Page 72 of August
Myra laughed silently. They had been talking about the work on Kyle’s office, but Myra had long ago put the blueprints away in her bag. They’d just been finishing their lunch for the past ten minutes.
“Jill said you were up here. Hey, Myra,” Kyle said with a smile. “Why are you eating up here?”
“Just wanted a little peace and quiet,” Melinda replied. “Want the rest of my sandwich?” she asked before walking over to Kyle to give her a quick kiss.
“No, thank you. I ate lunch already. I just needed a break from work, so I thought I’d stop by and see if you could get off work early, maybe, and we could take a walk or something. I need fresh air.”
Myra made a mental note to check out the windows in Kyle’s office. She might be able to improve the fresh air situation in her remodel.
“Sure. I just need to check with Jill to make sure we’re good,” Melinda said.
Kyle pulled Melinda into her and said, “I can’t wait to marry you.” She smiled wide. “Do we have to wait? We can go down to the justice of the peace and do it today.”
“What? Where did this come from?” Melinda laughed as she wrapped her arms around Kyle’s neck.
“I don’t know. Earlier, I got off the phone with Jolie and my mom. We were trying to plan their trip down here for the wedding, along with everything else we’ve been planning, and it just felt like a lot. I thought if we just got married today with, like, two witnesses, it would be a lot easier.”
“But we wouldn’t get the wedding we’ve been planning for months now,” Melinda said. “There’s a dress, Ky. There’s a really pretty dress.”
“You look pretty in all the dresses,” Kyle replied. “And I know.” She looked over Melinda’s shoulder and asked Myra, “Did you do the whole big thing with your ex?”
“We did, yeah. Not huge, but big enough.”
“And was it worth it? I want to be married to her. The ceremony and the party are great, but it’s more about me being with her forever.”
“Well, you’re asking someone who got divorced, so I’m not sure I’m the best one to advise you on that. I’m also not much for ceremonies or parties myself. It was mostly for her.I would’ve done the city hall thing. I just wanted to be married to her, too. It wasn’t that expensive, and her parents paid for a lot of it, so it didn’t put us into debt, thankfully.” Myra looked at the two of them and added, “You two don’t really worry about that, though.”
“I would never let our wedding put us in debt even if Ky hadn’t inherited money. I’d want whatever we had to be for our first house together or something. Since we already have that, though, I feel less guilty about having a beautiful ceremony in the backyard.”
“I’m just tired,” Kyle shared. “My sister asked if there would be any single men present since we’re all gay and Keith is Candace’s fiancé.”
“God, do we even know any single straight guys?” Melinda asked.
“I work with a few,” Myra said with a shrug. “Want me to invite the guys from work? I know at least three of them are single and relatively age-appropriate.”
“What isrelatively?” Kyle asked.
“Twenty-five to thirty-five, I think.”
“Let’s talk,” Kyle replied.
“We are not inviting random single dudes to our wedding.” Melinda laughed. “You realize why she’s asking that, don’t you? Jolie doesn’t live down here. She’s not asking for a nice guy to meet so they can live happily ever after. She’s asking for a guy she can sleep with while she’s in town.”
“Gross,” Kyle said. “Babe!”
“What?” Melinda laughed again. “It’s true. Ask her.”
“Myra, can we skip inviting the guys?”
“Sure,” Myra replied through her own laughter at Kyle’s expression.
???
After her late lunch with Melinda and Kyle’s unexpected visit, Myra decided that instead of going back to the office to close out the day, she would do that at home on her laptop later and would get to Elisa’s house earlier to get some extrawork done. She hadn’t texted in advance because she figured she would message when she got home, and if Elisa said she wasn’t ready for her, Myra would pull out her computer and get to work until it was their agreed-upon time for her to start work. When she pulled into her driveway, though, she noticed Gwen in the front yard, holding a leash, and there was a dog attached to it.
“Hey,” Gwen said when she looked up after Myra got out of her truck.
“Uh… Hey,” Myra replied.
