Eliana linked her arm with Julia’s and strolled down the beach with her. “Where would you do it? If it could be anywhere?” Keeping in mind they wouldn’t be able to book anything at all, this close to the wedding. She decided not to say that part out loud.
“The conservation center,” Julia said.
Eliana blinked. She hadn’t expected that. “It smells like animals there.”
Julia let out a short, amused laugh. “It does. But is it weird that I wish Lulu and Adia could be there for the wedding? They were there when Logan proposed, and I know they don’t understand, but I can’t help but think they’re missing out.”
“You want the elephants to be guests at your wedding,” Eliana deadpanned.
“Yes?” She sounded so unsure of herself it made Eliana want to move heaven and earth to give this to her sister. Which she might have to do.
“Say it with confidence. ‘Yes, Elly. I want elephants at my wedding, so don’t be a jerk about it.’”
Julia laughed. “You’re not a jerk.”
“Sometimes I am.” She elbowed her sister teasingly. “Hey, I didn’t getanythingI wanted at my wedding,” she said softly. “It was all about what Corbin and his mom wanted, and I still regret not standing up for myself. Maybe if I had, I would’ve seen Corbin’s true colors earlier and saved myself a lot of pain. Does Logan know you want to get married at the conservation center?”
Julia stared out at the calm waves. “The beach was decided on so quickly, that my head was still spinning from being engaged, and I didn’t think to say anything. And then I didn’t want to disappoint anyone.”
“Will Logan be angry you don’t want to get married here?”
“No,” she said with the confidence she’d lacked earlier. “Never. He just wants me to be happy.”
That’s exactly what Eliana wanted too. Which meant seeing if Julia and Logan’s wedding could be moved to the conservation center. “It’s a good thing we have a connection,” she said with a smile as she called up Logan.
“Elly—no! We can’t change the venue at this point. The invitations are already sent out.”
“Then we’ll send texts with an update. And make sure someone is here to direct people to the new location. It’ll all work out.”
Julia bit her lip and looked very unsure of herself.
“Hey, Eliana,” Logan said. “What’s up?”
Eliana covered the phone with her hand. “Is this what you want, Julia? Really want?”
Julia’s eyes welled with tears. “Yes. But I don’t want to put anyone out.”
That was all Eliana needed to hear. “Logan, how would you feel about moving the wedding to the conservation center? Is that a possibility?”
Logan got off the phone to talk to his boss. Eliana respected that he was a man who was willing to get things done for her sister. All it took was hearing that Julia wanted to have the wedding there, and he was determined to figure it out.
If anyone could pull this off for Julia, it would be Logan.
“Thank you!” Julia hugged her. “Do you want to do your video now, or do you need to make more people’s dreams come true?”
“If only people’s dreams were as easy to fulfill as yours, Julia.” And if only everyone was as good as her sister.
But Eliana really did need to do a live, since she had to put a video out today, and hadn’t had time to record or edit anything. Normally she’d be stressed, but her normal had gone out the window this summer, and her regular schedule was all out of sync.
She stuck her phone on a selfie stick, pulled a small mic out of her pocket to clip to her top, and started her livestream. She had a few things she wanted to talk to her followers about, a few assumptions people had made about her that she needed to get off her chest. But she wanted to do it in a lighthearted, casual way, rather than scripted and edited in front of her computer.
“Hi, everyone! I’m out here in Florida, where I grew up, helping my sister plan her wedding that’s happening this weekend.
“All this wedding planning has me thinking lately—especially since this is the Happily Single channel. I know me talking about weddings might be difficult for some of you, and if you need to mute my channel for the next week, please take care of yourself and do that.
“I’ve talked a little bit about my own wedding and marriage on here before. You can go watch episodes 21 and 45, where I go into more details about my wedding and my divorce, but I want to bring up something I haven’t spoken about yet, and which may surprise you.
“I don’t hate relationships. I don’t hate love. And I don’t hate weddings.” She leaned closer to the camera as if telling them a secret. “In fact, I love them. I really, really love them. The tiered cakes and the cascading flower arrangements and the flowing wedding dresses. I can’t wait to watch my future brother-in-law see my sister walk down the aisle toward him. I envy what my grandparents have—being married for six decades. They still hold hands, guys. It’s the cutest thing you’ve ever seen.
