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“It’s… wow,” Stephanie said.
“It’s beautiful,” Maya agreed.
Inside, the event space was a renovated farmhouse with exposed brick walks and thousands of twinkling lights covering the exposed beams in the wooden ceiling. The place had a whimsical, kind of bohemian vibe, and I could immediately picture the two of them getting married here and dancing the night away with all their friends.
Stephanie pressed a kiss to Maya’s lips just as the event planner stepped out to introduce herself.
“Hi, I’m Jessa, and––”
“Yes,” Stephanie said. “Sold. We want to get married here. Whatever we need to do just… yes.”
“Well, that was certainly easy,” Jessa said, cheerfully. “You must be Maya and Stephanie.” She shook their hands confidently, though I didn’t think she could be more than eighteen years old.
“We are,” Steph answered. “And this is my sister, Cindy.”
“Nice to meet all of you, and welcome to Farrelly Grove,” Jessa added with a smile. “This space was just done up for a wedding last night, but it can be completely made up for a variety of themes to reflect your tastes.”
“No, this is perfect just the way it is,” Stephanie told her. “It feels like we’ll be dancing under the stars. I love it.”
Maya kissed her on the temple and they talked a little more about the wedding day itself.
As they did, I wandered around the space, taking in the details. The little ribbons on the backs of the banquet chairs. The way the napkins were folded to look like seashells. I couldn’t help but wonder who made those types of decisions. They weren’t life or death, but someone had to make them. I wondered if I could ever find that enough, making decisions about chair ribbons and napkin shapes and dessert presentations. It wasn’t going to save lives, but it was going to make someone really happy.
“Cindy?” Steph called after me. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing.” I rejoined the group with a strange feeling in my chest. Almost like walking into Farrelly Grove was like walking into a place I’d seen before. Okay, technically I had. But I was experiencing it totally differently. I wasn’t sick to my stomach picturing my high school crush and his beautiful girlfriend dancing under a cheesy disco ball. I looked around the room and saw something beautiful. Something with potential.
“We were just about to discuss dates,” Maya added, filling me in. “Steph and I were thinking sometime in June.”
Jessa’s expression soured. “June. Yikes. Everybody’s booking for June.”
“Well, we’re pretty flexible. We can take anything in the springtime,” Steph said.
Jessa pursed her lips. Springtime wasn’t going to happen.
“Summer?” Maya asked, optimistically.
“I have nothing in the summer,” Jessa informed them. “But fall weddings are beautiful with the leaves falling and everything.”
“I thought you said this place was pretty new,” I said, incredulously.
“It is. But we’re the biggest venue around. We’ve been popular. We’re booked solid until September.”
“That won’t work,” Maya lamented. “I’m in my last year of grad school and classes will be picking up. Plus, the high school year will be starting.”
“Okay, so September is out. We have a few openings in April of next year.”
“No. I don’t want to wait that long,” Steph said. “We’re looking into adopting a child, and we want to be married by the time our application processes. We don’t want to wait another year.” She sighed and gave the beautiful space a wistful, sad last look around. “I guess Farrelly Grove isn’t meant to be.”
“Unless you want to get married in a month,” Jessa joked. “We had a last-minute cancellation. But I understand that four weeks to plan an entire wedding might be a little—”
“It’s possible,” I insisted.
Stephanie shot me ayeah, right, you’re crazylook.
“It’s totally possible, Steph. As long as you’re willing to make quick decisions and commit to them, I know we can get you married here in a month,” I told her, confident as all get out.
“What about a dress? That takes at least six months to order and get alterations.”
