“We found a wedding officiant. We want to time the ceremony to the sunset, so she’ll arrive about half an hour beforehand,” Vee said, as he started to load several bottles of champagne into the fridge. “But first, Embry wants to decorate his wedding cake.”
I asked, “Is there enough time to make a cake?”
“I’m not making it. I’m just stacking up three cakes and decorating them.” Embry opened the pink box to reveal a cake with white icing. “We got this at a local bakery. We also boughtthe ingredients for buttercream frosting, and I brought my piping bags and tips. Cake decorating is kind of my thing,” he explained.
“Got it. Help yourself to anything you need in the fridge or cupboards,” I said, “and can I offer y’all some iced tea?”
After I poured them some drinks, we all went into the backyard so they could plan the ceremony. It looked very nice and respectable, since I’d fished the blow-up doll out of the pool and cleaned up a million beer bottles and cans before they’d arrived.
The white gazebo was at the very back of the yard. Behind it was a wrought iron fence, and a pretty great view. The land dipped down into a wide desert valley, and the Strip could be seen off in the distance.
Embry had tears in his eyes when he turned to me and said, “This is absolutely perfect. Thank you again, Ryder.”
That seemed like a lot of emotion for a pretend wedding. Maybe there was more to this than met the eye. “I’m happy to help. So are the rest of the guys.”
For the ceremony, they decided Embry would enter from the pool house on the right, Hal would bring in Bryson through the gate on the left, and they’d meet in the middle at the gazebo, where the officiant would be waiting. Embry asked what they should do for music while he and his fiancé were making their entrances, and I said, “Three of my teammates are in a gay men’s chorus. Want me to ask them if they’ll sing something?”
He liked that idea, so I sent a message via the team group chat, because it was quicker than contacting the three guys individually. That turned out to be a bad idea. The singers said yes right away, but so did several more of our teammates. I hoped their enthusiasm would make up for any actual skill, because some of these guys couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket.
Now that the ceremony was decided, Embry said he was going to go work on the cake, and Vee offered to help him. Hal asked, “What should I do?”
That made Embry grin. “Hang out with Ryder. The cake’s going to take some time. Once it’s done, I’d love it if you could help me straighten my hair and get my outfit together. But it’s going to be a while.”
Embry and Vee went back inside, and Hal leaned into me and smiled. “You heard him. I’m all yours until the groom needs help.”
“That’s excellent news.” I brushed my lips to his and said, “Let’s go sit in the shade, while you tell me about the wedding venues you saw today.”
I took a seat on a lounge chair in a corner of the yard, under a pergola covered with some sort of ivy. I was both surprised and happy when Hal climbed on top of me, straddling my lap. He took a sip of iced tea before setting his glass on an end table, and then he rested his head on my shoulder while I rubbed his back.
“I can appreciate the kitsch of a drive-through wedding presided over by an Elvis impersonator,” he said. “And some of these places offered theme weddings, where everyone would dress up as gangsters, pirates, disco dancers, or whatever. I was secretly hoping he’d go with disco so I’d have an excuse to raid the local thrift shops for bell bottoms and platform shoes, but Embry wasn’t feeling any of the places we saw. He really wanted his fake fiancé to be happy with his decision, and maybe he was worried Bryson would think those places were tacky. I mean, they were, obviously. But intentionally so.”
“I’m not sure how I’d feel about a kitschy theme wedding, personally.”
“You and your ex were together a long time. Did you ever talk about marriage?”
“I tried to,” I said. “Whenever I brought it up, he’d tell me he wasn’t ready. I thought maybe he was dragging his feet because he didn’t want to move to the country. It would have meant commuting into Austin for his job and giving up all the perks of city life, like having his choice of twenty bars and restaurants within a mile of his condo.” I paused before saying, “But maybe deep down, he knew all along that I wasn’t the one.”
Hal muttered, “Fuck that douche canoe and his twinsie goatee. You’re much better off without him.”
“I know.” I slid my hand under the hem of his tunic and began gently rubbing his back as I asked, “If you could plan your perfect wedding, what would it look like?”
“I used to know the answer to that, but I don’t anymore. My ex and I would talk about it a lot. We weren’t officially engaged, but we were living together, and there was always this assumption that we’d take that next step eventually.”
Hal sighed before continuing, “He’d come up with these incredible ideas, like getting married on the lawn at the Griffith Observatory, which has the most stunning views of L.A. I’d wear something fabulous that I designed, of course. We’d invite hundreds of people, and our reception would be a huge party with a great band, champagne, the best of everything.” He whispered, “I hate him so much for making me think that might happen, while he was banging other people behind my back.”
“I’m really sorry he did that to you.”
“I dodged a bullet, just like you did,” he said, as he idly traced my flannel shirt’s plaid pattern. “And really, that dream wedding we talked about was too much—too ostentatious, too big, too much about showing off and making people think we had it all. I don’t want that. I don’t even know if I want to get married anymore.”
“My friend Tank said something to me earlier today. I don’t remember it word for word, but the gist of it was that I used to bea hopeless romantic, and he thought it was a shame that I’d let Greg and Craig take that away from me.”
He looked up at me as I continued, “These people from our past, my ex and yours? They don’t deserve that kind of power over us. I want to get back to who I used to be before my breakup, and I hope you don’t let your ex sour you on the idea of marriage forever. You deserve every bit of happiness, Hal, and that includes finding someone who loves you so truly, madly, and deeply that marrying him is the only thing that makes sense.”
“Tank’s wrong. You’re still a hopeless romantic.”
I grinned at that. “Let me know if it gets annoying.”
“Oh, I will. Speaking of being annoying, I should stop lying on you. You’re probably tired of being squashed.” Before I could tell him he was fine where he was, he slid off of me. I drew in a sharp breath when he grazed my side, and he sat up and asked, “Did I hurt you?”
