Once and for All(75)

“Ambrose,” I said quietly.

“I should go check on her,” Lauren said. “She seemed really upset.”

“Here, take a water.” I reached over to grab one off a nearby table. “It always helps.”

She did, then started down the hallway, her flip-flops thwacking against the carpet. When she was gone, he looked at me.

“Okay,” he said. “You have to do something.”

“Me?” I asked.

“A bride is in distress! That’s your specialty.”

“A bride,” I corrected him. “Not our bride. She said herself all this”—I gestured at the stuff still piled around us—“wasn’t what she wanted.”

“Come on. I’ve only worked here a few weeks and even I can recognize a CG when I see one.”

I blinked, surprised he’d learned this abbreviation. “A Controlling Groom is only our problem if it’s our event. And this isn’t.”

He looked at the tables again, then at me. “Okay. But what if it was?”

“But it’s not.”

“But it could be,” he said. “If we decided to help, maybe find a better place, donate some of this stuff. It could totally be.”

“You want to get my mother involved in this?” I asked. “Are you insane?”

“No, no. I’m not talking about her. I mean us.” He moved his hand, fingers wiggling, back and forth between us. It reminded me, instantly, of that first night we’d met at his mother’s wedding, when he wanted me to heal. It seemed like ages ago now. “You and me. We could do this.”

“But I don’t want to,” I said.

“Did you not just see that?” he demanded, pointing at the bathroom door. Lauren must have joined her cousin inside, as I couldn’t see anyone. “This is the only wedding that girl will ever have. Do you want to be responsible for it taking place among ashtrays and the sound of coffee grinding?”

“Or,” I said, lowering my voice to a whisper, “it is a first marriage, soon regretted, and she does everything exactly to her heart’s desire the next time.”

He just looked at me. “I can’t believe you just said that. And by the way, whispering didn’t make it any less heartless.”

I sighed. “Ambrose. I know you like to save things. Dogs, children, the day. But not everybody wants it. Or needs it.”

“But some people do,” he shot back. “And those cases, if you can help, you should. Why wouldn’t you?”

“Because it’s not your problem? Or responsibility?”

“I don’t see it that way.”

“Then you plan the wedding,” I told him. “You know enough by now. Take this stuff and go nuts, if that’s what you want. It’s fine with me.”

Hearing this, he studied my face, saying nothing, for long enough that I started to get self-conscious. “It must have really been awful,” he said. “What happened to you.”

I swallowed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You do, though. A boy, a great love lost, the only sunset walk you’re allowed.” He shook his head. “You can’t even see the hope in anything.”

“I see plenty of hope,” I retorted, feeling defensive. “But this is a business.”

“Which is built on the whole idea of people wanting to mark publicly the very moment they agree to be together forever, once and for all.”

“And it’s lovely when it works out that way,” I said. “Once and for all, and all. But sometimes, it doesn’t. I’m part of this kind of thing enough. I don’t need to do it on my free time, as well. Don’t you get that?”

He didn’t answer this question. In fact, he said nothing, and then, distantly, I heard the bathroom door open. By the time the girls returned, I was back at work wrapping a candle like it was my job, which, in fact, it was.

“Sorry about that,” Maya said to us. “Pre-wedding jitters, I guess.”

“We’re going to do a wish wall,” Lauren told Ambrose. “It won’t be hard to pull together, right?”

“You can use this one,” he said, nodding at the box of cards on the table. “Louna said so.”

At this, both Lauren and Maya turned to me. “Oh, wow, really?” Maya asked, her face flushed. “That’s so nice! Thank you.”

I nodded, this time staying silent myself.

“And I was thinking,” Ambrose said, “that while the patio idea is nice, I think you can do better. Why don’t you guys come back to my house and take a look at the backyard? Bee’s garden is awesome and we have plenty of space for tables.”

The girls looked at each other. Maya said, “Really?”

“Why not? At least there won’t be ashtrays.”

“Or incubators,” Lauren said. “Oh, and we could put flowers in mason jars! Those are cheap, right?”

“I think so,” Maya replied. “And you know what else isn’t expensive? Those little white lights, like Christmas ones, that we could string up. I wonder if they sell them in summer.”

“Even if they don’t,” Ambrose said, “someone has to have some in their attic. We’ll ask around.”