Cherish Me (Rough Edges 3)

I sit my phone down, and get up to say hi, since I haven’t seen him in months. He still hangs out with Damon and Liam occasionally but I’m usually busy. “How ya been?”

“Oh, just visiting with my sister.”

Wait, Hazel is in town?

“How is she doing?” I ask, trying not to seem too interested.

“Good. We’ll see you later at the wedding,” Jeremy says before walking out.

I go back to my booth, and can’t finish eating. My hands are shaking and I don’t know what to do. Should I be nervous or excited? People change the most in their twenties or so I’ve heard, and she might not even be anything like the girl I fell in love with all those years ago. This image in my head of us being happy someday might not even be achievable.

I take one last bite of my food and then leave a twenty on the tabletop. It’s time to head over to the flower shop and deliver them to the venue before I get more rude phone calls from Tessa. She isn’t usually like this, but the stress of a wedding can be a lot for women. They care so much about how everything looks and honestly, I don’t think Damon is really worried about any of that.

The bell dings above me, alerting my departure from the Diner as the cold nips at me.

Sharum’s Flowers has customers coming and going, so they must be busy today, which is normal for a weekend.

The door shuts behind me, and there are arrangements of flowers piled up. “Are these for the Jackson wedding?”

“Yes. I put the bouquets in this bag and tied it up to keep them fresh, but be careful with them. They’re fragile.”

Everything is safely loaded into my vehicle, and the whole backseat is covered in fresh flowers. It’s going to smell like these damn flowers forever now. The venue is only about five minutes away, but Harper’s name is now scrolling across my dashboard alerting me to her call.

“Hello?”

“Did you get them?” Harper asks, frantically.

“Yes, I’m on my way to the venue now. Crisis has been averted.”

“Thank you,” Tessa screams into the phone.

My vehicle pulls into the unloading zone and the wedding planner is waiting outside, hands across her body, looking like it’s the end of the world. They are flowers. What’s the big deal?

I open the back door, and that’s when she helps me take the boxes inside and she takes over to set them up. I’m happy she didn’t ask me to help, because I know nothing about flowers or decorating. Plus, the last thing I need to happen today is for me to be blamed for anything being messed up. I’ll let her handle that. No, thank you.

It’s now only an hour before the ceremony starts, and Damon should be here anytime.

Me: Where are you? I’m at the venue.

There’s no point in driving back to his house since we are due to be here in ten minutes. So, I grab my garment bag, and head back inside.

“Do you know where we are going to be until the ceremony?” I ask the planner.

“Back there,” she points her finger.

I smile and go to the back where there is a door, and inside is a small room with a bathroom, hooks on the wall, and a mirror. This must be like a Groom’s room where we can change and chill until we are due out at the altar.

Damon: Pulling up in a second.

It might be best for me to be dressed when he arrives here in case he needs me to do anything. So, I take my garment bag in the bathroom and start stripping down. The suit fits perfectly. The only thing I didn’t like about it is the damn tie.

“Aiden, you in here?” Damon asks.

“Right here,” I reply, coming out of the bathroom.

He’s already in his suit, and so is Liam. They look around and to my surprise, Damon asks if I brought anything to drink with me.

“I wish, but the liquor store is down the road.”