me that they'd just marked down a bunch of shoes, but that the sale didn't officially start until the next day, so I should come in and get like first pick. And I did. It was awesome. I found three great pairs of shoes for what I would normally spend on only one. I wear an eight or an eight and a half. Although sometimes for a really good shoe, I can squeeze into a seven and a half. I don't think either one of you appreciates what a triumph that is. Like if I was a size five or a ten, it'd be easy to find shoes on sale, but I'm the most common size, so that makes finding great shoes on sale really hard. And one of the pairs I got was a designer pair, and, oh my gosh, they're these amazingly adorable orange suede platform wedges. I mean, I don't actually have anything to wear with them yet, but they're like a statement shoe. They'll make a basic outfit look amazing."

Phillip rolls his eyes.

"Phillip, I see you rolling your eyes," Pastor says to him. "Why did you get upset about her shoe purchase?"

"I wasn't upset at that point. I just thought it was really stupid to buy more shoes when her closet is already jammed with them."

"Phillip, orange suede platforms are something you don't find that often. You have to buy that kind of shoe when you see it. When you really need a pair of orange platforms, they're impossible to find. Plus, you have no room to talk. Do you know how many pairs of tennis shoes you have? A pair for running, a pair for softball, a special pair for lifting weights, a pair for mowing, a pair of red Adidas just for Husker games. You also have about five pairs of Sperrys, vintage Air Jordans..."

"See?" Phillip says to Pastor. "This is why you can't fight with her. You can't get a word in edgewise."

Pastor says slowly, clearly taking Phillip's side, "Why don't you tell us what did make you mad, Phillip."

Phillip's pissing me off. This is why you can't fight with her??!! He should know better than to fight with me.

I always win!

He shouldn't even try.

He should just let me have my way. Our life would go very smoothly, and there'd be no fights.

There. Problem solved. Counseling session over.

I should counsel people.

I laugh to myself. Ha!

I'd be a horrible counselor. I'd tell them to suck it up, quit whining like a baby, and shut the hell up about it. Deal with it. Move on. Stop talking about it. All this is doing is pissing people off.

Namely, me.

Plus, Neil and Joey just texted me and said they're at Taco Tuesday at the bar and would I please let Phillip come out and play. I stealthily hide my phone under my purse and reply.

Me:  Screw you both. I'm coming to play too.

Phillip goes on, "Well, then she started going through my wallet and looking at my receipts."

"And that made you mad?" Pastor asks him.

I butt in and tell Pastor, "I think you need to tell Phillip that what comes around goes around. I'm pretty sure that's in the Bible somewhere. Or maybe it's like the Golden Rule. Treat others like you want to be treated yourself. Because clearly, Phillip did not follow this simple rule. He wanted to talk about my purchases, he should be prepared to discuss his too. Don't you think?"

Pastor squints his eyes at me. "I suppose that would be considered fair, yes."

"Right, and he got mad because what did I find in your wallet, Phillip? What did you buy?"

Phillip stiffens up his back and sits up straighter in his chair. "I bought wheels for my car."

"Which I thought was HILARIOUS! I asked him why he bought new wheels for his car when she already had a perfectly good pair. Get it? Like the shoes. It was awesome."

Pastor shakes his head at me. "Phillip, how did that make you feel?"

Oh. My. Gosh.

Who cares how it made it him feel?

It wasn't like I was being mean. I was just proving my point. And clearly, I made my point. Which is what pissed him off. He wasn't mad about the shoes. He was mad he got caught being like a double agent.

Or what's that word when you say one thing, but you do something else? Like when you're in high school and your parents tell you not to smoke pot, but then one night you find them getting high in the hot tub? I know, it's hypocritical. Basically bullshit.

Phillip tells Pastor, "It made me feel mad. I didn't think it was any of her business what I'd spent. Plus, she was mocking me."

"I was mocking him because not only did he buy the wheels, he also ordered the horsepower chip. The four thousand dollar horsepower chip. He's complaining I spent two hundred dollars on shoes he thought I didn't need, when he'd just spent six thousand dollars on things his car didn't need!"

Pastor fold his hands on the desk. I see him glance at the sky. Probably saying a prayer for Phillip. "So why did that make you mad, Phillip?"

"I got mad when she starting going on and on about how I don't pay rent, but I live with her. How we don't share our money yet. It was all bullshit."

"Phillip!! It wasn't bullshit, and you know it. It was true."

"Whatever," Phillip says.

"Okay," Pastor interrupts, "so you were both mad. You're both mad now just talking about it. How did you solve the conflict? What happened next?"

"I wasn't mad, Pastor. I thought it was freaking funny. He got all pissed off, stormed out of the house, said he was leaving. I was standing there holding his wallet, and his keys were sitting on the counter. I knew he couldn't go anywhere. Which I thought was even funnier."

Phillip gives me an evil glare. I can tell he's sticking his tongue out at me in his mind.

"So what did you do?" Pastor asks again.

"I waved the keys out the door at him, and then I ran in the bedroom."

I glance at Phillip. He's trying hard not to smile, but the corners of his mouth are betraying him.

"That's it? You hid the keys in the bedroom?"

Phillip now has a full-on grin. "No, she stripped down to some sexy lingerie, laid on the bed, and held my keys hostage."

I raise my eyebrows at Phillip. He's not telling the exact truth. "I did not hold the keys hostage. You told me I don't play fair, and then you took them from me."

I sorta forget where we are. I stare at Phillip's adorable face and look deep into his eyes. He grins at me, grabs my hand, and says, "You don't play fair. You never have."

I wrap a strand of hair around my finger, lick my lips, and think about how he threw me on the bed, how hot it was. "You didn't seem to mind, Phillip."

He runs a finger slowly up the side of my thigh. "Yeah, you're right."

God, he's sexy.

Then I think, shit. Speaking of God, we're in church with a pastor staring at us.

Um, awkward much?

Pastor coughs. "So you solved the conflict with sex. Here's the problem. You didn't solve the conflict. You just temporarily forgot about it. You solved nothing. Sex solves nothing. Phillip, you got mad again just discussing it. That's what happens when you don't deal with problems. They sit in your mind and fester. When you do that enough, they eventually grow into an infection. They infect your marriage with doubt, and you stop respecting each other. You have to take each other's concerns seriously or that infection will ruin your marriage."