Poppy's Diary

Chapter 3-1

Chapter 3

EVER SINCE KRISTEN left for Edmonton, she's been acting like everything's fine. It's all back to normal, for her. I've tried to act normal, too, but I don't feel normal. I asked her to marry me and she said no. How am I supposed to feel normal after that?

I don't think I've ever felt so sad in all my life.

But then I started to think: maybe I should take it as promising that Kristen wasn't being weird around me. Nothing's changed, really. I proposed. She said no. Now we're back where we started, in a sense. Maybe I should take that to mean she might say yes if I come at her from a different angle.

Kristen's a much more logical person than I am. Maybe if I thought up a few good reasons for getting married, I'd be able to convince her that way.

Working a week on the graveyard shift, I've had a lot of time to reflect.

Sometimes I think I'd do better to find a job that keeps my mind occupied much of the time. It is, when I'm on mornings or afternoons. When guests are checking in and checking out, there's plenty to do. It's just working nights that gets me down.

Halfway through this never-ending week, I decided I would drive out to see my parents first chance I got. It's been a little while, I guess, and I really wanted to ask my mother how Dad finally convinced her to get hitched. I remember Dad telling me, when I was a kid, that he'd asked my mother to marry him many times before she at last said yes.

He never told me what changed her mind. Maybe he didn't know.

My plan for this weekend had been to surprise my parents with a bottle of champagne and toast the impending nuptials. Now that Kristen has turned down my proposal, there won't be any bubbly, but I've decided to visit them anyway. I never told them I was planning to pop the question, but they're the happiest, most established pair of people I've ever met. If anyone can give me some good advice about starting a marriage off on the right foot, it's them.

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