It's Always Been You

Chapter 18

Ariana set the plastic bags on Cristina's dining table. "I've washed the pine cones, branches, and some leaves. They're ready to be worked on."

Cristina shifted through the plastic bag. Abigail and Liliana sat on the other side of the table.

"What are they for?" Abigail asked.

"I thought we could paint them. Add them to some centerpieces or some other decoration. We can work on some now. I go back to work tomorrow and yesterday was my last Saturday off. I have PD for the next four weeks until Thanksgiving. So, I don't know how free I'll be to work on wedding stuff."

"PD?" Abigail inquired.

"Professional Development. Meetings and seminars really, we're having them on Saturdays this quarter," Ariana explained.

Abigail picked up a pine cone. "I thought we were ordering some decorations."

Ariana looked between her and Cristina. "I don't know, I just did what Cristina asked me to."

Abigail's eyes fell on Cristina.

Cristina simply shrugged. "I found some cute ideas on Pinterest. I want to see how they turn out."

Abigail let out a small sigh.

They spent the next hour painting a coat of silver over the top of some pine cones and dusting fake snow on some others.

Liliana set down the pine cone she just painted. "My mom really liked the wedding invitations."

"She did?" Cristina sat up. "What did she say?"

"She really liked the colors and she thought the font was really elegant. She said the envelope was really pretty too. Jonathan did a great job."

"He did." Cristina tapped her pen against her notepad. "So, I still need to order the cake and figure out the menu for the reception. Oh, and we need to go to our dress fitting." She looked around the table. "But I guess we can't do Saturdays, huh?"

"Sundays would be best," Ariana said. "Maybe Saturday afternoons, but our meetings end around 2 or 3 sometimes."

"Okay. I'll try to set up a fitting for a Sunday. Abigail, what was the name of that bakery you said I should look into?"

"Sweets Depot."

Cristina scribbled onto the paper. "I gotta call them and get a quote." She took a sheet of paper out of her wedding folder. "Here's a copy of the design the florist made when we met with her." She passed it to Abigail and Liliana.

"How pretty," Liliana cooed. "What kind of flowers?"

"Anemones, Roses, and peonies. She said she'll be working with either eucalyptus leaves, lamb's ear, or brunia berries. Those all sound weird, but we'll see," Cristina said with a shrug.

"Anemones are a great choice. Especially in white, since the middle is dark blue," Abigail acknowledged.

"We thought so too. They'll be in the boutonnieres and the bouquets for the bridesmaids too."

"Oh?" Abigail sat back.

Cristina nodded. "Ari picked it out actually. We'll be making them too. We should set a day aside to make the bouquets together too." Cristina hurried to write that down.

Ariana could feel Abigail's eyes on her. "I didn't really," she said, "Ben picked out the anemone."

"Ben?" Liliana perked up. "You took Ben with you?"

Ariana pointed to herself. "I didn't take Ben anywhere. Marco and Cristina dragged us to the florist."

Liliana chuckled as she shook her head.