V & V - Rageous Rageon Rise

Just... My Snowman

Mateo POV:

I look down at my phone and see that Midori is calling. I pick it up and talk happily with her as Dom drives us home.

Mateo: "Okay! Sounds like fun! Thank you! Yes... bye!"

I hang up, and Dom gives me a look.

Dom: "What'd she have to say?"

Mateo: "She told me about wanting to help with the wedding! I want to make my suit, so that takes off having to buy one. Food, Carlos will make. Venue, where do you want?"

Dom is quiet for a second as he turns away from the beach.

Dom: "Hmm. Maybe a garden?"

Oh? Does he want plants? I figured he'd be scared of them from the hallucinations. Maybe he isn't, though. Before his hallucinations, he had all of those plants to begin with, so perhaps he does like plants.

Mateo: "I think that would be very pretty. You want lots of friends?"

Dom: "I want the Rageons who make you happy there. I'm... not so keen on a big wedding audience. It'd be nice to have Jaye Bee, maybe Sammy. My brothers..."

He goes quiet again. Hmm. I guess between us, we'll have a sizeable crowd. I know that's not something he particularly wants, but we have many friends.

Mateo: "I would want Veneer, Kid Ritz, Midori, yes? That is too many?"

Dom shakes his head as he slowly drives down a winding red road through clouds.

Dom: "I'd enjoy having them there. If they'd like to come."

Mateo: "We invite them. You like garden... maybe Mount Rageous Botanical?"

Dom: "Mm. That'd be pretty. There's a gazebo there we could use."

I look at him, a little confused.

Mateo: "What is that?"

Dom: "It'll be a surprise. It's nothing crazy, just... pretty."

Mateo: "Mm. I like pretty."

Dom nods as the car levels on the straight road.

Mateo: "You like plants?"

Dom: "I do. But I've talked about this before; I have a brown thumb, I guess. Whatever living plant I handle for too long... freezes over and turns to ice or dies. I like having the plants in my old apartment that could withstand the cold. There's just something so soothing about plants and foliage that... I find it beautiful. Maybe it's because I tend to destroy what I touch... I have to be careful around something so delicate that I don't disrupt its beauty."

He eyes me, his pale eyes staring into mine for a second before returning to the road.

Dom: "I think... I really would like to get married in the garden."

Mateo: "Then that is where it will be."

Dom smiles a little as he turns onto the road towards our ranch.

I lean on the window, smiling softly as I imagine the types of flowers and plants we'll be surrounded by.

I can picture so much color, so many different shades of green, so vibrant and fresh—it's very inspiring.

We get to the ranch, and Dom helps me out of the car. He walks me inside and helps me to sit by the fountain.

Dom: "I'm going to get started on dinner, okay?"

I nod and wave to him as he walks away. Once he's gone, I get to work.

I harness the creativity of the image of the garden within my mind, and drawing from the water in the fountain beside me, the flower petals that have sweeper onto the floor from the gentle breeze around the patio, and the sparkly, fine blue dirt around me, I begin to make my wedding suit.