Marathon

Chapter 12

Robert decided that he was going to treat this as if he was picking up his girlfriend like he would if he was a teenager. He snuck past Veronica's bed room and out the front door. He stood on the porch for a minute and then knocked. Melinda opened the door and smiled.

"Veronica! Your very handsome date is here!"

"Oh Jesus. OK! I'm coming!" Her bedroom door opened and she walked dow the hallway to the stairs. As she descended, Addie whistled and Robert turned into the heart eye emoji.

"You look stunning babe."

"You look pretty stunning yourself my love." She reached the bottom of the stairs and Robert kissed her cheek and held his arm out for her. Together they walked out of the house and over to the black towncar that was waiting for them in the driveway.

"You rented a car?"

"I wanted to make this special." They got into the back of the car and started heading toward the restaurant. Robert decided on a restaurant called Alinea.

"So where are we going?"

"Still not telling."

"You're the worst."

"I'm hurt. That hurt my soul."

"I love you so much it's not even funny."

"I love you too."

"I was thinking,"

"What were you thinking?"

"What if we moved the wedding up?"

"Why?"

"I don't want to wait. I want to get married as soon as possible."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Can we work something out for this year? We might have to put the honey moon off for a little bit."

"I don't care so much about the honeymoon."

"Me either. Can we still do the Halloween wedding?"

"That gives us no time to plan anything. What if we did a courthouse wedding with our families and then next year, we do a big wedding."

"I like that idea." Veronica cuddled up to Robert in the backseat.

Five minutes later, they pulled up in front of a beautiful restaurant. The driver got out of the car and opened the door for Robert, who got out and helped Veronica out of the car. The couple walked into the restaurant and Robert gave his name to the host. She led them to a semi secluded table in the back. Robert pulled Veronica's chair out and let her sit down before sitting down on the other side of the table.

"I think I'd like to pay for my family to come to the wedding."

"I'll help! Australia is way farther than Chicago." Veronica said, excitedly.

"We should pay for both of our families to come. Maybe we can split the cost down the middle? We each pay for one of your family and then we can split my 4?"

"That's a great idea."

"So... um are you going to keep your name or...?"

"I'm absolutely changing my name. Veronica Manion has a pretty nice ring to it."

"It does. But you know, if you want to keep your name for professional reasons, I won't be upset at all."

"Honestly, I'm the type of person to put my family first. I love my job. I love what I do, however, if I had to, I would give it up in a heartbeat. So I'm not worried about my professional persona. People will address me as Mrs. Manion."