Visitation (Vampire Diaries) (Book Six)

Chapter 21__I'd Wed You in the Golden Summertime

When I finally decided to come home, I had made up my mind, walking into the house with Caroline to see Jo, Elena and Bonnie preparing for the wedding.

Jo was rushing around the room, searching for something. "Crap. They're not here."

Elena looked up, filling a glass with champagne. "What's wrong?"

"My shoes," Jo answered. "My gorgeous, ridiculously expensive, wear-them-once-and-then-never-again shoes. They are missing."

Bonnie was hopelessly trying to get a garment steamer to turn on. "Do you want me to do a locator spell?"

"On my shoes?" Jo asked.

"Mm-hmm," Bonnie answered.

"Is that possible?" Jo asked.

"I don't know, actually," Bonnie told her. "Just hang on. I got to figure out how to work this stupid thing."

Bonnie accidentally pulled out the house.

Jo looked alarmed and frustrated, sighing sarcastically. "Oh, good, break it. Because my wrinkled dress will surely distract everyone from my bare feet."

Elena turned to calm Jo down. "Hey, hey. Come on. Don't waste all your panic now. You still have eight hours until the ceremony." She offered Jo a glass. "Non-alcoholic mimosa?"

"One, a non-alcoholic mimosa is just an orange juice," Jo told her. "And two, I can't drink. Somebody should drink. You should drink."

Elena smiled. "I will drink, eventually. But, I have human tolerance now, which is cheaper, but a lot less fun." They clinked their glasses together. "Cheers." Jo's phone rang. Elena took the phone before Jo could. "Oh. Oh! Relax." She answered the phone. "Jo's phone. Oh, huh. Okay."

"That's not an 'okay' okay," Jo told her, slightly panicked. "That's a 'there's a problem' okay."

Elena spoke on the phone. "Yeah, we'll call you back. Bye." She hung up, awkwardly hesitating for a moment, turning to Jo. "Danielle's got the flu."

Jo smiled tightly. "Huh. It sounded like you just said, 'Danielle has the flu', which is impossible, because Danielle is my wedding coordinator."

Elena grimaced. "Yeah."

"Well, how sick is she?" Jo asked. "Can she still work?"

"It depends on how much vomit you want to have at the wedding," Elena told them.

Jo started to pace.

Caroline walked closer to them. "To be honest, I think maybe this is a good thing. Because no matter how good Danielle was, I am pretty sure I'm better."

Elena smiled, instantly hugging Caroline. "Caroline, I missed you!"

"I missed me, too," Caroline told them, pulling away. "Thank you for getting me back."

Elena nodded happily.

Bonnie smiled emotionally. "Hi."

"Hi," Caroline told her.

Bonnie and Caroline embraced.

I leaned against the doorway. "No hugs for me, please."

"Oh, get over yourself," Elena told me, wrapping her arms around me.

I smiled a small smile, returning it, pulling away.

Bonnie smiled a small, sad smile, walking closer to me. "I haven't even seen you since I got back from the prison world, and I can't believe what happened to you."