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Epilogue
Aria
“Okay, take off your big brother hat,” I said, glaring at Paul. “I’m not your little sister right now, I’m your wedding planner.”
Paul chuckled. “Yeah, that’s a lot easier said than done. You still look like you’re playing dress up in these business suits.”
“Paul Bristol,” Shelby warned, pushing his shoulder from where she sat next to him on the other side of my desk. “Your sister is a professional, have some respect.”
“Yeah, a professional pain in my—” The look I shot him cut him off mid-sentence with a laugh. “Fine, fine. Do your professional wedding planning thing. You know I don’t actually care about this stuff as long as I leave this place a married man, right? Why do I even need to be here?”
I rolled my eyes at him with a sigh, lacing my fingers on my desk between us. “Because, Paul, it takes two to tango. You have to be part of the major stuff, but I promise Shelby and I won’t bore you with all of the details once we get the ball rolling.”
Shelby leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Don’t mess with me, Bristol. My wedding date from a few months ago gave me some pretty sweet theme ideas, so unless you want our wedding to be a literal circus, you’ll play ball.”
He snorted. “You wouldn’t do that. You’re afraid of clowns.”
“Fair point,” she allowed with a giggle.
I watched them smile at each other. It took them forever to figure out their stuff and finally get to this point, and I was so happy for my brother and one of my best friends to get their happily ever after. While none of us knew what their future held as far as kids, their wedding was going to be an amazing start to their life together. I was determined to make it one of the best I’d ever planned.
“Okay, let’s get down to business,” I said, opening the binder I’d made to organize all of their wedding info. “First things first, Shel, did you bring the vision board we discussed?”
Shelby reached into her purse and pulled out her iPad, handing it to me after bringing it to the Pinterest board she’d made. “These are just some things that caught my eye, but honestly, Aria, I know whatever you put together will be beautiful.”
I grinned at her and flipped my hair. “Well, obviously. But it still helps me to see what kinds of stuff you like.”
I scrolled through the board, smiling down at the images that she’d chosen. Some of them were photos from past weddings we’d done here at the venue, which was great. It was helpful to see what kinds of props and décor I wouldn’t need to order since we already had them on hand.
Shelby’s taste was simple and elegant, just as I’d figured it would be. She liked gold and white, she definitely liked twinkle lights hanging from the trees (which was good, because so did I, and we had plenty of options for those), and she apparently preferred round tables to the long ones, judging from these photos.
When I finished browsing the board, I handed the iPad back to her. “Will you email me a link to this board so I can use it for reference?”
“Yep,” she replied, doing it right then.
“Thanks. Okay, we’ll iron out the details without this grump so he’s not bugging us with his witty commentary.”
Paul quirked a brow. “Are you this unprofessional with all of your clients, or are we special?”
“You’re definitely special,” I replied, sticking my tongue out at him like the mature adult I was. “Next, wedding party. Have you decided how many you’ll have standing with you and who they’ll be?”
Paul and Shelby looked at each other, and he shrugged. “I’ll definitely have Will as my best man.”
Shelby nodded, looking at me with a hopeful smile. “And I was hoping you’d be my maid of honor, Aria.”
“Really?” I beamed at her. “Ooh, Layla and Lyndi will be so jealous.”
“Well, I definitely wouldn’t want to choose between them. Plus, you’re Paul’s sister,” Shelby said, like that sealed the deal. “We wouldn’t want it any other way.”
“Well, I’m honored. Thank you.” I swallowed back the images of what that would mean when it was time to walk down the aisle. I’d be on Will’s arm.Crap. That was definitely going to suck, considering all of the long-buried stuff between us that no one knew about. I shook my head, trying to get back to things I could actually control. “So, Layla and Lyndi will also be bridesmaids, I assume?”
“Yes,” she replied as I wrote all of this down in the designated spot of my wedding planner.
“And who else do you want to stand up there with you, Paul?” I asked.
He scratched his head. “Our cousin, Nate. But I haven’t really made any other friends since I’ve been back in Bluffton. I’m not really sure who else I’d want it to be. It would be weird to just pick one of the guys from high school since we’ve kind of fallen out of touch over the years.”
“What about Chase Mitchell?” Shelby asked. “He’s so sweet.”
