You're Not Alone

37: Stress

2 months later
AMELIAS POV
Wedding planning. That's all I do. All day everyday. I'm so stressed out about it. There's so much that needs to get done, and honestly I'm doing the easy stuff. I haven't even looked at dresses yet, or gone dress shopping. It's stressful. Kamryn got a dress. It's light pink and it matches Zola's. It's adorable. They're both going to be flower girls and then Bailey is going to be the ring bearer since he wanted a role too.
"Hey," I heard, breaking me from my thoughts. I was at work, and of course all I could think about was the wedding and the million things I had to do.
"Hey," I turned to see Owen.
"So I was doing some thinking last night," he said.
"As you do," I chuckled.
"And I found a few options for name cards for the wedding tables," he said. He was really such a big help with everything.
"Okay," I smiled and he pulled out his phone.
"If you don't like any of them I won't be offended," he said.
"Owen I'm sure they're good," I chuckled and looked over his shoulder. He had 10 different cards saved on his phone.
"You don't have to decide now," he said.
"I like those three," I said and pointed to the bottom row, "to consider."
"Okay," he said, "and tonight we're going to do seating arrangements? Our moms said they would come at 6." Shit, I forgot I agreed to do that.
"Yeah," I said, "Sounds perfect." I kissed his cheek as we walked down the hallway. I love Owen, so much, and I want to marry him so badly, but this whole wedding planning is stressing me out so much, there's so much I have to do and so little time.
-
I scrubbed out of my surgery and it was so long. My back was absolutely killing me and I was exhausted. I needed to go see Kamryn. I saw her before my surgery but I missed her. I walked into daycare and she was playing house with her cousins. It was so cute.
"Mama!" She smiled and ran over to me and hugged me, she always made my exhausting days better.
"Hi sweetheart," I smiled, "how's your day?"
"Good," she said, "Bailey, Ellis, Zola, and I are having a picnic in the play house!"
"That sounds like a lot of fun," I smiled.
"How's your day mama?" She asked.
"Good," I said.
"Aunty Amy do you want to join us?" Zola smiled.
"Sure," I said and Kamryn grabbed my hand and we all sat down by the little play house. Kamryn snuggled into me and I felt all of my stress leave my body.
OWENS POV
I was getting ready for Amelia and Kamryn to come home, and then our moms were coming over soon to work out seating arrangements. I heard the door of the apartment unlock and Amelia and Kamryn came in.
"Hey," I smiled and picked up Kamryn as she ran to hug me, "how are my girls doing?"
"Good," Amelia said, she looked exhausted though. I put Kamryn down and she ran off to her room.
"Hey," I said.
"Hey," Amelia said and pecked my lips, "how was your shift?"
"It was good," I said.
"That's good," Amelia said. She walked over to the table and saw all the wedding stuff.
"Oh shit when are our moms coming?" She said and looked at me.
"6, did you forget?" I chuckled.
"No I just, yeah, I have a lot on my mind," she said and took her jacket off.
"You okay?" I asked.
"Yeah I'm fine," she said, the biggest lie she could ever tell me.
"You wanna talk about it?" I asked.
"I'm not in the mood," she said and dropped her keys on the counter.
"Okay," I said, "did I do something?"
"No," she said.
"Okay," I said confused.
"I'm gonna go shower," Amelia said.
"Okay," I said, but I was so worried about her.
AMELIAS POV
Fuck. I forgot about wedding planning again because I'm so exhausted. I can't cancel. I feel so shitty because Owen is trying to hard and I can't just cancel. I'm so exhausted I just need sleep, which I barely do anymore because I'm always stressed, or I'm always doing surgery. I got out of the shower and got dressed and looked at the clock, it was almost 6. I walked into the kitchen and Owen and Kamryn were eating pizza.
"Your pieces are heating up in the toaster oven so they don't get cold," Owen said.
"Thanks honey," I smiled and kissed his cheek. I sat down next to Kamryn and ate dinner with them.
"Kamryn was telling me about your picnic at daycare," Owen said.
"Yeah," Kamryn said, "It was a picnic and tea party in one!"
"It was," I smiled. I kissed her head and we finished eating dinner. When we were done Kamryn and I started watching cartoons on the couch.
"Mama?" Kamryn said.
"Yeah?" I said.
"Are you tired?" Kamryn asked.
"Yeah," I chuckled, "Mama's tired."
"You should take a nap," she said cutely.
"I will later," I said, "Mama and Daddy have to do some wedding stuff tonight."
"With your mama?" She asked.
"Yup," I said. The doorbell rang and I got up and answered it while Kamryn continued watching TV.
"Wedding time!" My mom smiled and hugged me.
"Yup," I smiled and Owen's mom arrived too.
"Oh I'm so excited!" She smiled and hugged both of us.
"Mom we're just writing names down," Owen chuckled.
"I know, but it's exciting," Evelyn smiled. The four of us sat down at the table and we had the board of tables, and names. So many names.
"Alright well you two are going to sit at this table with Meredith, Maggie, Megan, and Nathan," I said.
"You know there's three empty seats at that table," my mom said.
"Were working on those three," I said, meaning my sisters.
"Is that why there's a question mark next to their names on the list?" My mom said.
"Who?" Evelyn said.
"My sisters," I said and shot my mom a glance.
"Did they respond?" My mom said.
"They will," I said.
"Did you invite them?" My mom said.
"Yes," I lied, their invitations were sitting on the counter and I haven't mailed them yet. Everyone else's went out a week ago so what's the difference.
"Fine," my mom said, "we're not arguing about that now."
"There's nothing to argue about," I said.
"Why is there a star by that table?" Evelyn asked, trying to change the subject.
"It's the kids table," I said.
"Oh so that's where Owen's name should go," Evelyn joked. I laughed and so did my mom.
"Hey," Owen pouted. I chuckled and kissed his cheek.
-
We were still filling out the board when I looked at the clock and it was almost 9.
"I'll be right back," I said and walked down the hallway. I opened Kamryns door and she was playing on her iPad.
"Hey it's time for bed," I said.
"Are you still wedding planning?" She asked.
"Yeah," I chuckled, "it's a long process."
"Can we read a book before bed?" She said.
"Sure," I said, "go pick one out." I sat down on the bed and she came back with a book. She crawled into my lap and we read the book together to help her reading. By the time we finished the book she was super sleepy.
"Good night Kamryn I love you," I said.
"Good night mama I love you too," she said. I kissed her forehead and pulled the covers over her. I put her book back on the shelf and cleaned up a few toys she left out. I walked back into the kitchen and thankfully we were almost done with the board.
OWENS POV
We finally finished the seating chart. Who knew seating arrangements would be such a process.
"Alright we're done," Amelia smiled.
"No were not," Carolyn said. Amelia shot her a glance and Carolyn rolled her eyes.
"There's still three people on this list," Carolyn said.
"Mom I mailed their invitations," Amelia said.
"No you didn't," Carolyn said.
"And how would you know that?" Amelia said.
"Because they didn't call me about it, or even mention your wedding," Carolyn said.
"Fine I didn't mail them," Amelia said, which was news to me.
"You didn't?" I said.
"I'm going to, I'll do it this week," Amelia said.
"Fine," her mom said. Amelia got up and grabbed something off the counter and handed it to her mom. It was Nancy, Kathleen, and Liz's invitations, all with their names written in Amelias pretty script handwriting.
"Mail them," Carolyn said.
"I will," Amelia said, and she looked really annoyed. I couldn't blame her, she hated her sisters.
-
Our moms left and Amelia was really quiet. I couldn't tell if it was about her sisters or what was bothering her before. Or both.
"Honey you okay?" I asked as I sat down next to her in bed.
"I think I'm gonna go to bed," she said and rolled over.
"Ok, good night," I sighed.
"Good night," she said, "love you."
"Love you too," I said. We laid there silently and I could hear her sniffling, I could tell she was trying hard to hold it in but it wasn't working.
"Amelia," I said, "honey what's wrong?" She started crying into her pillow and I didn't know what to do.
"Amelia," I said and rubbed her back.
"I'm sorry," she said.
"Why are you apologizing? What's wrong?" I said. She looked at me teary eyed and sighed.
"I just, I'm exhausted, and I forgot about wedding planning twice today. Twice. That makes me feel like a horrible fiancé. I'm so tired, we have so much planning to do and such little time. I haven't even looked for a dress yet, and we have to look at cakes, photographers, name cards, silverware, dinning options, and so much other stuff and I'm exhausted. I want to marry you because you're the love of my life but I'm so stressed that I barely sleep anymore, and not to mention my back has been killing me after all my surgeries. I'm just so tired Owen, and now I can't even sleep because I'm so worried about my sisters," she said.
"Amelia why didn't you say something?" I said and brought her into my arms.
"Because you were so excited about all the planning and you're so good at managing it all," she said.
"We can take a break for a little while, I didn't know it was overwhelming you so much, all you have to do is say something honey," I said.
"I feel bad," she said.
"Why?" I said, "we can take breaks, its okay."
"Because you're so good at it," I confessed, "you manage your time so well and you're always up for it and it doesn't overwhelm you as easily."
"How about this? Starting today, Wednesday, we won't talk about wedding planning until Sunday," I suggested, "so you can have some relief for the next few days."
"Okay," She nodded, "you're sure that's okay? We won't fall too behind in planning?"
"Stop stressing," I chuckled, "you're doing it right now."
"Sorry," She chuckled.
"I love you, and please, whenever something's bothering you or you feel overwhelmed, talk to me," I said.
"I love you too, and I will," she said and kissed me.
"Is your back still hurting?" I asked. She nodded.
"Come here," I said. She sat in front of me and I massaged her back for her.
"You're the best," she said.
"Pretty sure that's your title," I said.
"You can have it," she said, "I've already claimed super mom." I chuckled and kissed her cheek.
"You can be whatever you want," I said, "I love you."
"I love you too," she smiled.