Dr. & Mrs. Jameson Danforth Shackelford request the honor of your presence

at the marriage of their daughter

   Tinsley Marybelle Suellen Shackelford

    to

Joshua Scott Chasez

Sabrina stared at the invitation and didn’t know whether to laugh out loud at Tinsley’s full name - Tinsley Marybelle Suellen?- or the fact that JC was really going to marry this girl.

Her phone rang and Sabrina put the invitation down on the kitchen counter and looked at the unfamiliar number.

“Hello?”

“Um, hi, Sabrina?”

“Yes?”

“Oh, hey, it’s Tinsley. Tinsley Shackelford.”

~

Kelsey wanted to hang up. This was the last person she wanted to talk to.

“Hi, Tinsley. How are you?”

“Omigod hi! I’m good! Joshy said you’d be easy to talk to! I was so nervous!”

Joshy?

“Um, ok. Well, it’s nice to..meet you.”

“I just got off the phone with Sabrina Victor. She’s so great!”

Kelsey pursed her lips together in an attempt to not say something she’d regret. Was Tinsley serious? Was she trying to make Kelsey even more irritated?

“Um. Yes. So, what can I do for you, Tinsley?” Kelsey wasted no time in getting to the point, unlike Tinsley who clearly just wanted to see how far she could carry the conversation.

“Well, I was calling about Beckett being in the wedding. Just needed to get his measurements for the custom made tuxedo.”

~

Sabrina listened with a spurious tone whenever she replied with, “Uh huh” or “Sure” to the questions Tinsley asked regarding Aria’s measurements. She’d given them so many times for different dance costumes that she’d memorized them long ago.

“So we’re also blocking off some hotel rooms at The Marshall House. It’s like a really old historic inn in Savannah and Joshy thinks it’s the perfect place for our guests to stay.” Tinsley was rattling on and Sabrina made sure when she let out an exasperated sigh that it wasn’t right into the receiver.

She made a face every time Tinsley said “Joshy” and wondered how JC would feel about being nicknamed that. He went by “Josh” to only those who were close family and friends and “JC” in his professional world. He certainly never seemed like the “Joshy” type. Then again, Tinsley probably had the maturity of a twelve-year-old.

“Thank you, Tinsley. Aria and I will be arriving a few days before the wedding.” She desperately wanted to get off the phone.

“Oh of course! Thanks so much, Sabrina!”

“You’re welcome.” Sabrina didn’t say goodbye. She hung up and let out a groan.

“What’s wrong, Mom?” Aria was walking down the hall into the kitchen.

Sabrina looked over at her daughter. “That was Tinsley. She was calling about your bridesmaids dress and giving me details about the wedding.”

“Is that all?” Aria leaned against the kitchen counter.

Sabrina had promised herself not to be negative. She bit her lip and looked at Aria. “Well, she kept calling him ‘Joshy’ and I couldn’t stop cringing.”

Aria snorted. “I wonder if Dad lets her call him that or if she did that to be extra?”

Sabrina shook her head. “I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. Look, we have to be in Savannah a few days before the wedding. I’m going to book us on a flight the day after you get done with school. We’ll be back in time for you to start dance camp.”

Aria didn’t say anything, just shrugged. The sooner this wedding was over, the sooner Aria could go to dance camp, hang out with Beckett in L.A., and then begin her senior year of high school. She hated to rush her last summer in high school, but the wedding was only filling her with dread the more she thought of it.

~

Kelsey was sipping on a glass of wine later that night. Beckett was taking a bath and then had promised her he’d go straight to bed since she’d let him stay up later the night before. She studied the legs of the wine as they drizzled down the side of her glass. Her conversation with Tinsley hadn’t been terrible, but at the same time she had found herself rolling her eyes at all Tinsley was spewing.

“Mom?” Beckett stood behind the sofa on the other side of the living room. His hair was wet and he was wearing Avenger boxer shorts and an Incredible Hulk t-shirt.

“Hey buddy.” Kelsey smiled at him. “Ready for bed?”

“Do I have to be in that wedding?” Beckett walked over to her. He would be starting fifth grade next year and wanted nothing more than to be treated like he was older, but in this state, he appeared very vulnerable.

Kelsey sighed and stretched out her arms to him. Beckett sat on the couch and rested his body against his mother. “You do, I’m afraid.” Kelsey kissed the top of his head. In so many ways, JC Chasez had been the biggest mistake of her life. She had met him in the worst of circumstances and after he’d left Sabrina, their relationship was really nothing more than sex. It hadn’t been a huge surprise when he’d cheated on her the first time.

But their torrid relationship had produced Beckett and for that, she was beyond grateful. He was her favorite person in the world. Often when JC had been gone and it was just Kelsey and Beckett alone, Kelsey would take him out of his crib and cuddle with him on the couch, still not believing he was really hers. He was so perfect. And ten years later, he was still the best thing she’d ever done.

“But mom, I’m missing soccer camp and Riley and Levan are having a big birthday party that I gotta miss, too!” Beckett’s voice was muffled in his mother’s arm.

“Baby, we’re only going to be gone for three days. Soccer camp is for three weeks.” Kelsey was trying to reassure him but she could sense that her son wasn’t convinced. She looked at the time. “Hey, buddy, it’s almost nine-thirty. Better go call your dad and tell him goodnight.”

Beckett nodded and looked up to kiss his mother’s cheek. She watched him walk out of the room and let out a sigh as her head hit the back of the couch.

~

Beckett walked back into the living room with his phone while he waited for his dad to pick up on the other end. He sat down across from Kelsey and smiled when JC greeted him on the other end.

“Hey, buddy.”

“Hi, Dad.”

“Whatcha up to?”

“Nothing. About to go to bed. What about you?”

“I am just about to take Tinsley out for dinner.”

Beckett made a face. “But it’s really late. You haven’t eaten yet?”

JC chuckled on the other end. “No. We were working on some stuff for the wedding. Hey, by the way, your tux is gonna look pretty cool, little dude. Are you excited?”

“I have to miss soccer camp for three days,” was Beckett’s reply.

Kelsey shook her head at him and waved her hands to stop Beckett from going on.

“Beckett!” She hissed at him and Beckett looked over at her but continued to talk.

“Well, I’m sorry buddy. But it’s only three days, right?”

“Yeah. I just don’t wanna miss it.”

“Beckett Roy!” His mother was fuming now.

“I’m sorry, little man. But I promise you’ll have fun.”

Beckett was having a hard time believing that to be true. “Yeah. Ok.”

~

Sabrina couldn’t sleep. She had a choreographing gig early the next morning and had been tossing and turning for the last hour and a half. She had taken a Benadryl in hopes it would lull her into a comatose state, but so far she was wide awake.

She threw the covers off of her and got out of bed. As she passed Aria’s room she saw the light was still on and could hear Aria talking on her phone. Sabrina had prided herself in that she wasn’t a snoopy mother when it came to her daughter’s privacy. But for some reason, she stopped and listened anyway.

“...I mean, he’s ten, Dad. It’s not like a wedding is on his top ten list for summer….No, I don’t think Kelsey put him up to that at all. I just saw her yesterday and she was super great about the whole thing….Yeah, Mom’s fine, too. All of us are. But Beck’s ten and you just gotta remember that….I’m sure she’s a great person….No, nobody up here is being any way about Tinsley…”

Sabrina shook her head. Since when did JC give two shits about what people thought about his love life? He certainly hadn’t cared when he’d dumped her for Kelsey and paraded her all over Los Angeles. It suddenly dawned on her that he was worried about Aria and Beckett not liking their future stepmother. Still, it sounded like he was relying on his 17-year-old daughter to reassure him about this and that made her a little uneasy. He shouldn’t have to rely on what  Aria or anyone else thought when it came to marrying Tinsley.

Sabrina walked into the kitchen and poured a glass of water. She sipped it slowly and waited until she saw the light go off from underneath Aria’s door. Then, she walked back to her bedroom and picked up her phone and called JC.

“Sabi?” He answered on the first ring and she knew he was probably confused as hell as to why she was calling him at almost midnight. “Is everything ok? I just talked to Aria and-”

“Everything’s fine, Josh.” Sabrina assured him. “I was actually calling to talk to you.”

“Really?” JC had every right to be surprised-shocked, even-because Sabrina never called him.

“Look, I overheard Aria talking to you a few minutes ago. It just sounded like on her end that you were trying to get her approval for Tinsley. And that’s just not the Josh Chasez I know. I mean, you didn’t give a shit when you and I became official and you certainly didn’t care when you and Kelsey became official.” There. She had said her peace.

“It’s different, Sabi. I...I just want the kids to be OK with this. I mean, I know it’s my third marriage and all, but I don’t want them to be upset.”

“The kids are fine, Josh. Really. I mean, I can’t speak for Beckett, but-”

“Beckett doesn’t want to come. He told me earlier tonight. I’m making him miss the first few days of soccer camp or something.”

Sabrina rested her head against her pillow. “And he’s a kid. Right now the most important things in his world are his friends and soccer and being a fourth grader.”

“I know. It’s not that I’m ashamed of being with Tinsley or anything. I just want to make sure that Aria and Beckett know I wouldn’t do anything to hurt them.”

“They know, Josh.” Sabrina could hear hesitation in his voice. “I mean, are you sure about it? The marriage?”

“Yeah. I want to marry her.” He sounded almost robotic in his answer and Sabrina shook her head, wishing that they were face to face and having this conversation in person so she could see in his face what she was hearing in his voice.

“Ok. Then marry her. And we’ll all be there to support you.”

“Thanks, Sabi. You’re the best.”

No, I haven’t been the best in a long time for you, Sabrina thought to herself.  “I try,” was what she said in response. “Goodnight, Josh.”

“Night, Sabi. Thanks again.”

Sabrina hung up and rested the phone on the night table next to her. She stared at it as though it were really JC staring back at her.

“How long has it been going on, Josh?” Sabrina was holding a sleeping Aria against her shoulder. She didn’t want to yell at him.

“A long time. I’m so sorry, Sabi. I never meant for it to happen.” He walked across the room to her.

Sabrina was angry and he could see it but she couldn’t yell with the child in her arms. “Do you love her?” She stared right into his eyes. Those beautiful blue eyes that had won her over from the beginning.

JC nodded slowly. “I didn’t mean to fall in love with her but I did.”

Sabrina began to cry and shook her head when he reached to touch her. “Don’t touch me. Don’t get anywhere near me ever again. I want you out of here before tomorrow morning.”

JC had tried to apologize but Sabrina threw him out of their bedroom. She’d spent the rest of the night sobbing and never fell asleep.

“Joshua Scott Chasez,” Sabrina sighed and turned off the lamp next to her bed. “I really wish I hated you more than I loved you.”