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“Thanks for being here for me,” he says.
I make a psshh noise. “You think I’d miss my only brother’s wedding?”
He smiles and takes a sip of his bourbon. As I sip from my glass, the door opens and Theo appears.
“Maya said you have bourbon back here?” he says, chucking his suit jacket over the back of a nearby chair.
Gage grabs an empty glass from a cardboard box that’s sitting on the desk.
“Did Dad order those for the restaurant?” I ask.
“Probably,” Gage says as he pours bourbon into the glass and hands it to Theo.
The three of us crowd together in this tiny office.
Theo raises his glass. “Cheers to you on your wedding day, Gage. So happy for you and Becca, man. And thanks for letting me be part of it.”
“Love you, little brother.” I raise my glass.
Gage smiles. “Thanks, guys.”
We all take a long sip from our glasses. Out of the corner of my eye, I see movement at the door. I look up and see Maya in the doorway wearing a long, silky-looking strapless black gown.
“Five minutes till go-time, guys,” she says.
Theo grins at her and swipes her hand in his, pulling her close.
“You look incredible,” he murmurs.
She slides her arms around his neck. I turn my head away before they kiss and take another drink.
Gage clears his throat. “Break it up, you two. I don’t want to vomit on my wedding day,” he says.
Maya and Theo laugh as they break apart, and Maya walks off.
We finish our drinks and set the empty glasses back on the desk. We take a minute to put on our black suit jackets and straighten our ties. Theo walks out of the office toward the ceremony space at the main part of the restaurant.
“Do I look okay?” Gage asks.
I fix the knot of his necktie so that it’s straight. “You do now.”
Gage, Theo, and I are all wearing the same simple black suit and black tie with a white dress shirt. But Gage sports a white silk pocket square in his front suit pocket as a subtle way for him to stand out as the groom.
I check the time and clap Gage on the shoulder. “It’s about that time, bro.”
He smiles, which makes me smile, despite how nervous and heartbroken I am. This is the happiest I’ve ever seen my brother, and witnessing him like this makes me happy too.
He rolls his shoulders and tugs on the lapel of his suit jacket. “You sure this suit looks okay?” he asks.
“I mean, no way you’d ever look as good as I do in a suit.” I make a face. “But not bad.”
He punches me in the arm and I laugh. “You look great, man. Really.,” I say.
“Thanks.” His expression turns serious as he looks at me. “You doing okay?”
I take in the concern in his gaze. As much as I appreciate that he cares about me, I hate that he’s spending any part of his wedding day worried about me.
When he phoned me a few days ago to see how things were going in LA, I tried to play it cool, but he called me on it and asked me straight up how I was handling the sudden move and everything else.
