TKB - The Time Apart

Chapter 15 - An Evans Wedding (Part 1)

Elle POV

Kelsey, Ben and I arrived back in LA after a long, but uneventful, flight with a quick layover in NYC.  Ben was disappointed that we didn't even get to leave the airport, but was happy enough to enjoy some NY Pizza and bagels in the airport.  I tried to explain to him that airport food is not the same as the food outside of the airport - but apparently, that didn't seem to phase him.   

The plan was for Kelsey to stay at her mom's, and for Ben to stay with us.  I know my dad wasn't thrilled about it, but he didn't really have much choice.  We had a small office that we were able to put an air mattress in for him - there was no way my dad was ready to let him share my room, not under his roof.  Considering they had never met, I accepted this, and understood my dad's hesitancy.  I mean, he couldn't exactly keep us apart the entire 2 weeks we were there, considering there was so much to do, and right after the wedding, he'd be heading out on his honeymoon anyway.

Since we had arrived too late for Sunday breakfast, the parents had decided to throw us a small coming home dinner.  Personally, I think June just wanted an excuse to cook a big meal.  So, that night, Linda and Kelsey, my family plus Ben, plus 3 of the 4 Flynn's all gathered around their table for dinner.  Our group had expanded, and it felt so nice to be back with my family.

After dinner, I noticed Ben hadn't come back from his trip to the bathroom.  I went looking for him to make sure he wasn't lost, and I found him staring at a picture on the wall in the hallway.  It was a photo of Noah and I, from that last summer at the beach.  

I remembered the moment, but I'm not sure how I never saw this picture before.  It was early in the summer, before I had gotten so wrapped up in the bucket list, and before everything with Noah went wrong.  We had gone for a walk on the beach, and the klutz that I am, had fallen in the sand and was totally covered in it.   Noah had picked me up and tried to help me clean off, but instead, I pulled him down with me and covered him as well.  We couldn't stop laughing, and Noah ended up carrying me back to the house with us both looking like sand monsters.  June must have snapped a picture from her balcony of us coming back, and we looked so incredibly happy.  I'm sure she didn't know about the shower that we had afterwards to get ourselves cleaned up, because if I helped get him all sandy, I just had to help him get the sand off of him as well, right?  

Brushing that memory aside...I put on my best smile, and asked Ben what he was looking at.  Honestly, the topic of Noah had come up before because Lee had been with us, but I had never shared with him all of the details of our relationship, so I wasn't sure what to expect from his response.  He just looked at me and said "You look really happy here".  I didn't know what to make of this statement, and I didn't want to push, or start an argument, here at the Flynn house.  So, I just responded with "yeah, that was an interesting summer, I guess".   That seemed to satisfy the conversation for now, but I had a feeling this was something that would come up again while we were here.  

We ended up leaving the Flynn's a short while later, and I was glad.  I did not want to be thinking about Noah during this trip, and didn't want to divert my attention away from Ben.  We may only have the next two weeks together after all. 

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The week before the wedding was a blast.  Lee and I took Ben and Kelsey to all of our favorite spots - Dunes, where May offered me my old job back for the summer (and I happily accepted), the arcade, and even that amusement park where we did the go-kart race.  The one place we did NOT go was the beach house.  I still wasn't sure what Ben was reading into that picture of Noah and I, and I didn't want the subject to come up again.  

The wedding was called for Saturday, the night before would be a "rehearsal" dinner at the Flynn's, and that Thursday was going to be a pseudo-bachelor/bachelorette party.  Dad and Linda had decided they were too old for the traditional celebrations, so instead, we had decided that the girls would go out and celebrate Linda, and the guys would celebrate dad.  Since Kelsey and I had been in London since the engagement, Linda never had a bridal shower, so this was really our opportunity to celebrate her.  Plus, Lee had agreed to take Ben with him for the night.