Planning Time!

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four


"There he is!" James gestured toward the door as Andrew rushed in to the bar to meet them.

"Sorry about that, I got held up."

Carrie nodded, "James said you were at the menorah lighting. No big deal."

"Except that was over like an hour ago..." James pointed out.

"Be nice."

"I am being nice. He's just late."

"Sorry, I know it. I do feel badly but I ran into someone there and I was just going to say hi but then we started talking and I totally lost track of time. I'm really sorry. But you have my full attention now."

Carrie looked at James and smiled a little, "Well actually now you have our full attention, who did you run into that was able to distract you for an hour?"

"Just someone..." Andrew could feel himself starting to blush. For some reason his brother's fiance could make him feel like a little kid again.

"Just someone..." Carrie smiled again, "Was she pretty?"

Andrew shook his head, "No. Stop it, it's not like that. I mean, it's not that she isn't pretty, she is, but we were just saying hello. I wasn't saying hello just because she's pretty, but she is pretty, but that isn't why."

James nodded, "Makes perfect sense."

"Stop it. Look, I'm late. I'm sorry. Let's move along, shall we?"

Carrie let her future brother-in-law off the hook. "Okay. For now."

James reached into his computer bag and pulled out a binder. "This is the last minute checklist for the wedding. It's all pretty much dialed in. Venue, time, minister, cake, all of it. Just need to do the follow ups."

"I still can't believe you guys are getting married on Christmas Eve."

"Just be glad I talked her out of Christmas Day."

Carrie beamed, "Christmas is my favorite. Why wouldn't I want to get married at Christmas? You knew that before you even asked me out, James, so really what did you expect?"

James laughed, it was true he had known about Carrie and Christmas for years before they finally decided to risk their friendship with a date. But he was glad he had talked her out of Christmas Day. And glad they found a place that would do a Christmas Eve wedding. And that their friends all agreed to give up a piece of their afternoon that day to come. It was going to be a beautiful wedding. He knew guys didn't normally get that excited about the wedding, but he really had loved all the planning, he was going to make this the perfect day for Carrie.

"Okay, so what all do you need me to do? It looks like it's all locked in?" Andrew was as impressed as ever with how organized his brother was.

"Just make some calls to double check everything and then next week we will go in for our tuxes. It's almost time."

Carrie looked at the list that James was giving to Andrew and smiled. It really was going to be perfect and everything was well in hand. "Okay, now tell us about the pretty girl who was so distracting."

Andrew smiled and shook his head, he should have known he wasn't going to get away that easily. "James, you remember the girl from Julianne's party?"

"The one that needed some more self esteem?"

Andrew kind of looked pained, "Yeah, that...seems she had a bunch I didn't know about."

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Lauren walked home from the menorah lighting smiling to herself. She hadn't expected to run into anyone that she knew there but especially not Andrew. And she was pretty sure she hadn't imagined the look on his face when she talked about breaking up with Tyler. She'd have to give him a call after the new year and see about getting some coffee. Dating during the holidays was not on her list at all. But maybe the new year would bring new things.