Sea of Love

Vickie Riggan

1586 words

Sea of Love

Mattie sat in the lobby of the chapel and turned the slick full color brochure over in her hands reading the blurbs, ignoring the posed photos of young, blissful brides in billowing white gowns with veils floating on invisible breezes. “Do you remember the day you met? Of course you do, and you’ll never forget the day you wed at Sea of Love Wedding Chapel.” She thought it sounded kind of cheesy but how many ways can you say, “Come and get married at our wedding chapel as opposed to choosing one of the other 50 or so in town.” Maybe one day she would come up with a better slogan that would get her a copywriter job, but today she was here for a simple side gig to supplement her day job in the cashier cage.   

She flipped open to the list of wedding packages starting with the basic “Getting Your Feet Wet” package for $69.00 that includes loan of a silk wedding bouquet, exchange of vows in front of the heart-shaped stained-glass window, 2 free Polaroids, witness if needed, and of course a minister to make it legal.  “Guess that’s for the unprepared,” she thought. At the upper end of offerings, she found the “Sail Away on Love” package that comes with, fresh rose bouquet and boutonniere, a Just Married sash for the bride, witness if needed, and several other luxuries including an online Facebook photo gallery of the service. This was a big seller for the chapel since the service was conducted on the bow of what had once been a prop for the old Love Boat TV series. Mattie hoped there wouldn’t be any of those weddings today. She got motion sickness just thinking about being on a boat even if it was just a prop in the back parking lot.

A chair squeaked as the receptionist walked in from the office and took her seat behind the counter nodding in Mattie’s direction. An older lady with magenta red hair teased impossibly high in the back and leathery brown skin from years of living in the harsh heat of the Vegas desert.  Rhinestones spelled out the name “Gertie” on the upper left side of her jacket. Suddenly, the front door opened allowing bright sunlight to flood the cool lobby.  The outline of a cowboy complete with boots and a Stetson hat stood framed by the light briefly. He removed the hat as he quickly closed the door behind him. “Can I help you, young man?” asked the leather-skinned receptionist. 

The young man held his hat close against his heart and walked up to the counter to answer her. “Yes, Ma’am, my name is Troy Atkins and I’m getting married here today,” he answered in a voice that sounded half excited and half surprised. 

The old lady looked past him then back at him before remarking, “We don’t furnish the brides, Sweetie. You have to bring your own.”

Cowboy laughed nervously. “Oh, yes Ma’am, I do realize that. My bride, Melody Cooper, prettiest girl in all of Gibson County, TN, is back at the hotel getting all prettied up for the big event. She said I was making her nervous pacing around the room, so she sent me on ahead to wait here. She’ll be along real soon.”

The old lady gave him a skeptical look then looking over her appointment ledger for the day found the booking for Atkins & Cooper. “You’re more than an hour early, young man. Did you bring the marriage license with you?” she asked.

Mattie watched as he reached into the back pocket of his jeans pulling out the license then handing it to the receptionist. She gave it a quick look then looked back up at what was undoubtedly not her first nervous groom. “You can take a seat and wait quietly, but if you’re going to pace, do it outside on the sidewalk.”        

Just then a green light lit up on the wall above the door leading to the chapel. The old lady looked over at Mattie as she rose walking through the door without saying a word. The cowboy took a seat and began rummaging through the bridal magazines on the side table finally finding one with pictures of a wedding in a barn in Texas.

After a few minutes the green light went out. A short while later Mattie returned through the door and took her seat again. Cowboy thumbed through more magazines before standing and taking out his phone. The receptionist pointed to a sign on the wall instructing him to make his phone call outside. His boot heels clicked on the tile floor as he hurried out to make his call. The green light on the wall flickered on again. Once again Mattie disappeared through the door.

Sunlight poured into the lobby again as the cowboy returned hurriedly to the lady behind the desk. “Ma’am, is there any way I can reschedule my wedding for a little later today?” he asked with an almost pitiful look on his face. The old lady had been in this business longer than she cared to admit and could see where this was going, but she wasn’t one to dash a young man’s hopes. “There’s an opening one hour later. Would you like to claim it?”

“Yes’m, if it’s not too much trouble. I’ll pay the extra charges,” he replied reaching for his wallet. 

“Sit down, Young Man, and put your wallet away. I’ll move your deposit to the new appointment. You pay the balance after the ceremony,” she explained as she clicked computer keys making the necessary changes appear on her screen. 

He thanked her and turned to return to his seat not noticing that Mattie had once again returned through the door under the green light. He bumped her elbow just slightly. “Pardon me, Miss. I didn’t see you come in. Guess I’m a little shook up today. Not paying attention to what I’m doing.” She noticed the nervousness in his voice. She also noticed dark brown eyes under impossibly thick eyelashes and wavy black hair. One curly tendril fell down on his forehead and even though he ran his hand through his hair to straighten it out the tendril escaped again.

Mattie realized she was staring into those eyes. “Excuse me. I mean, no problem. I’m sure I was in the way,” she half mumbled as she averted her stare and quickly returned to her seat picking up an errant bridal magazine hiding her face behind the pages. Thankfully it didn’t take long for the green light to summon her down the hall again. 

This time she was gone longer. On her return the lobby was empty except for Gertie typing away at her computer behind the counter. Mattie walked over and handed her 8 slips of paper each with the word witness printed on it. “Pretty busy day today, eh, Gertie?”

           “I’ll say,” Gertie answered in a gravelly smoker’s voice. “Forty-two ceremonies in total, eight of which you witnessed,” she added as she counted out twenty dollar bills handing the stack to Mattie. “Most of ‘em were the Wet Feet package. I hate those ‘cause you know tomorrow or next week they’re going to look at each other and wonder how to get out of it,” she offered in a “been there seen it all” tone.

           “What about the cowboy wedding? Which package did they take?” she asked trying to sound casual.

           “Oh, I knew that one wasn’t going to take when he showed up without her. Seen it too many times. Still breaks my heart though,” Gertie sighed and shook her head then she let out a low whistle. “Turns out his “bride” just used him to get to Vegas. While he was out front pacing on the sidewalk waiting for her to appear in a white gown, she was auditioning for a showgirl opening on the strip wearing what I’m sure was a much less demure outfit,” she remarked as she handed Mattie a form to sign.

           Mattie slid the signed form back across the counter to Gertie thinking about that black tendril on the cowboy’s forehead. She wondered how long it would be before the foolish girl from Tennessee would regret her choice. 

           The walk from the chapel to the monorail stop was short, but the unusually hot temperatures made it feel longer. Mattie’s car was parked a block off the other end of the strip at the diner where she usually ate before heading home on her days at the chapel. She was grateful to have found the work. It was nice to be handed a stack of cash at the end of the day. 

The cool blast of air as she opened the diner door was welcoming. Mattie walked in waving at her waitress as she walked to her usual corner booth with a view of the rest of the diner including the counter. Sitting alone at one end of the counter sat the cowboy, his hat on the counter in front of him, his hands gripped around a steaming mug of coffee. 

The waitress saw where Mattie was looking. “Been here for a couple of hours now, poor guy. Won’t eat. Just keeps ordering refills on his coffee and muttering to himself about a showgirl,” she offered. “Don’t know what happened to him.”

Mattie responded to the waitress without taking her eyes off Mr. Troy Atkins of Gibson County, Tennessee, “I do.”