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“Remind me,” Bridget started, “when I get married to keep it as simple as possible, and if Karen offers to plan anything, kindly reject it.”

“I heard that!” Karen called from the den.

Bridget cringed and yelled, “It’s beautiful! But so not me!”

Karen peeked her head around the corner of the living area into the dining room. “It’s not, but if I get to plan your wedding, which I sincerely hope you will let me, then I will make it perfect for you and what you want.”

“Eli really wanted all this crap?”

Karen shrugged slightly. “Not all of it. She’s not a detail person, you know that.”

“True. I think she’d rather just have a paper to sign and be done with it.”

“No, she wanted the whole wedding—ceremony, party, dancing.”

Bridget wrinkled her nose. She wouldn’t be dancing at weddings anytime soon, which sucked, but she did remember how much Eli loved the dances in town. It would make sense that she would want that for her wedding as well. “I suppose.”

“Now get to work, my little elves!”

Turning back to the project at hand, Bridget sighed. “There’s at least two hundred here.”

Jerica grabbed a sunflower and used the hot glue to put it on the lid. “Yup. Looks like we’re going to be here for a while.”

“We’re never going to finish this today.” Bridget just stared at the project, not sure she wanted to even start it. It was hopeless, and in her opinion, a little pointless.

Jerica nudged her with her shoulder. “Come on. We’ll get as much done as we can before I take you downstairs to make out with you.”

“Oh, I like that idea.”

Grinning, Bridget started on her first little sunflower. She had to concentrate fully in order to do it. Glue the sunflower to the lid, make sure it’s standing. She got that right. Then sprinkle the dirt to cover the base. Got that. Then screw the top dome lid, glass thing on. She stuck her tongue out of the corner of her mouth as she concentrated. Finally she moved on to tie the twine around the bottom with the tag that read “Sarah & Eli” along with the date of their wedding.

“Do people even keep these things?”

“Some do. Don’t you?”

“No.” Bridget wrinkled her nose as she set that one to the side where Jerica could move it to the kitchen counter and out of the way so it would dry. She started on the next one. “I really have never thought about getting married.”

“Why not?” Jerica was finishing her third or fourth one.

She was so damn good at this in a way Bridget was not. Not for the first time in the last few minutes was she reminded that crafts were not her specialty. Give her a gun to shoot and targets to aim for any day and she’d beat anyone, but this? This was something she always had seemed to fail at miserably.

“Bridge?”

“What?” Bridget jerked her chin up at Jerica’s tone.

“Why didn’t you think you’d get married?” Jerica looked so concerned.

Reaching out, Bridget brushed her fingers over Jerica’s cheek. “Because I never thought it was a possibility.”

“How so?”

“Because my parents are bigots, and because outside of Eli, I never really dated with that goal in mind.”

“And with me?”

Clenching her jaw, Bridget eyed Jerica. She knew what Jerica was fishing for, she wanted to know how deep Bridget’s commitment ran, how much she was willing to give up so the two of them stood a chance at surviving. Bridget didn’t have an answer for what she was willing to risk, but she did know that she was in love and she didn’t want this to end any time soon. If that was going to lead to marriage was anyone’s bet.

“With you I’m dating with a more long-term goal in mind.”