Bachelor's Buttons

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here today…wait, that's not my line! A lot of you know me, but for those that don't, I'm Charlie Jorgenson and I'm the Best Man, at least today, but usually the best is our Max. I can see some frantic panic going around the crowd there, since I'm speaking from the altar here, and we have yet to see the bride or groom. There’s only minutes until the ceremony is supposed to start, but before you get too worried, there is still going to be a wedding today!

“I have to admit, I am scrambling a bit here. I received a text not long ago, something short and not really sweet. It simply said, “Stall” in all caps. So here I am, trying not to pillage every line from my upcoming speech- the one I'm giving at the expected time, after this ceremony.

“No, no, Mrs. Masterson, please sit back down, everything is fine. This tux is so warm, I’ll button my collar back up in a minute. I expected to have some liquid courage before this moment came; I'm just a gardener.

“As I'll describe more thoroughly later, Max and I own Terra Novella, our landscaping company. I thought the name was a bit silly at first. But Max is a hard man to resist- and seeing the beautiful reverie fill his eyes when he told me about all the novellas he watched with his abuela growing up, it was obvious to me that the name was just perfect- the pun, of course, and more, the passion pounding behind it. I knew that if our customers saw just a glimpse of that passion they'd just have to hire us.

“Ah, a new text, “Were stuck”. I don't know if that’s we were or we are…Mrs. Masterson, Max and Katy are fine, they would've called if they needed immediate help.

“Again, I'll go into this part a bit more later, when I'm not pacing around the altar. Our business is how Max and Katy met. She hired us to renovate the grounds around her office. She said she was ‘soooo tired’, yes, she dragged it out like that, of only seeing concrete from her window and smoke stained cement in the courtyard when she took her lunch.

“My phone is buzzing again, ‘We are stuck’. Huh. Didn't see that coming. No wait, wait Mrs. Masterson! Another text! It's asterisk were! They were stuck! See I was right, no problem. Everyone take your seats, I'm sure they won't be long.

“So, as I was saying, it was a total renovation and it took a few months. It didn't take me long to see that Max was falling for Katy because his usual intense passion was magnified even further. We had developed a great layout for the courtyard; it was beautiful. We had a white river stone dry stream wrapping around the courtyard, coming to the foot of a berm which would be enveloped by leafy ground cover, some tall grasses, and vibrant flowers like yarrow, delphinium, and daylilies. The far side of the courtyard would have some small Japanese maple trees, and a cherry blossom tree shading the seating area. We set to work.

“It's another text. It only says ‘Cheated’. Well that word hits a bit heavy, but I'm sure they're fine. Max doesn't let a little weight wear him down- especially when it comes to Katy. It’s like the mud that clung to our boots as we hauled wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of cement debris from that courtyard in the rain. That was the first time I saw it. We were soaking wet and miserable in that storm, but some rain never stopped us right? Especially not Max. I had stopped under an overhang to drink some water. Max was standing in the middle of the courtyard, his wheelbarrow sinking into the mud, fixed. He looked up. Rain was plastering his hat down around his face, streaming down around his eyes, and he smiled this glorious smile. I thought the clouds would part and the water would evaporate that second, his face was so bright. It was only for a moment, but he got back to work. He kicked the thick crust of mud from his boots on the frame of the wheelbarrow and dug in, invigorated. I had to rush back into the torrent to see, and I was just able to make out Katy as she turned away from the window where she had been looking down. Her step had seemed light.

“‘Cold’

“Cold doesn’t stop Max. 

“It was after that rainy day that Max wanted to make changes to our design. For a week he kept mumbling that it wasn't right; something was missing. He stayed at the office late; you know I'd even go so far as saying it was a bit cliché. Crumpled up papers littered the corner of his office, only a fraction of them made it in the garbage can. All our years together and I think I only saw him miss that shot a handful of times. Then there were ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty, fifty drafts, sketches, layouts piled in that corner, and my lovely friend Max was a fiend at his table, surrounded by a cloud of colored pencil dust. Perhaps a muse.

“My phone just buzzed again. I don't usually feel any anxiety when I get texts. Well. At least this one is more than one word. It is hard to type while throwing on pants and tying a tie, I suppose. It says, ‘Prepare everyone, we are coming.’ Mrs. Masterson, please take your seat. 

“In the moments I have left, Max was right. Just like always when he follows his heart. The design was missing something, and it finally clicked for him. It needed a water feature, and more, a new focal point placed right where he had been standing in the rain all those weeks before. He found the most delicate fountain. Its water played a peaceful melody as it frolicked around a small planter at the center in an eternal dance. Inside the planter, Centaurea cyanus, Bachelor's Buttons, with beautiful blue flowers. He told me, dirt still clinging to his fingers, like pollen on a honeybee's legs, that the blue flowers were his token; that maybe the right eyes would accept them for what they were- infinity.

“Another text. ‘Sorry for the short messages Charlie, it has been a whirlwind. The florist left her flower barrette in the walk-in refrigerator. We weren't supposed to see each other before the ceremony, but we cheated- I couldn't let her walk down the aisle without her token. It's her something blue.”