"You're planning my wedding with a funeral aesthetic?"
"Dual-purpose. I call it budget efficiency."
Piper giggled. "Daisies are fine. They're not tulips, but you're new at this. We'll work up to that."
"Tulips it is," he said.
She arched an eyebrow. "I get veto power on the color palette."
"Deal. If the cake is chocolate. That's non-negotiable."
"With buttercream, not fondant. I hate fondant."
"I thought you didn't care," he asked, pointedly.
"I only care about that part."
Zach leaned in, brushing his nose against hers. "I thought this was a soft proposal anyway."
"A soft proposal?"
"Yeah. Warm-up lap. Final dress rehearsal. No pressure but maybe clear your calendar in eighteen months just in case."
They were ridiculous. But some part of her? Some very traitorous, grinning part, was already picturing the whole spread.
Pausing at the Montgomery Events placard outside the door, she buffed it with her sleeve. Just for luck.
The sun slanted low over Cherry Creek, shining through the window at the end of the hall and Zach's knuckles brushed against hers like a habit. Their pinkies hooked, loosely, without thinking.
Neither of them said anything.
They didn't have to.
"I talked to my mom today," Piper said when they reached the bank of elevators.
"That's worrying," Zach replied, pushing the down button.
She pushed it again, for good measure. "She and Dad are going to Aruba."
"Together?" Zach's eyebrow seemed to crawl right up to his hairline.
That'd been her reaction, too.
Piper nodded. The elevator opened and Zach held his arm against the door while she stepped through first.
"And I am not involved. I don't care what they do. I don't care what happens." She brushed her hands together like she was done with it. "I am not planning or attending any future weddings they have."
Tender, and only for her, Zach said, "You were never the problem. You really know that now, right?"
"I know," Piper said. "I know that now."
She'd grown up believing tension was normal, peace was temporary, and anyone who didn't yell probably didn't care.
But with Zach, there had never been yelling.
Only gentle arguments and a surprising respect for color-coding.
Also, turned out that her Montgomery Events health insurance covered a whole lot of therapy. So, between that and the Dvornakov brand of therapy, she was in an excellent headspace.
