It's Always Been You

Chapter 17

"It's the first day of fall break and I'm going to see a florist. Fun." Ariana slouched against the couch.

"Oh, you'll like it, I promise." Cristina picked up her wedding folder. A sample wedding invite was stashed in there, information about the color of the bridesmaid dresses and groomsmen's tuxedos, and various flyers for different bakeries.

"Where are Marco and the kids?" Ariana asked, resting her chin on the sofa arm.

"He's dropping them off with mom." Cristina moved around the couch and toward the front door.

"Oh."

"We didn't get a chance to talk about it last week, but I am sorry about what happened. I didn't expect that from her," she said as she opened the front door.

"What?" Ariana pouted. "That she essentially called me a slut to my face? Nothing new."

"Who called you a slut?"

Ariana jumped up from the couch.

Ben had passed through the front door and completely missed the grimace that was currently marring Cristina's face.

"What are you doing here?" Ariana shifted slightly.

Ben checked his watch. "Marco said something about looking at flowers."

Ariana groaned aloud and plopped back down on the couch.

# # #

She leaned away from him in the car. He drummed his fingers on his knees and wondered who she and Cristina were talking about before he interrupted. The curiosity was nudging him, but he knew not to pry. It wasn't his business.

Cristina turned around in her seat. "I have the wedding invite. Do you want to see it?"

Ariana perked up in her seat.

Cristina handed her a dark blue envelope. Ariana opened it and pulled out a dark blue card. Ben leaned over to take a look.

"Jonathan did a great job." Ariana traced the silver bubble-like design on the top of the card. Cristina and Marco's names were in a flowing script, but the rest were in a serif readable font.

She handed the invite and envelope to Ben, who studied it for a few minutes before handing it back to Cristina.

"I'll need to get them printed and then sent out. I can't believe it."

Marco reached over and squeezed her hand.

They pulled into the parking lot of the florist. They stepped out of the car and gathered near the hood.

"We're going to meet with the florist," Cristina told Ariana and Ben, "but you two can look around and see if there are some flowers or things you might want to include in the bouquet and boutonniere."

"Okay."

Ben nodded.

They entered the shop and once Cristina and Marco walked away to speak with the florist, Ben tugged on Ariana's arm.

"What?"

"What's a boutonniere?"

"Oh, you know, it's the little flower thing the groomsmen usually wear on their chest." Ariana walked toward the flowers set out on the tables. "Look at these gardenias." She looked over her shoulder.

Ben let out a deep breath. He looked lost. "I really don't know."

"Don't think too hard," she suggested. "We won't know what to do until we know what the bride's bouquet looks like, but we can pick up the flowers we like."