Bad Luck or Fate?

Chapter 72

"We can't do this." I finally admitted as I sat at the kitchen tables with venue descriptions, bridal magazines, wedding ring ideas, and several different floral arrangements sitting in front of me. Jimmy looked up from the catering menu, giving me a sympathetic look. Actually, the worry lines on his face were darkening with every passing second. Jimmy must be worried. He reached over and touched my hand, rubbing my palm. Drew was on her laptop looking up different Catholic priests around our hometown that would possibly marry Jimmy and I. "You can't say that just yet. It cant be that bad.You think Father McClaren will marry you guys? I remember that he was always pretty understanding when we were in college. He's pretty laid back, he might be willing to marry you guys."

I shook my head and tossed a bouquet onto the table and huffed. "It really doesn't matter at this point." I said, defeat filling my voice. Jimmy jumped back as the flowers landed in his lap. He hung his head and sighed, picking up the flowers and sliding his chair away from the table. He placed the bouquet on the counter and put his hands on the counter top, clenching his fingers into a vice grip on the granite. I could see his knuckles whitening every few seconds as he flexed and released his hands over and over again. The veins were popping out of his neck. His ears were turning a shade of red. Jimmy was frustrated and angry. He lifted his head from its bowed position and looked up at the ceiling. I watched as he took a deep breath in and slowly let it out. "At this point, Breckyn is right." Jimmy's voice was low and trembled with the frustration that overcame him at this point. At least, I hoped it was frustration. It almost sounded like resentment at this point. "If Father McClaren DID agree to marry us, it wouldn't be a traditional Catholic wedding. I'm divorced, have a child from a previous marriage, and Breckyn and I had Thomas out of wedlock. There's three strikes right there and that doesn't even include the fact that Breckyn would have to convert to Catholicism and we would have to take marriage classes AND pass them. Catholics take their marriages pretty seriously. Either we wouldn't be able to be married in the church so it wouldn't be a traditional wedding or he wont agree to marry us at all." I watched as Jimmy hung his head once more, the muscles in his back rippling as he flexed one more time, creating a tension in his body as well as thickening the ever growing tension in this room.

"Okay." Drew drawled out in our very noticeable accent. "So maybe it can be that bad. Well, who's brilliant idea was it to even have a traditional Catholic wedding in the first place?" Drew asked as she pushed her laptop to the side and crossed her arms over her body. Jimmy looked up and stared at the cupboards as I let my eyes wander from the variety of dresses and venues I had scattered in front of me. Drew looked from Jimmy to me repeatedly as I tried my damndest to not make eye contact with her. "No? No one is going to fess up to this? Who's idea was this? Who says you have to have a traditional Catholic wedding? Who says it has to be traditional or Catholic at all?" Drew brought her line of vision down and over to try and meet my eyes. I turned in my chair and resisted my fight or flight instinct that was kicking in. Drew sighed and stood up, walking towards Jimmy and leaning against the counter. I snuck a look over the sheet I had in my hand. Drew was still facing me while Jimmy faced the opposite way. She glanced to her left and leaned back so she could make eye contact with Jimmy. He sighed and looked down towards her and threw up his arms. "What?" His response was sharp and hasty, he was not holding back any emotion at this point and he didn't really care who was in his line of fire. This side of Jimmy rarely came around but when it did it was only when he was at his breaking point. It would be hard to talk him down from this and there was really only one way to break down his walls when he was this worked up but I was worried that if I approached him right now, it would only make it worse. I immediately felt guilty that I had even put any of this stress on him to begin with. Drew raised her eyebrows at him and uncrossed her arms, slugging him in his left. "First of all, lose the damn attitude, Fallon. You don't scare me and I'm not intimidated. Second of all, you BOTH need to take a step back from this and calm down. Now either the two of you figure this out or I will figure it out for you! Which is it going to be?"