Joey came home at 2 AM. She had gotten phone calls from her father, but she shut off her phone. When she finally came home, she saw that the lights inside were still on, and Mr. Peabody was sitting near the entrance, awake and alert.
"JOSEPHINE SAMANTHA PEABODY, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?"
His voice sounded angry, but also scared and worried.
Joey walked past him. "What the fuck do YOU care?"
Mr. Peabody followed her. "I kept trying to call you, but you wouldn't answer! Where were you?!"
She whirled around. "If you must know, I was with Alessandro Carruthers, the man I am going to marry, whether you like it or not!"
"Why didn't you answer your phone?" he asked, trying to calm down.
"I didn't want to listen to your bullshit!"
"Stop swearing at me, Josephine. I was worried sick about you."
"You're the one who fucking started this! I don't give a fuck if you approve of Alessandro and me getting married! It's going to happen no matter WHAT you say!"
Mr. Peabody stood in silence. He looked at her with a sad expression. He spoke, softly. "Alright, Josephine. I'm sorry. I was concerned, but you are right. You are free to make your own choices. Just…be careful. And please don't scare me like that again. I feared the worst."
Joey looked at him. She was so upset and overwhelmed from everything that had happened, and suddenly, she just wanted to cry and hug him. She tried her best not to sob, but she couldn't hold it in. She sat on the floor and cried and screamed. She felt no shame; she just felt broken.
All of a sudden, she felt soft, familiar arms envelope her in a hug. She instinctively hugged him back. Mr. Peabody sat by her and cradled her while she let her feelings show. Finally, she calmed down. She heaved a heavy sigh, and he stroked her hair.
"I'm sorry I caused you so much distress," the canine said, softly.
"It wasn't just that." She told him everything that had happened that evening.
He held her tighter. "Oh, sweetie, I'm so sorry. That must have been horrible."
She nodded. She was starting to feel a little better.
Joey and Alessandro began planning for the wedding. First, they talked about where they wanted to have it. Alessandro wanted to have it at a church. Joey wanted to have it at the courthouse.
"Why do you want to have it at the courthouse?" he asked, as they sat in his room, writing things down. "It would make more sense to have it in a church."
"I wouldn't feel comfortable getting married in a church," Joey replied. "It would be really awkward for me."
"Why?"
"I'm an Atheist."
"What?"
"I thought you knew that."
"It's not something that comes up a lot in our conversations."
"Is that a problem?"
Alessandro didn't answer. He said, "Well, we have to choose a place to get married, and a church makes more sense."
Joey didn't want to argue, so she just nodded her head. "And we can have the reception at my place."
"Why?"
"It's bigger."
"We're not going to have that many people there. Why don't we have it at my place? Mom and Dad said that we could."
"If you want. What should our color scheme be? I'm thinking blue and black."
"That is a weird color scheme. How about white and gold?"
"Why not all four, or compromise? Blue and gold? Black and white?"
"Blue and white sounds good."
"Yeah, it does."
A few days later, Joey, Alessandro, and Christy went shopping for wedding clothes. Joey tried on different dresses of different colors. Alessandro insisted that she pick out a traditional white dress, so Joey tried on different ones.
"Have you gained weight?" Alessandro asked Joey as she looked at herself in a mirror, trying on a dress.
"I don't think so. If I have, it's not been much."
"All those dresses look too tight. You probably should pick a bigger size."
Joey looked at him with a strange expression, but looked for dresses that were a size bigger than what she normally wore. She finally picked a white dress out, and even though it wasn't exactly her taste, it was good enough.
Another day, Mr. Peabody, Joey, Alessandro, and Alessandro's parents went shopping for things for the reception. The couple couldn't agree on what to get, from the size of the plates to the decorations. What should have been a nice outing turned into a frustrating experience. To make things easier, Joey gave in to what Alessandro wanted for the most part. She ended up having a meltdown when she got home. Planning for a wedding, even a simple one, was harder than she thought.