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He shrugged. “No one’s watching here.”
I lowered my voice. “Yeah, but aren’t you relieved that it’s almost over?”
“It’s not over for me. I’m on my way to Afghanistan, Cassie.”
I stepped back. “Right.”
Our officiant was a volunteer notary, a man who either knew God personally or had drunk three espressos that morning. He towered over Luke and Frankie and me in a hunter-orange polo, with a balding head and visible gold teeth. Frankie held up his phone, filming it all.
“Any preference for prayers?” he asked.
“Sir?” Luke asked.
“Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Pagan, I got ’em all. I got the widest variety of Christian prayers. Catholic, too.” He counted on his chubby fingers, listing them in his deep accent as if he were giving us options for video game consoles at Best Buy. “Serenity Prayer, Hail Mary prayer, the Lord’s Prayer, ‘The Lord is my shepherd’ prayer, any psalm, really, and that Corinthians one is popular, the one that goes ‘Love is patient, love is kind’?”
I couldn’t wait to tell Nora about this guy. But then I realized: How the hell was I going to explain any of this to Nora?
“There’s also the no-prayer option, being we’re in a government office. I’m happy to merely officiate over the proceedings.”
“That’ll be fine—” I started.
“Maybe the Serenity Prayer?” Luke said, his voice cracking just a bit. He looked at me for permission. “My mom used to like that one.”
“Sure.” I shrugged. Next to me, Frankie nudged me with his elbow. “I mean, sure, sweetheart.”
While the officiant dug behind his podium for a Bible, I remembered Luke saying in the diner that he had lost his mom. I couldn’t imagine. Well, I guess I could, considering I never had a father, but he was never mine to lose. For a second, I wished that my own mom could be here. Fake or not, she had always wanted to see me get married.
“As you embark on this marriage— Wait, y’all gonna look at each other, or hold hands, or what?”
Frankie nodded, encouraging us with a wave from behind his phone.
I took Luke’s hands. I smiled at him like in-love couples do, with my eyes, a serene upturn of my lips, as if I had never been more sure of anything. He smiled back. It frightened me, how easy that was. As if all love was just fooling oneself until it was real.
The officiant ahemmed, making a big show of closing the Bible and reopening it, as if he were starting from the very beginning.
“As you embark on this marriage, God grant you both the serenity to accept the things you cannot change, the courage to change the things you can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
“Can’t disagree with that,” I said quietly.
Luke squeezed my hands. I couldn’t tell if it was a friendly squeeze or a warning squeeze.
“Do you, Cassie, take Luke to be your partner for life? Do you promise to walk by his side forever, and to love, help, and encourage him in all he does?”
I opened my mouth to say “I do,” but the officiant kept going.
“Do you promise to take time to talk with him, to listen to him, and to care for him? Will you share his laughter, and his tears, as his partner, lover, and best friend?”
I lifted my chin, waiting. That sounded like a lot of jobs for one person. If the real thing ever came along, I think I could be good at two, at best.
“Do you take him as your lawfully wedded husband for now and forevermore?” The officiant looked at me expectantly.
“I do,” I said.
As the officiant asked Luke the same questions, I watched Luke listen, his eyes down, eyelashes brushing his cheek.
“I do,” Luke said when the officiant finished.
“By the power vested in me by the state of Texas, I now pronounce you husband and wife.”
