It felt like it took a long time but, finally, the Wednesday arrived that we had agreed to meet with Sean. Lory was ecstatic when she heard what I had arranged. We had been talking a lot about our wedding, and we thought that the beach, near the shipwreck, would be a perfect place to get married. Since it is also where we met. Monday I got the mail about the two articles I needed to write, which would be published next week. One of them is about an oil spill in the Ocean, some kind of rumor that a megalomaniac did not spill it, but dumped it.

Well, I researched him and it is probably right. Yesterday I sent in the article. The other is about cats fighting dogs. Yes, it seems there is an increase in territorial fights lately. When I told Lory this, she could not stop laughing. Tomorrow I need to visit the local veterinarian.

As I woke up, I did the usual routine, to freshen up in the bathroom. We had finished that game Moon Fantasy, it had quite a dark ending. I never saw it coming. Who knew it had such a downer ending. Everyone died, well, almost everyone. Friday is also going to be fun, Riley is coming to visit us for Dungeons and Dragons. That reminds me, I need to make sure to pick up beer for him. Maybe some snacks? Perhaps he likes those pretzel snack things.

I started to walk towards the kitchen, when I walked out of the bathroom I almost bumped into Lory. “Holy fuck, Lorraine, you scared the shit out of me.”

She giggled awkwardly, “Sorry, I need to pee.”

I grabbed my chest, “Go pee.” She ran over to the toilet and sat down.

I sighed, “You normally never do that.”

Lory chuckled awkwardly, “Sorry, I really had to pee.”

“Oh, my crocs.”

“They are here.”

“Thanks,” I grabbed my crocs and left to the kitchen.

When in the kitchen, I started to make coffee. I opened the fridge and took out the pickles. I opened the jar and pulled my face back, “What a disgusting stench.” Then I grabbed a tortilla wrap and put butter on it, then I sprinkled sugar over it. Now comes the horrible part, I cut the pickles into slices and put them on the wrap. Then I rolled it up. “Who the fuck even eats this, my wife to be, apparently.”

Disgusted by this horrendous monster I just made, I put it down for her. “Oh, she drinks tea now.” Quickly I made a cup of tea. Lory walked in while wearing her favorite blue nightgown. I usually walked around in my underwear.

She sat down, “Sorry for spooking you like that.”

“No worries, darling, I just had not expected you to be awake. You looked so deep in sleep when I went to the bathroom.”

She giggled, “Like I said, I needed to pee.” She took a bite from the wrap, moaning in pleasure. Lory burst out in laughter.

“What? Did I not make it like you wanted to?”

“Yes, you did perfectly honey but your face.”

“What is wrong with my face?”

“You are looking at me, as if I am eating the grossest thing ever.”

“Well, you are.”

She laughed, “Thank you for making it for me.”

“No worries at all. We have that meeting with Sean later today.”

Lory nodded, “I took the day off. We can just, relax. You have a meeting tomorrow, right?”

“Yes, about the territorial cats.”

Lory giggled, “It still makes no sense, the other article you wrote looked good, did you get word back yet?”

“I have not checked my email yet.”

I put down my sandwich with bacon and eggs while grabbing the laptop. Lory spoke up, “I spoke with the doctor yesterday.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, they want the first echo around twelve weeks, something to do with my genetic defect. Make sure the baby is fine, check if, whatever gender it is, will have a tail.”

I looked at her with a confused look, “Aren’t the echoes normally around twenty weeks or something?”

Lory nodded, “Like I said,” she moaned in pleasure from the ungodly wrap, “They want to make sure everything is fine. I am just glad we have health insurance.”

I sighed, “A lot of our money disappears into that.” While we had been talking, I opened my email. “Oh, I have a response from New News. I still hate the name.” I heard Lory chuckle. “It comes down to, they really loved my take on the article, it will be placed on page two of their online newspaper.” I chuckled, “New News newspaper!”

Lory almost chocked, I got up and helped her, it seems she almost chocked because she laughed. “Are you alright, honey?”

“Yes, now I am. However, you say the stupidest things.”

I laughed, “That I do. When you are done eating breakfast, what would you like to do? It’s raining outside today, I rather stay indoors.”

She nodded, “We could play a video game?”

“Yes, that sounds like an excellent plan. I never asked, what did you think about the secret ending of Moon Fantasy?”

“I had expected more of the secret ending, but it does have this feeling that there will be a second installment, I did not expect for most of the people to die. It did add a certain special flare to the game. Life is precious, you never know when it might end.”

“That is true, I will boot up the console and heat up the couch. Since someone, I am not going to say who, stole half of my sandwich.” As I walked away, I heard Lory let out a sinister chuckle. I sighed, “Those hormones are making her crazy already.”

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We played video games until it was time to get dressed, since Sean would be arriving soon. If he thinks I am putting on decent pants for seeing him when he comes to our house, he will be very mistaken. It is time for sweatpants. Lory looked at me, “Seriously, sweatpants?”

“Yeah, I bet, if we visited his home, he would be in sweatpants too.” Lory wanted to say something, but it seemed as if the cat got her tongue. “Yes darling?”

“Fuck, you are right for once.”

“What, for once?”

Lory tittered at me, “Sorry, you are so easy to tease.”

After putting on a wide shirt, I walked over to the living room. I put down tea options, coffee options and biscuits. Everyone loves biscuits.

Lory sat down on the couch, “Do you want to spoil him or something?”

“Yes, he will be officiating our marriage, if I spoil him, he will say yes.”

Lory took a biscuit, “I see, bribery.”

The doorbell rang, I walked over to open the door. I opened it and Sean was wearing decent pants. Blonde, oily hair is pulled back to reveal a thin, sad face. Shining amber eyes, set gracefully within his sockets. He stretched his hand, I shook it. “Come in, we have the living room set up.”

He followed me to the living room and I sat down on the couch next to Lory, Sean took place on a simple chair we had put down for him. “Would you like some coffee, or tea?”

He nodded, “Tea please.”

I looked at Lory to hear what she wanted to drink, “Yes, tea.” After getting tea for both of them, I sat down again.

Sean smiled at us, “Both of you look great, especially together. It has been a while since I last saw you, Lorraine.”

She nodded, “I think it was that office party.”

I nodded, “Yeah, right before they decided they needed budget cuts, and they deemed me to be too expensive. Now I am down on the ladder again.”

Sean looked at me, “Did you get a new job yet?”

“Yeah, recently it took some time to find one. It is not the same paycheck as my latest job, but it will have to do. Lory earns a lot of cash with her hair salon as well.”

Sean nodded, “Is that the reason you want to elope, not enough cash?”

We both shook our heads, I spoke up, “We just want our day to be about us, not about the guests. We wanted to do it on the beach, near the shipwreck.”

Sean gleamed, “That sounds like a perfect spot, especially for photos!” He pulled out a map from the bag he had with him. It said, wedding photos by Olive Hunter.

I opened the map, and Sean pointed at a category named beach. Lory bend forward and looked at the photos I scrolled through. They were done very well, Lory smiled and spoke up, “Is this gentleman going to cost a lot?”

Sean chuckled, “It is a woman, and, not a lot.”

“Oh, sorry, I just assumed Olive was a man’s name.”

Lory pointed at a photo of a sunset. “I like that one as well.”

Sean spoke up, excited, “And when do you guys want this wedding?”

Lory looked at him, “We were thinking in like two to four weeks, at least before the first echo.”

Sean cheered, “Oh, congratulations.”

Lory smiled, “It’s fresh in the oven.”

I looked at her, “Seriously?”

She laughed, “Yes, I thought it was a nice metaphor.”

Sean grabbed an agenda from his bag, when he opened it, I saw he is officiating a marriage almost every day. “What will it cost for us to hire you?”

Sean smiled, “If I can use those pictures, nothing at all.”

Lory looked at her tail, “Are people that excited to see my tail?”

Sean looked at her, “Do you remember the first office party? When Steve had just met you?”

I sighed, “You mean when I punched someone in the face?”

Lory giggled, “Yeah, he made fun of my tail, but most of the people loved it. They even asked if they could touch it.”

I grumbled, “Yeah, that was creepy.”

Sean smiled, “I still don’t know how you might have a tail.”

I took a biscuit, “Do you know, humans used to have tails a long time ago? It might have something to do with that.”

Sean nodded, “Yes, or a human, you know, making sweet love to a wolf.”

I coughed and almost chocked. “Seriously Sean!?”

He chuckled, “Don’t tell me it never occurred to you.”

Lory scratched her left ear, “That makes no sense.”

Sean seemed to be thinking, “I have a free spot in exactly two weeks.” I saw he moved something around in his agenda, he just made room for this. He must think those pictures will be a huge boon for this business. “Alright, but, not a negative word about her exotic features, or we are going to have problems.”

He waved his hands, “No, just nice things. Everyone knows not to mess with you, Steve. You have a black belt in the martial arts of Ena-Yo, isn’t that right?”

“Yes, Sean, and just because I don’t have a six-pack, does not mean I won’t kick your ass.”

Lory smiled, “He does train every day, right before I go to sleep.”

I laughed, “You never complain about that.”

“No because you do it without your clothes on.”

Sean cleared his throat to change the subject, “Nevertheless, I won’t say anything bad about your wife.”

“Good, then we are clear on that, with two weeks, we have enough time to get clothes, contact the photographer, it will be perfect.”

Lory looked at me, “What about our vows?”

I smiled, “I already thought about that.”

Lory nodded, “Me too.”

Sean started writing in his agenda, “Do you want me in a tuxedo, a sweatpants, maybe even a dress?”

I laughed, “What, you would come in a dress if we ask?”

He nodded, “I have done so a few times.” He started scrolling through the photographs on the map. Sean stopped at one in a library, and indeed, he was wearing a dress.

Lory giggled, “Now, that is service, but I think a tuxedo is fine.”

I nodded, “Yes, a tuxedo is good.”