Wednesday
Ally left a sleeping Larry and headed downstairs for some coffee. A light tap at the window startled her and she was surprised to see Victor at the window. She opened the front door.
"What are you doing here?"
He leaned in and kissed her cheek. "I know it's early but I wanted to see you. I wanted to see how your trip went? Did you see Larry?" He stepped past her and entered the house.
Ally turned away from the door. "Victor, I wasn't expecting you this morning."
"Yeah I know. I got your message last night when I got home. I was going to call but you said you were going to bed…."
"Hey Ally, is there any coffee ready?"
Ally and Victor turned to see Larry coming down the stairs. Larry saw them and stopped. Victor turned to Ally. "I guess I know what you meant by turning in early."
Ally cleared her thought. "Victor, this Larry."
"Well, I certainly hope so, for Maddie's sake. I'm going to have to recheck my answering machine but I don't recall you telling me that you and Larry got back together."
"Victor…"
"Save it." He turned to Larry. "It was my suggestion that she go and she find you. Did she tell you that? I wanted a future with her that didn't include you. Boy, was I the fool." He turned and walked to the door. "Have a nice life, Ally."
Victor closed the door behind him. Ally sat on the bottom step of the stairs and cried. She looked up at Larry. "I hurt him. I didn't want to."
He sat beside her. "I know, honey." He put his arm around her while she sobbed. A few minutes later she wiped her eyes. "Don't you have a plane to catch?"
He nodded.
"Then go get ready. I'll be okay here."
A short time later Larry dropped his suitcase at the door and went looking for Ally. He found her outside on the porch.
"All ready?"
"Yeah. The cab's on his way. What are you going to do today?"
"I have a ton of things to do for our wedding. When will you be returning?"
"Thursday if Jamie won't let me have Sam, Friday if he comes with me."
"How do you think she will take it?"
"I hope better than she did when she found out we were in love."
The cab honked.
"That's my ride." Larry leaned over and kissed her. "I love you."
"I love you too. Call me tonight."
"Count on it."
With that, he was gone.
Ally walked in on the staff meeting in full swing.
Richard looked up. "Ally, what are you doing here? You are suppose to be on vacation."
"I still am but I have an announcement to make and I wanted everyone together." She looked around. "Where's Elaine?"
"Right here." Elaine said from behind her.
Ally nodded. "Good, now that everyone is here, I have an announcement to make. Umm… this is going to be a surprise to you but as my friends and co- workers, I want you to be happy for me."
"Don't be so dramatic, Ally, just said it," piped up Nelle.
"Larry and I have reconciled."
Silence.
"We're getting married Saturday and we want you all there."
Suddenly the room erupted.
"Have you lost your mind?" asked Richard.
"I thought Victor was your new boy toy?" asked Nelle.
"Tell me this is a joke. You are joking, right?" asked Elaine.
"After what that man put you through, how can you even speak to him much less marry him?" asked John.
"How did this happen?" asked Corretta.
Ally held her hands up. "If you will stop throwing questions at me, I will answer you." She glanced around the room. "Over the weekend I went to Detroit to see Larry.'
"Why would you do that?" asked Richard.
"Because if I had any kind of future with Victor, I had to say good-bye to Larry for good. And that meant face to face."
Nelle spoke up. "So how did you go from 'Have a good life to I'll marry you.'?"
"I'm not going to go into the details but I'll say that we talked several times over several days both here and in Detroit. We both realize that we love each other. He made a mistake a year ago and wants to make up for it." There was not one happy face in the room. "Look, I can see that you all have serious doubts about this and maybe I'm not the best person to make this kind of decision but there isn't one person in this room, with the exception of Raymond, who doesn't remember how much in love we were and how happy he made me."
John stood up and walked to her. "And there isn't one person, including Raymond, who doesn't remember how miserable he made you after he left."
Ally looked John straight in the eyes. "I know what you are saying is out of love and concern but Larry asked me for a second chance. We all deserve a second chance."
"But why does your second chance have to include marriage?" asked Richard.
"Larry and I were meant to be together. Self doubts and a waiter with bad direction prevented this from happening a year ago but there is nothing stopping us from doing it now." Her voice cracked and her eyes watered. "My wedding day is Saturday in my home at 7pm. I want you all to be there, but if you can't support me as I would each one of you, then stay home." She walked out of the conference room and into her office. She closed the door behind her and sat at her desk with her head down.
Raymond knocked on the door as he entered. "Got a sec?"
"Go away, Raymond. This is not a good time."
But Raymond didn't move. "Are Glen and Jenny invited?"
"Sure. Whatever."
"Does Larry still love you and make you happy?"
Ally looked up. "Yeah, he does."
"I guess that's all that matters."
She smiled. "I guess it is."
"One more thing…"
"Yes?"
"How about you and me get a motel room for the night and I'll give you one last harrah before you get married.?"
"Get out!!"
"Hello?"
"Mom, it's Ally."
"Ally, dear, how are you?"
"If fine, Mom, in fact I'm terrific. How are you?"
"Busy as always. So, what is so terrific?"
"Mom, Larry and I got back together."
Silence.
"Is it what you want?"
"More than anything."
"Then I'm happy for you."
"Happy enough for you to come to Boston this weekend for my wedding?"
Silence.
"Mom?"
"I'm sorry dear, but your father and I have plans for the weekend. He is finishing up a rather difficult court case and I am seeing to it that His Honor has a relaxing weekend."
"But Mom, couldn't the two of you have a relaxing weekend in Boston and see me get married?"
"I'm sorry. We already have reservations at a resort. You know how your father loves his golfs dates."
"Yeah. I gotta go, Mom. Talk to you later."
Ally hung up the phone and stared out her bedroom window. There wasn't a single person happy for her. Not her friends and co-workers and not her parents. Nobody.
The phone rang.
"Hello?"
It was Larry. "Hey, it's me."
"I want to elope. The sooner the better."
"You want to tell me why?"
"Because I love you and I want our special day to be about just us."
"Hmmm. You want to tell me what happened?"
"No one is happy for us. Not the people at work, they think I'm crazy. Not my mother, she'd rather go play golf with my dad than come to my wedding. And last but not least, I was propositioned for a last fling sort of thing. I said no." She stretched out on her bed.
"You were what? Never mind. You may have a point about people not wanting this to happen."
"Why, what happened?"
"Jamie said no. Something about her parents coming for a visit."
"Oh, Larry, I'm sorry. Then there is no reason for us not to fly to Vegas Friday night and get married."
"Let's put that on the back burner for a while. Flights to Vegas are every hour so there is no rush. Let's see how things progress."
"All right. Does that mean you will be returning tomorrow night since you won't have Sam?"
"I'm going to hold off until Friday in case Jamie changes her mind."
"What do you think the chances are of that?"
"Pretty good since Sam really wants to go. He's so excited."
"I'm glad. I am also exhausted. I feel like I have been through the ringer."
"In that case, I will let you go to sleep and call you tomorrow. I love you."
"I love you too."
Thursday
The persistent buzzer woke Ally from a pleasant dream. She opened to door to…
"Renee!!!"
"Ally!!!"
They hugged and laughed.
"What are you doing here? Why aren't you with Tina?"
"The tour ended and I came home." She looked around. "Nice home."
"Get in here." She pulled Renee inside. "I'm so happy to see you. When did you get back?"
"I just came from the airport. So, girlfriend, I can't wait to meet Victor and Maddie. Are they here?"
"No, Maddie's spending the week with her aunt."
"And Victor?"
"He and I broke up."
"Why?"
"It seemed inappropriate to have a boyfriend when I'm marrying Larry on Saturday." Renee didn't say anything so Ally kept going. "I went to Detroit to close the book on us but something happened. We talked and cleared the air. He still loves me and I love him and this is what we want."
"Then I'm happy for you, for both of you. Aside from leaving you, I always liked Larry."
"Thank you." She leaned in and hugged Renee.
"So tell me about the wedding."
"It's going to be here at 7pm Saturday. I've invited people but they are having trouble seeing around the past to come. I suggested a Las Vegas elopement but now that you'll be here…"
"We will have a wonderful wedding here on Saturday. But it doesn't leave us much time. So let's get busy."
Richard looked at everyone in the conference room. "We should be ashamed of our selves for the way we treated Ally yesterday. She came with exciting news and we rained all over her parade. So we are going to make it up to her."
"How are we going to do that?" asked Nelle. "Buy her an expensive gift?"
"No, something better. We are going to do the same thing we did when she bought that house. We are going to make it a dream come true, this time for her wedding. I was on the phone earlier with Renee. For those of you who never that the privilege, she's Ally's best friend and former roommate. She also has the biggest set of…"
"Richard!" came John.
"Pipes. Can that girl really sing. Anyway, she tells me that nothing has been done for the wedding so while they are out shopping, we are going to decorate."
"What do I know about decorating for a wedding?" asked Raymond.
"Other than cruising for bridesmaids, nothing." replied Corretta.
"That's enough," declared Richard. "We have work to do. This is going to be a surprise for Ally so we have to be done soon. I contacted one of the department stores with a wedding department and they are going to meet us at Ally's."
John studied his partner. "I can't believe you would this for Ally. Hell, I can't believe you would do this anyone."
"I may not approve of Larry for her but if anyone deserves a happy ending, it's Ally."
"Oh Renee, do my eyes deceive me, or am I not beautiful in this wedding dress?"
Renee smiled at the reflection. "You are going to knock Mr. Paul's socks off when he sees you."
"Let's keep Mr. Paul's socks on, at least until after the ceremony."
Trisha, the sales person, came rushing in. "Oh my, you look exquisite. I'm sure your fiancée will be overwhelmed."
Ally looked at herself one more time. The dress was simple, yet elegant. "I'll take it."
While the sales person took care of the sale, Ally and Renee moved on to the lingerie. Renee held up a red teddy. "What do you think?"
"Renee," Ally exclaimed. "There is more cloth on Maddie's dolls than in that."
"Ally, honey, you won't be wearing it for Maddie's dolls. You will be wearing it for your new husband on your honeymoon."
Ally shook her head. "No honeymoon, just a wedding night."
"And why not?"
"Larry has to be back in Detroit Sunday for a trial starting Monday. Maddie goes back to school Monday and I just took a week of vacation. We will just have to wait."
"Dare I assume Larry is moving back to Boston?"
"Oh yes, he's moving back but not immediately. He has several things going on at work; he has an apartment to settle and he has to work things with Jamie regarding Sam."
"So you two are going to have a long distance marriage for a while."
"For a month or two. It will be fine. If a year apart couldn't stop us, I don't think a couple of months will be a problem."
Ally opened the front door and set her dress bag and the bag containing her peignoir on the coat rack. She looked around. "Renee, do you see this?"
"I am seeing but I'm not believing."
Someone had decorated the foyer to look like something out of a bridal magazine. There were flowers flowing down the banister of the stairs. There was a trellis, fully decorated, standing in the perfect spot. There were tables set up in the living room. It was a dream come true.
Ally turned to Renee. "Who did this?"
Renee nodded to an envelope on one of the tables. "There's a note."
Ally opened it and read. "Ally, we can't apologize for our behavior yesterday but we hope this is a good start. Love everyone.' I can't believe they did all this."
Renee chuckled. "Every once in a while Fish surprises me."
Ally smiled. "Me too. Remind me later to call and thank him. Right now I desperately need a nap."
"Well don't be too long. You and I are going out to dinner and I want every detail about this reunion."
Ally left a sleeping Larry and headed downstairs for some coffee. A light tap at the window startled her and she was surprised to see Victor at the window. She opened the front door.
"What are you doing here?"
He leaned in and kissed her cheek. "I know it's early but I wanted to see you. I wanted to see how your trip went? Did you see Larry?" He stepped past her and entered the house.
Ally turned away from the door. "Victor, I wasn't expecting you this morning."
"Yeah I know. I got your message last night when I got home. I was going to call but you said you were going to bed…."
"Hey Ally, is there any coffee ready?"
Ally and Victor turned to see Larry coming down the stairs. Larry saw them and stopped. Victor turned to Ally. "I guess I know what you meant by turning in early."
Ally cleared her thought. "Victor, this Larry."
"Well, I certainly hope so, for Maddie's sake. I'm going to have to recheck my answering machine but I don't recall you telling me that you and Larry got back together."
"Victor…"
"Save it." He turned to Larry. "It was my suggestion that she go and she find you. Did she tell you that? I wanted a future with her that didn't include you. Boy, was I the fool." He turned and walked to the door. "Have a nice life, Ally."
Victor closed the door behind him. Ally sat on the bottom step of the stairs and cried. She looked up at Larry. "I hurt him. I didn't want to."
He sat beside her. "I know, honey." He put his arm around her while she sobbed. A few minutes later she wiped her eyes. "Don't you have a plane to catch?"
He nodded.
"Then go get ready. I'll be okay here."
A short time later Larry dropped his suitcase at the door and went looking for Ally. He found her outside on the porch.
"All ready?"
"Yeah. The cab's on his way. What are you going to do today?"
"I have a ton of things to do for our wedding. When will you be returning?"
"Thursday if Jamie won't let me have Sam, Friday if he comes with me."
"How do you think she will take it?"
"I hope better than she did when she found out we were in love."
The cab honked.
"That's my ride." Larry leaned over and kissed her. "I love you."
"I love you too. Call me tonight."
"Count on it."
With that, he was gone.
Ally walked in on the staff meeting in full swing.
Richard looked up. "Ally, what are you doing here? You are suppose to be on vacation."
"I still am but I have an announcement to make and I wanted everyone together." She looked around. "Where's Elaine?"
"Right here." Elaine said from behind her.
Ally nodded. "Good, now that everyone is here, I have an announcement to make. Umm… this is going to be a surprise to you but as my friends and co- workers, I want you to be happy for me."
"Don't be so dramatic, Ally, just said it," piped up Nelle.
"Larry and I have reconciled."
Silence.
"We're getting married Saturday and we want you all there."
Suddenly the room erupted.
"Have you lost your mind?" asked Richard.
"I thought Victor was your new boy toy?" asked Nelle.
"Tell me this is a joke. You are joking, right?" asked Elaine.
"After what that man put you through, how can you even speak to him much less marry him?" asked John.
"How did this happen?" asked Corretta.
Ally held her hands up. "If you will stop throwing questions at me, I will answer you." She glanced around the room. "Over the weekend I went to Detroit to see Larry.'
"Why would you do that?" asked Richard.
"Because if I had any kind of future with Victor, I had to say good-bye to Larry for good. And that meant face to face."
Nelle spoke up. "So how did you go from 'Have a good life to I'll marry you.'?"
"I'm not going to go into the details but I'll say that we talked several times over several days both here and in Detroit. We both realize that we love each other. He made a mistake a year ago and wants to make up for it." There was not one happy face in the room. "Look, I can see that you all have serious doubts about this and maybe I'm not the best person to make this kind of decision but there isn't one person in this room, with the exception of Raymond, who doesn't remember how much in love we were and how happy he made me."
John stood up and walked to her. "And there isn't one person, including Raymond, who doesn't remember how miserable he made you after he left."
Ally looked John straight in the eyes. "I know what you are saying is out of love and concern but Larry asked me for a second chance. We all deserve a second chance."
"But why does your second chance have to include marriage?" asked Richard.
"Larry and I were meant to be together. Self doubts and a waiter with bad direction prevented this from happening a year ago but there is nothing stopping us from doing it now." Her voice cracked and her eyes watered. "My wedding day is Saturday in my home at 7pm. I want you all to be there, but if you can't support me as I would each one of you, then stay home." She walked out of the conference room and into her office. She closed the door behind her and sat at her desk with her head down.
Raymond knocked on the door as he entered. "Got a sec?"
"Go away, Raymond. This is not a good time."
But Raymond didn't move. "Are Glen and Jenny invited?"
"Sure. Whatever."
"Does Larry still love you and make you happy?"
Ally looked up. "Yeah, he does."
"I guess that's all that matters."
She smiled. "I guess it is."
"One more thing…"
"Yes?"
"How about you and me get a motel room for the night and I'll give you one last harrah before you get married.?"
"Get out!!"
"Hello?"
"Mom, it's Ally."
"Ally, dear, how are you?"
"If fine, Mom, in fact I'm terrific. How are you?"
"Busy as always. So, what is so terrific?"
"Mom, Larry and I got back together."
Silence.
"Is it what you want?"
"More than anything."
"Then I'm happy for you."
"Happy enough for you to come to Boston this weekend for my wedding?"
Silence.
"Mom?"
"I'm sorry dear, but your father and I have plans for the weekend. He is finishing up a rather difficult court case and I am seeing to it that His Honor has a relaxing weekend."
"But Mom, couldn't the two of you have a relaxing weekend in Boston and see me get married?"
"I'm sorry. We already have reservations at a resort. You know how your father loves his golfs dates."
"Yeah. I gotta go, Mom. Talk to you later."
Ally hung up the phone and stared out her bedroom window. There wasn't a single person happy for her. Not her friends and co-workers and not her parents. Nobody.
The phone rang.
"Hello?"
It was Larry. "Hey, it's me."
"I want to elope. The sooner the better."
"You want to tell me why?"
"Because I love you and I want our special day to be about just us."
"Hmmm. You want to tell me what happened?"
"No one is happy for us. Not the people at work, they think I'm crazy. Not my mother, she'd rather go play golf with my dad than come to my wedding. And last but not least, I was propositioned for a last fling sort of thing. I said no." She stretched out on her bed.
"You were what? Never mind. You may have a point about people not wanting this to happen."
"Why, what happened?"
"Jamie said no. Something about her parents coming for a visit."
"Oh, Larry, I'm sorry. Then there is no reason for us not to fly to Vegas Friday night and get married."
"Let's put that on the back burner for a while. Flights to Vegas are every hour so there is no rush. Let's see how things progress."
"All right. Does that mean you will be returning tomorrow night since you won't have Sam?"
"I'm going to hold off until Friday in case Jamie changes her mind."
"What do you think the chances are of that?"
"Pretty good since Sam really wants to go. He's so excited."
"I'm glad. I am also exhausted. I feel like I have been through the ringer."
"In that case, I will let you go to sleep and call you tomorrow. I love you."
"I love you too."
Thursday
The persistent buzzer woke Ally from a pleasant dream. She opened to door to…
"Renee!!!"
"Ally!!!"
They hugged and laughed.
"What are you doing here? Why aren't you with Tina?"
"The tour ended and I came home." She looked around. "Nice home."
"Get in here." She pulled Renee inside. "I'm so happy to see you. When did you get back?"
"I just came from the airport. So, girlfriend, I can't wait to meet Victor and Maddie. Are they here?"
"No, Maddie's spending the week with her aunt."
"And Victor?"
"He and I broke up."
"Why?"
"It seemed inappropriate to have a boyfriend when I'm marrying Larry on Saturday." Renee didn't say anything so Ally kept going. "I went to Detroit to close the book on us but something happened. We talked and cleared the air. He still loves me and I love him and this is what we want."
"Then I'm happy for you, for both of you. Aside from leaving you, I always liked Larry."
"Thank you." She leaned in and hugged Renee.
"So tell me about the wedding."
"It's going to be here at 7pm Saturday. I've invited people but they are having trouble seeing around the past to come. I suggested a Las Vegas elopement but now that you'll be here…"
"We will have a wonderful wedding here on Saturday. But it doesn't leave us much time. So let's get busy."
Richard looked at everyone in the conference room. "We should be ashamed of our selves for the way we treated Ally yesterday. She came with exciting news and we rained all over her parade. So we are going to make it up to her."
"How are we going to do that?" asked Nelle. "Buy her an expensive gift?"
"No, something better. We are going to do the same thing we did when she bought that house. We are going to make it a dream come true, this time for her wedding. I was on the phone earlier with Renee. For those of you who never that the privilege, she's Ally's best friend and former roommate. She also has the biggest set of…"
"Richard!" came John.
"Pipes. Can that girl really sing. Anyway, she tells me that nothing has been done for the wedding so while they are out shopping, we are going to decorate."
"What do I know about decorating for a wedding?" asked Raymond.
"Other than cruising for bridesmaids, nothing." replied Corretta.
"That's enough," declared Richard. "We have work to do. This is going to be a surprise for Ally so we have to be done soon. I contacted one of the department stores with a wedding department and they are going to meet us at Ally's."
John studied his partner. "I can't believe you would this for Ally. Hell, I can't believe you would do this anyone."
"I may not approve of Larry for her but if anyone deserves a happy ending, it's Ally."
"Oh Renee, do my eyes deceive me, or am I not beautiful in this wedding dress?"
Renee smiled at the reflection. "You are going to knock Mr. Paul's socks off when he sees you."
"Let's keep Mr. Paul's socks on, at least until after the ceremony."
Trisha, the sales person, came rushing in. "Oh my, you look exquisite. I'm sure your fiancée will be overwhelmed."
Ally looked at herself one more time. The dress was simple, yet elegant. "I'll take it."
While the sales person took care of the sale, Ally and Renee moved on to the lingerie. Renee held up a red teddy. "What do you think?"
"Renee," Ally exclaimed. "There is more cloth on Maddie's dolls than in that."
"Ally, honey, you won't be wearing it for Maddie's dolls. You will be wearing it for your new husband on your honeymoon."
Ally shook her head. "No honeymoon, just a wedding night."
"And why not?"
"Larry has to be back in Detroit Sunday for a trial starting Monday. Maddie goes back to school Monday and I just took a week of vacation. We will just have to wait."
"Dare I assume Larry is moving back to Boston?"
"Oh yes, he's moving back but not immediately. He has several things going on at work; he has an apartment to settle and he has to work things with Jamie regarding Sam."
"So you two are going to have a long distance marriage for a while."
"For a month or two. It will be fine. If a year apart couldn't stop us, I don't think a couple of months will be a problem."
Ally opened the front door and set her dress bag and the bag containing her peignoir on the coat rack. She looked around. "Renee, do you see this?"
"I am seeing but I'm not believing."
Someone had decorated the foyer to look like something out of a bridal magazine. There were flowers flowing down the banister of the stairs. There was a trellis, fully decorated, standing in the perfect spot. There were tables set up in the living room. It was a dream come true.
Ally turned to Renee. "Who did this?"
Renee nodded to an envelope on one of the tables. "There's a note."
Ally opened it and read. "Ally, we can't apologize for our behavior yesterday but we hope this is a good start. Love everyone.' I can't believe they did all this."
Renee chuckled. "Every once in a while Fish surprises me."
Ally smiled. "Me too. Remind me later to call and thank him. Right now I desperately need a nap."
"Well don't be too long. You and I are going out to dinner and I want every detail about this reunion."