Living Next Door To Alice

44/ Family Meeting

Alice had written their whole to-do list in her notebook, which was a lot longer than both of them anticipated. Even with the experience of  organizing her own wedding before, she couldn't recall the amount of work that it took. Maybe it was because when she married Hal a wedding planner had helped them, which they didn't plan on using this time. She loved being in charge, but even for Alice this was a little too much.

"I forgot how much time and energy it costs to plan a wedding." She sighed as she looked at the never ending list of things they had to do.

"Dresses, suits, cakes, venues... it's a lot." She summed up and looked sideways to look at FP. His eyes were even bigger than hers. It was clear that he had underestimated all the work.

"You've done this before, isn't there a good strategic to make this easier?" He grabbed the notepad and looked at all there was to do. There should be an easy way, right?

"Well, we could split all the tasks? And if we really don't like something we can always veto." She proposed, even when it was far from a perfect plan.

"Alright, that sounds like something that could work. A little heads up though, I am not really known for having the best taste." He chuckled a little. The last thing he wanted was to screw up big time and piss off his bride.

"It's your wedding too, honey. You should be able to choose what you like best." She grabbed his hand and smiled sweetly, which he appreciated.

"But I will use my veto if it's really out of line." She teased, making him laugh.

He had definitely expected that. After all, he had always figured that she knew exactly how she wanted this wedding to look, once it was their time.

"I never doubted that." He pointed out, knowing that Alice had a very specific taste. Or actually, maybe it was FP's taste that was questionable and she was just trying to keep him in line.

"So... we should start with a theme, I guess? At least that way we don't do opposite things." FP thought out loud, which to Alice sounded like a good idea.

"Did you have anything in mind?" She asked, trying to find out if he had any ideas about what he wanted this wedding to look like.

Since she came to learn that he had bought the engagement ring ten months before proposing, she thought that maybe part of him had tons of ideas.

"Not really... you're the bride, what is it that you want?" He turned to her, his eyes a little helpless.

"Babe, this is a big day for both of us. It's sweet that you focus so much on me, but what is it that you want?" Alice had to smile a little to herself.

She truly appreciated for him to be able to give with whatever she had in mind, but since this was the first (and the last) time he was getting married, she wanted for him to have a say as well.

"I have no idea... I never thought I had to consider so many things. I was hoping you'd have some killer ass ideas. You're good at that." He placed his hand on her thigh as he leant into the couch a bit more.

"Did you never dream of your wedding day?" Alice grinned and scooted a little closer to him as she started to play with the collar of the shirt that he wore underneath his flannel.

"Honestly? Not before you came into my life. I never had someone in my life that I wanted to marry, or even considered asking." He smiled slightly.

"Did you never think of asking Gladys?" She asked him out of curiosity, since after all she was the mother of his children. She could imagine that once in his life he had wanted to marry her.