The Difference Between Getting and Needing

f o r t y - e i g h t

in paper rings, in picture frames,
in all my dreams,
you're the one i w a n t . . .

〰️〰️〰️

My apartment had never been a peaceful place. Not when I first moved in. Not when I briefly moved out. Not even when I moved back in after getting married, going to therapy, and revamping my entire relationship.

And definitely not on the morning of my wedding.

I was just about to take the very last sip of my coffee, seated at the kitchen island with Gus when Sutton barged through the door, a tired Koa hot on her manic heels. She swore to me that she'd be at my place by eight o'clock on the dot and unfortunately for my sake, she wasn't kidding. For a minute, I debated on telling our doorman not to let her in, but I knew that would make a bigger mess than I'd want to clean up.

The two of them had gotten to the city last night a whole entire twenty-four hours earlier than the rest of our family. Everyone was staying in the same hotel after the party since so many people lived far out of the city and I wouldn't expect anyone to drive back late at night. As my self-proclaimed Maid of Honor (even though I refused to have any of that traditional wedding bullshit), Sutton gave herself permission to do whatever she deemed necessary in preparing me for "the happiest day of my life". That meant checking in a day early and showing up at my apartment whenever she damn well pleased.

Like many, many times before, she swept me up in her cyclone ways and I hadn't had a moment of rest since her arrival. In the meantime, Koa ran off with Gus because my sister had lovingly instructed him to do so. Apparently we needed the whole place to ourselves to get ready, which meant no distractions – aka our husbands.

The only people whose whereabouts I knew of were Collin and Fallon, the only two souls that my sister would allow in my apartment. Right now, they had a pretty good gig serving as moral support from the comfort of my living room couch. Even Ziggy deserted me to hang out with them, although I couldn't blame him. If I could stay out of Sutton's way, I would.

We had four hours until the party started. In a corner of my bedroom facing a full-length mirror, Sutton hovered over me with a curling wand in her hand, loosely wrapping the last few chunks of my hair around the barrel. Over the sounds of the "mood-boosting" playlist she chose for background noise, I could hear Collin and Fallon laughing at whatever they were watching on my TV.

I had to give my sister credit. The girl was a wizard whenever it came to getting shit done. The Four Seasons Hotel had on-site wedding specialists that insisted on making your wildest dreams come true. Sutton didn't care, so she basically told them thanks but no thanks and did everything in her power to make this shindig everything I could have ever wanted.

That being said, she'd been working her ass off for months. In the middle of curling my hair, Sutton loudly inhaled, and my gaze lifted from the floor to see her jaw unhinged in a massive yawn.

"Did I just see a yawn?" I gasped in mock horror. "We've got a long night ahead of us so you better cut that shit out."

I was partially joking, but I also didn't want to deal with a cranky, tired Sutton. She was my right-hand woman for the day and if she wasn't on top of her game, we'd all suffer.

"You're right. I've been up since five and I'm hitting a wall. I need coffee," she announced, vigorously shaking her head as if that was her way of hitting a reset button.