"The way it should be," she declared.
Jessica's gaze softened. "I just wish you were happier."
"Me? I'm fine. I'm very happy. All the work is done. Now it's just fun."
They'd had a morning wedding, because Maggie and Cole were taking a late-night flight to London to start their European honeymoon. It was almost five now, and the band would be stopping soon. Then the brides and their grooms would make their exit.
"Have you thought about talking to Barrett?" Jessica asked.
"Look, I know you're all worried about me, but you don't have to be. I'll get over Barrett. I have to," she said a little desperately. It would help if she could stop thinking about him for more than five minutes, but so far that hadn't happened. He'd been on her mind constantly. She'd tried to stay out of the office as much as possible, so much even Shari had started to worry about her.
"Instead of getting over him, why don't you talk to him?" Jessica suggested.
"Because we said all there was to say."
"Didn't that conversation last like five minutes?" Jessica challenged.
"I really need to stop telling all of you every detail of my life," she grumbled.
"I'm just saying, maybe a longer discussion is in order."
"He never wants to get married, Jessica, and I'm a wedding planner. He's a cynic. I'm a romantic. It won't work."
"I actually understand the way he feels, Kate. I went through a lot of the same emotions when I started falling for Reid. I didn't think I ever wanted to get married after my disaster of a first marriage."
"But you got married the first time because you were pregnant; that was different. Barrett married someone he thought he loved at the time, and it crashed and burned."
"Which is why he's afraid to go down the aisle again. I almost bailed on Reid for the same reason—fear. But Reid wouldn't let me. He made me realize that love was worth the risk of more pain. Maybe you need to remind Barrett of that."
"I can't talk him into changing his mind. He has to do that on his own. But I don't think that will happen. He's pretty stubborn."
Jessica smiled. "You can be stubborn, too, Kate. And it's not like you to give up. Are you really going to let this great guy walk away without a fight?"
"I don't want to, but…maybe I'm a little scared, too. Maybe it's easier this way."
"Since when do you take the easy way out?"
"Since now."
"Kate," Jessica said.
"I'll think about it. But not today. It's almost time for you and Maggie to change and say your good-byes." She paused, turning her head at the sound of loud voices near the front door.
"Kate," Maggie called from the doorway. "You have to see this."
See what?she wondered, her gaze narrowing as guests started streaming outside.
Liz ran over to her and grabbed her hand, her eyes sparkling. "Come outside."
"What's going on?"
"You have to see it to believe it," Liz told her, dragging her out to the front steps.
There was a loud buzz of a very low-flying plane. She looked up at the sky, shocked to see her name written in the sky, followed by the words I Love You.
"I don't understand," she muttered.
"It's Barrett," Maggie said, pointing to the sky where the letter B had just formed.