Chapter 40- Arizona

Alex and Aria are cute together, I heard Lucia comment on it too. Won't Carlos love that, I laugh to myself. Now both his girls, and wife, are here. I wasn't sure when Aria was planning on leaving, she's already been here a week, but I really didn't care. Callie was happy, Alex was happy, dad seemed happy, as much as he can be, and Lucia, she just enjoyed having her girls together. Wedding planning had started. Callie had decided she wanted a fall wedding, so that meant either we do it within the next month or so, or wait until next year. Aria had decided for us that it'd be this year, she wasn't waiting a whole year to call me her sister-in-law. By the looks of it, her and Alex might be headed there themselves. That's a big might, Alex has never even hinted at wanting to get married. Anyway our wedding is set for October 15th, Callie said I didn't have to do anything but show up, so I'm holding her to her word. Today however is April and Jackson's wedding, I've been kind of excited for this, but only because I get to show off Callie. So here I am, dressed in my best shirt and pants, and shoes I hardly ever wear, waiting on my future wife, sister-in-law, and mother-in-law to get ready. Dad and Alex were just finishing up. Alex of course needed help with his tie, he could never get it right. He comes down and I laugh and nod for him to come closer. "so who would have thought we'd all have dates to this thing"

"dad and Lucia are not dating" I say

"no, but they could"

"they aren't" I say, hoping that was true, I didn't want to end up marrying my step sister.

"they could" he says again. Don't get me wrong I love Lucia, but my dad was a one-woman man.

"I know he still loves your mom and he always will, but there's always that chance" Alex says as I finish with his tie.

"it's not going to happen Alex" I say "he's a one-woman man"

"and one man, man apparently" we both chuckle at that. It hasn't been brought up again, outside of Callie telling Aria, so hearing Alex say that was a little funny.

"we're ready" Lucia says coming down the stairs, followed by Aria, and then Callie. I haven't seen her dressed up and I hear Alex say "sha-wing" as he moves away, going to Aria, they share a quick kiss, as I stand there just staring at my future wife. "aren't you going to say anything?" I shake my head "speechless, I love it" she says kissing me. I laugh and take her hand, leading her out to the car. I had finally gotten a new truck, well this wasn't a truck, it was an SUV, big enough for all of us to fit in. Which was what I was going for, I ended up going to a few towns away so I didn't have to deal with Mr. Torres, but here we are. As we pull up to Kepner's, Alex comments about the barn looking good, causing Callie to laugh. And I feel a little guilty we never made it over to help. That quickly goes away, as I park and go around to help Callie out. Damn she was gorgeous, the red dress she was wearing showed off all of her assets. She takes my hand and I follow dad, as he leads the way to the barn. "this is awesome" Aria says "Cal, we should do this" I roll my eyes. As Callie, Aria and Lucia start talking about our wedding. I let go of Callie's hand when I see Jackson.

"oh good you guys made it" he says leaning in to hug me, and then Alex. "where's your dad?"

"over there talking to John" I say, he smiles, then turns to me "I've heard about all the shit that's been happening" he pauses "you know with senior Torres" he says in his best Spanish accent. I laugh "yeah, and with Callie's mom and sister staying with us, I'm surprised we haven't heard anything in awhile"

"yeah" Alex says

"oh, we got your invitation" Jackson says "congrats, I didn't think it was that serious"

"oh it is" Alex says laughing "turns out a wedding is a big deal, that's all the women have been talking about" I roll my eyes, he was right, that's all they talk about, we should do this, or that, what colors do you want. Who is going to be the maid of honor, and bridesmaids, how many. I hear Jackson laugh "I understand April was the same way"

"I'm sure by the end of today Aria will talk her into helping"

"oh I'm sure" Jackson laughs, someone calls his name "oh this is it, I'll talk to you after" he smiles. April and Jackson have been together for as long as I can remember, I'm not sure why it's taken them this long to finally get married, but here we are. I find Teddy, sitting with her husband, Henry, and go to sit next to her. Making sure there was enough room for 6, April has a big family, so there ended up being plenty of room. They had the old, rebuilt, I don't know how many times, barn all decorated, and I could hear Aria and Callie whispering about it. Rolling my eyes, I turn my attention to Jackson. He didn't look nervous at all, the music starts and Harriet comes walking down the aisle, in her little white dress, tossing flowers in every direction, she even threw them over her head, causing everyone to laugh. Then came April's sisters, I won't go through their names, she had 4 of them. As the music changed, and we stand, I felt a tear slip out of my eye. This was a friend I have known almost my entire life. I feel Callie take my hand, and squeeze it, as Teddy nudges me, leaning in whispering "that's our girl"

"it is" I smile, tears rolling down my cheek. April was beautiful, I don't have any other words to describe it. Everything here was beautiful, and I found myself wishing time would hurry up, so it'll be me standing up there, and Callie walking towards me.