Page 59 of Jon's Helter Skelter Cold Case

Donovan doubled back outside to help his mother and then returned not a minute later.

Alani came in with Donovan closely on her heels, in a summer dress with her hair up in a bun. She held a huge three-ring binder, the front readingFairy Tale Pending. I seriously loved this woman.

She stood on the kitchen side of the bar, set the binder down, and beamed.

“Jon, I think this idea is brilliant. I’m glad you agreed with my son.”

“It sounds like a fun party, and really, that’s what a wedding should be, right?”

“Absolutely. I do need you two to make some official wedding decisions, though.”

I mean, I kind of figured on that one. “Sure. Oh, we told you the officiant’s going to be Grandpa, right?”

Alani blinked like this was news to her. Oops.

“Your…wait, which grandfather?”

“Neil’s dad,” I clarified. “He used to be a minister, actually, so he’s properly licensed to marry people. When we told him wewere engaged, he almost pleaded to let him be the officiant, and I’m happy for him to do it.”

“Oh, Jon! How sweet of him. Okay, an officiant was one of my main questions. I’ll write that down.”Flopwent the front of the binder, and she grabbed a pen from some inner pocket divider and jotted that down. “All right, we’ve got our ring bearer—as Mack insisted on prancing down the aisle—and flower girl set. What music do you want for your entry?”

Here I paused and looked at Donovan. We’d been debating on music.

“Well”—Donovan looked right back at me—“we’ve got it narrowed down to either ‘Happy’ or ‘Sugar’ by Maroon 5. Honestly, I’ve been leaning toward ‘Sugar.’”

He was? I could tell from his lines he meant it. “I have too.”

Alani busted out laughing. “That is somehow so appropriate for you two. I love it. Okay, we’ll use ‘Sugar.’ Do you want music playing during the reception time?”

“Sure. But, like, mix it up. Use a bunch of movie theme songs and stuff. Nothing sappy.” I was terrible with sappy anyway, but every time I tried to do something like that, it usually blew up in my face. Let’s not taunt the wedding gods. “Oh, and uh, I guess kid friendly? Since we’ll have a few there.”

“We’ll manage it,” Mom promised. “Actually, we can set Skylar to putting a playlist together for us.”

“Perfect.” God bless nieces. What would I do without Skylar? “Okay. Uh…what else?”

“Honeymoon?”

“We’re going camping at Fall Creek Falls,” Donovan said.

I personally loved camping, which everyone knew, but in late September? The fall leaves would be stunning. It would be the perfect honeymoon in my opinion.

“So where are you sleeping the night of the wedding?”

I stared at her and feltduhbrain hit out of nowhere. I hadn’t even thought about it. Um. “No idea?”

Alani just shook her head, exasperated. “Young couples never think about this when planning a wedding. You’re so busy trying to get to the day, you don’t think about after.”

“Guilty,” I admitted.

Donovan had his thinking face on and hummed. “What if we pack all our camping gear into the Humvee? Then we can leave for Fall Creek Falls directly from the wedding.”

It was a three-hour drive, but our wedding was supposed to end around three in the afternoon, so we’d have plenty of time to get down there and set up before night fell. I perked up. “That’s a great idea. Let’s do it.”

“It will mean needing a designated cleanup crew,” Donovan mused.

Alani waved this off. “I’ve already got cleanup organized.”

Yup, she’d been in the army, all right. Woman knew how to deploy the troops. I was so so grateful she had everything under control.

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