Foreign Affair ›› n.h. mature

Eighty-Five

Olivia Allen

One month later

"Will you hate me if I move home?" I asked my dad on the phone one night.

"What? No! You officially decided to quit?" I had told him I wanted to.

"I turned in my two weeks a week ago."

"Why are you just now telling me?"

"I was nervous," I admitted.

"Don't be! I don't want you working somewhere that makes you miserable."

"Well I was hoping to find something else before I told you."

"Oh my goodness, no! You'll be fine. Just come home and stop worrying and you'll figure it out."

"Love you."

...

"Olivia, get over here!" My mom's voice carried through the house.

"What now?"

"We need to choose a florist, and choose flowers, and set up times to meet with caterers, and finish addressing these invitations, and schedule engagement pictures."

She is driving me up the fucking wall. I've only been home a week and I'm about to lose my mind.

I'm glad she's helping so much. But she's way too on top of things.

Basically she asks my opinion on something and then she tells me hers and then we go with hers.

"Annie's Flower Shop is perfectly fine with me," I told her.

"But there's also Blush Blooms and Dandelion Divine," she said.

"What do you think?"

"I like Annie's," she said.

"Then let's go with Annie's. Mom, this isn't a detail I need to decide on." I'm exasperated with her constant questions.

"Well I didn't know if you were partial to one particular place."

"Why on earth would I be partial to a particular flower shop?"

"Well I don't know, Olivia! I'm doing my best to plan your wedding."

"Alright everybody calm down," my dad interjected. "Olivia, respect your mother and be grateful for her help. Lori, lighten up a bit. God damn."

He wants the planning to be over with more than anyone. At the same time, he doesn't because that means I'm officially grown up. He reminds me every day how much he loves having me home.

So my mother's constant frenzy has caused me to really hit the ground running with the job search. Part of me thinks I'll lose my mind if I live here for the next few months until I get married and part of me just wants something to occupy my time.

My phone vibrated in my pocket. "Niall!"

"Hey!"

"Thank goodness. You could not have called at a better time."

"Why?"

"Let's just say wedding planning is in full swing. I'm going insane."

"Yikes. Well I have an out for ya! Can you make it to Ireland next weekend?"

"Oh. Maybe! How come?"

"It's Granny's birthday."

"Fun! I'll see if I'm able to."

"The thing is, it's not exactly a question."

"Huh?"

"Well she's kind of mad she hasn't met you yet. Told me I can't marry you until she does."