UNEDITED
When Leon Saint-Laurent receives a wedding invitation in the mail, he soon realizes nothing's fair in love and life.
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Eliza is set on marrying James. She wants to step into a new chapter of her life. One where she can forget the past a...
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Leon
Liz can't seem to catch a break tonight. With her parents here, she's been nothing but tense and distant. A little snippy, too. Even with me trying to diffuse the situation and James trying to blatantly impress them, they're relentless tonight. So far, they've gotten into several arguments over small things like the seating arrangements and the colour of Liz's bouquet. Her dad was even hotheaded enough to mention something about Liz's wedding dress being too revealing. When Tenille showed me a picture of the wedding dress on Liz, I didn't have a clue what her father was talking about. In my opinion, the dress isn't revealing enough.
As we sit around the dinner table, enjoying a delicious meal that Sarah and Tenille made – one that I tried to help with as well but only ended up having Sarah shoo me out of the kitchen – I try to play referee and keep things neutral between Liz's parents. It's a difficult task to do. Especially when I'm sandwiched between Liz and Tenille. I can understand why Meghan wanted the three of us to sit together, but right now all I can feel is tension stemming between us. Something is off between Tenille and Liz, just like something is off between Liz and I, and I can't help but wonder what else went wrong today. Or maybe I'm overthinking and it's just the stress of having Meghan Caldwell and Thomas Sangster here.
Drama aside, I'm glad that I'm sitting next to Liz. I know how she feels about having her parents in the same room and I know how much it's stressing her out. Although I'm not a fan of her marrying James, she doesn't deserve to have stress added on top of all the wedding shit. Which is exactly why I don't mind playing the role of the referee in this particular moment.
"So, Mr. Sangster," I say after a mouthful of pasta. "How do you like the venue for the wedding? It must bring up a lot of memories of Liz when she was growing up. We spent a lot of time here when we were kids." I nudge Liz in the arm and smile at her. To my surprise, she flashes me a weak smile and expresses her thanks by mouthing Thank you.
I turn my attention back to Thomas. My question is a fair and safe one to ask. Before dinner, when I was talking to him, he was raving about the place. He even had the audacity to comment about how much money this venue is saving him. Meghan also made a positive comment about the scenery and that the wedding pictures are going to look spectacular. I'm assuming that something they agree on will be able to keep the conversation happy and reduce the stress Liz is suffering from.
I'm dead wrong, though.
"I think it's perfect for my daughter," Mr. Sangster smiles. "There is no other place that would have suited her and James better than this." He casts his gaze towards Sarah as he adjusts his sweater. "Thank you, again, Sarah, for letting them hold their wedding here."
"The pleasure is all mine," Sarah smiles.
"Well," Meghan says, delicately picking the little flakes of parsley from her dish. "I'd rather our daughter be married at a private, much more traditional venue. Churches have been the place to get married for as far back as I can remember." She shoots a fake apologetic glance at Liz. "No judgement here, honey."
