"This is our other son, Brian." Mrs. Milburn says. The guy walks up to the table and offers a hand to each of my parents.

"I'm Brian but you can just call me 'the other one' everyone else does." He shakes my parents' hands vigorously. Then he looks at me. "She's a beauty! Good job bro!"

"Sit down Brian!" Mrs. Milburn yells. Brian does as he's told but he keeps a smirk on his face. My mom laughs awkwardly. The tension in the room would need a very sharp knife to make a dent in it.

"So back to my joke...."

"No!" My mom and I yell in unison.

When we finally get back home I flop onto the sofa face first. When we were driving home my mom made a joke that at least I'll only get married once. She doesn't know how happy that fact truly makes me.

The entire dinner fluctuated between ok and awkward. After we stopped my dad's attempt at joke telling, the waiter came to take our orders. Charles the third and Brian ordered the same thing which gave the entire room a wholesome giggle. While we waited for the food, Charles the second brought up the engagement party which is scheduled for two weeks from now. It's customary for the wedding party to be announced at the engagement party. I proudly announced that my bridesmaids would be my two best friends. Things got awkward when Charles the third didn't immediately name who his best man would be.

The law is firm on the weirdest things sometimes. By law, if you're getting married, you're required to name your sibling as your maid of honor or best man. Because I'm an only child, I get to choose whoever I want for my maids. But Charles Third has a brother. So Charles Third has a best man. In all honesty he shouldn't have needed to say it. Brian would be Charles's best man whether he stated it out loud or not.

Things were simmering just under the surface at this point. I could tell things were heating up and I knew my parents could tell it also. Brian banged a fist on the table and stood up.

"I'm soooo sorry you don't have a choice in your best man!" Brian said loudly. Charles Third looked at him in shock. Charles Second yelled at Brian in outrage. Mrs. Milburn tried her best to calm everyone down. It really was a mess.

The arrival of the food calmed things down again. At this point it wasn't so charming that the Milburn brothers ordered the same food. The two of them scowled at each other over their food. I tried my best to not make eye contact with anyone.

I thought that my own anger would ruin dinner. Surprisingly, it didn't rear it's ugly head after the first incident. It was a completely real, completely explainable person who ruined dinner. I couldn't be happier.

I fall asleep on the couch. Luckily my head is turned slightly to the side so I don't suffocate. When I wake up it's 10am. My schedule is back to normal today so I don't teach until noon.

As I get up from the couch, my neck screeches in pain. Apparently my sleeping posture did not provide adequate neck support. I slowly turn my head from one side to the other and I feel like the tin man before he got his oil.

"I told you not to sleep on that couch." My mom says as she comes in opening all the blinds to let in light.

"Why didn't you wake me up then?" I ask her as I shield my eyes from the new light.

"I did. I told you to go up to your room. You said OK and them promptly went back to sleep on the couch." She says with a smug smile. She then places a basket of laundry in my lap.

Instead of putting up the clothes when I get to my room, I sit the basket on the bed. My favorite sports bra and leggings are sitting right on top so I pluck them off and get ready for work.

At the gym, my noon class flies by. It's decided. I'm not a morning exercise person. As long as I don't switch schedules with any more morning instructors, I should be fine.

Who am I kidding? There's no way I can get away with that. All the other cycling instructors are married with kids. They always come to me when something happens and they need a class covered. I know I won't be able to say no to the pleading faces of my coworkers when they say their child is sick or it's a very important anniversary.

Soon I'll be married too, however. Will I be able to use my husband as an excuse to not teach other people's classes. Marriage is getting more exciting by the second.

I'm sitting on a weight bench, deep in thought, when someone taps me on the shoulder.

"Sorry I'm not using the weights. Let me get out of the way." I say. When I look up I get a shock. Standing there is Brian Milburn.

"Well, well, well if it isn't my future sister in law. What are you doing here?" He asks.

"I'm one of the cycling instructors. What are you doing here?"

"I've been working out here for years. Normally I get my workout in as soon as the place opens. Today I couldn't get up that early though. Last night was a riot wasn't it?" He's talking to me like we didn't meet just last night.

"It was something." I say with an uncomfortable smile on my face. I stand from the weight bench and move toward the break room.

"You lucked out you know. You're marrying the good son." I stop walking when he says this. We're in front of the juice bar and I take a seat on the stool closest to me. Brian does the same.

"The good son?" I ask.

"Yeah, Saint Charles the Third." The juice bar attendant pushes a menu toward Brian then asks me if I want the usual. I nod my head yes.

"Is he really that good?"

"Dunno. You'll have to ask my parents about that. Where do you stand on the great nature vs nurture debate?" He changes topics like it's nothing but it's giving me whiplash.

"I haven't really thought about it." My banana mango juice arrives and Brian orders a lemon spritz which is literally just lemon juice and seltzer water.

"I'm firmly in the nurture camp. Wanna know why?" He doesn't give me time to respond. "Saint Charles was nurtured. My parents knew they wanted him. They planned for him. They chose him. I, on the other hand, was an accident. Five years after they adopted the perfect child, my mother got pregnant. Nothing was planned. They just winged it with me. And look at how their two boys turned out. Saint Charles is a lawyer and I'm.....well mom likes to say I'm finding myself."

I don't know what to say to him so I sip my juice.

"You're an only child right?" He asks.

"Yes."

"Lucky you." His drink arrives and he gulps it down like he hasn't had liquid for days. My phone rings. It's Camryn. I silently thank the heavens for giving me a reason to walk away from Brian.

"Sorry, this is really important." I say as I answer the phone and step away.

"Is is my brother? Tell him he's not better than me!" Brian yells. If I didn't know better I'd say he's drunk. Actually I don't know him that well so maybe he is drunk.

"Hey Cam what's up?" I ask my friend as I finally get to the break room.

"I've been doing more research." She says.

"Research on what?" I ask, clueless.

"On what could be making you angry at your fiance."

"Oh I forgot."

"You forgot that you sometimes get the urge to kill your fiance?"

"No I forgot that I told you about it."

"Ouch." Camryn sounds genuinely hurt by my statement.

"I'm sorry but can we not talk about my engagement?" I plead. Brian has tired me out for the day.

"Sure. Have you played Happy Love Garden Sim?" There are two things Camryn loves, behavioral science an dating sim games. Now that I think about it, those interests are probably connected. When we were in college all she did was study and play dating sims.

"Haven't played it. What's it about?"

"You play as the manager of a garden center, a home depot type place. At night the plants come to life and try to romance you. At the end of the game you have to choose your true love. You have to choose wisely because the ones you don't choose will be turned back into plants forever! I'm currently trying to choose between Rose the romantic one and Spruce the playful one!" She gets more excited the more she talks about it.

"That sounds creepy."

"It's not creepy it's romantic." She whines.

"But you're dating plants. How do you even date plants?"

"Well they can't leave the garden center. The dates mostly consist of you running around the store getting things to make them happy. When they like you they give you a flower or an acorn."

"So they force you to work after hours then reward you with pieces of their bodies?"

"Stop making it sound so un-romatic. I don't know how the algorithm chose you to get married before me and Mandy."

"It chose me because I'm older than the two of you put together." I say.

"You're only two years older than me and you're only a year older than Mandy."

"I know. But I really do think age has something to do with it. Otherwise we would learn about our betrothed from birth."

"That's true." She says. At this point I'm getting tired of talking on the phone. I'm grateful to Camryn for giving me a reason to leave Brian but I dislike talking on the phone. We sit in silence for a while before someone finally says something.

"Done talking?" Asks Camryn.

"Yeah."

"Ok, Bye."

"Bye." I hang up the phone and go to tach the next class. Lucky for me, Brian didn't stick arournd so I don't have to worry about dodging him. My day goes on as usual from that point. I teach a few more classes and then I head home.

A few days later it's finally the double date with Arnold and his fiance. I feel invigorated as I get off the train and head to the restaurant. The fact that I didn't get angry, scared, or needlessly aggressive at the meeting of the families makes me thing that the time traveler was wrong. Maybe the old man coming back was enough to change things. Maybe our marriage will be fine this time.

I walk up to the restaurant, a super hipster place called Quincy's, and see Arnold standing out front. When I get closer I see that he's not alone. A short woman with a slicked back pixie cut stands next to him. They're engrossed in conversation with each other and their smiling lie madness. It's so cute that I don't want to interrupt. Eventually Arnold notices me because, at his height, nothing blocks his line of sight. He waves eagerly and widely causing some of the people around him to veer to the side.

"Fiona!" He says when I get to them. "This is my fiance, Davina."

"Hello." Davina offers her hand to me and turns her body out. It's wide, open, as if she's willing to give me a hug but doesn't want to assume that I'm willing to give her one. I shake her hand. Her grip is strong and confident. The weight of her smaller hand in mine is baffling. My brain is confused by the handshake. It feels like her hand is giving mine a hug but that hug could easily turn into a punch if I cross her. She ends the handshake by pulling her hand away. It's not an abrupt fracture of contact. She lets go of my hand at the perfect time, I just didn't know it was the perfect time until she did it.

"Can I call you Fi?" She asks.

"Sure. Plenty of people do." I say.

"Ok, great! You can call me Dav or Vina. Sticking with Davina is fine too. But never call me Davin. That's a different name entirely and I won't anser to it." I'm definitely intimidated by her but it's the type of intimidation that breeps respect not fear.

"This place is hard to get in to but Dav managed to get us a reservation." Arnold says. Davina shrugs.

"People tend to like me." She says like it's nothing.

In my head I think 'Of course they do you're awesome!' Out loud I say, "I can understand that."

Davina excuses herself to the restroom. As she leaves, clicking her six inch heels on the way, I swear the crowd parts to let her through.

"Oh my God." I say like I'm releasing a long held breath.

"I know right." Arnold says.

"I know she's 4'11"...."

"But her personality is 8ft tall." Arnold finishes my thought for me.

"Yeah. How does she do that?"

"I don't know. It's magic."

"You know how I said you'll crush her?" I ask.

"Yeah."

"I take it back. I take it all back. She would crush you first."

"And I would thank her for it." This makes me laugh.

"You would thank her for crushing you?"

"Wouldn't you?"

"Yeah. I think I would. I think I love your fiance more than you do." Now we are both laughing.

"Hey! You have your own fiance." Arnold says in between fits of laughter.

"Oh yeah Where is he?" I wonder as I continue to laugh. At some point we found a bench to sit on and now I'm rocking back and forth on it as I laugh.

"Fiona!" Someone calls from behind me.

"Is that your fiance?" Arnold asks. For a second I panic thinking the person behind me is not my Charles but the time traveler. I don't know how I would explain to Arnold that no the time traveler is not my fiance but yes he is my husband. My fears are happily dashed as a fresh faced Charles Milburn III.

"Yes, this is my fiance." I say

"Charles Milburn the third!" Davina walks toward us, naturally demanding that all eyes are on her.

"Davina Davis-Ramirez." Charles says through gritted teeth.

"You two know each other?" Arnold asks.

"We've crossed paths a time or two in the courtroom." Davina says.

"So you're like coworkers?" I ask.

"Hardly." Charles scoffs. "Davina is the District Attorney's prized protege."

"Charles, on the other hand, works for one of those giant law firms that will defend anyone with enough money." Davina says.

"Davina has never once gotten to choose her own case." Charles says. He inches closer to Davina.

"Charles has never once won against me in the courtroom." Davina says. She takes a step closer to him and juts out her chin. The two of them are starting to look like the promotional poster for a prize fight.

"Luckily this isn't the courtroom. It's a restaurant. We are in public and we are supposed to be friends." I say. This calms the two of them down enough for Davina to look at her watch and realize it's our reservation time.