Chapter Thirty

Dylan

 

Bob’s lunch spot? Apparently the start of my bachelor party day. Weekend?

No one will tell me anything.

A limo would’ve been too obvious, so I was piled into a Suburban and discovered all my friends inside. “What is this?”

“Jen’s busy, so we get time with you for a change,” Jake replied.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see,” Bob said.

I shook my head. I trusted these idiots, so, “Fine…”

That we went to a white modern block of a house surprised me. If we were doing the home thing, we could’ve just hung out in the basement. Curious to see what they planned, I walked inside. A young nerdy hipster guy met us in the foyer.

“Greetings, gentlemen. Your party is all set up as you requested.” Party?

Then we entered a huge living room, only the typical furniture was missing. In its place were five gaming stations. “Video games?”

“When’s the last time we all played?” Mikey said.

“Sure. What the hell.” That we also had snacks and beer made it an okay way to pass an afternoon. “But couldn’t we do this at your house?” I asked Jake.

“Did you forget about the wedding?”

Of course not. “It’s not until Thursday. I wouldn’t think you’d need a week to set up a small reception.”

He eye-rolled. “Bethie made it off limits.”

I turned to Bob, who also had a large, open living room.

He raised his hands. “Don’t look at me. Genius here didn’t ask.”

Jake gave him the British version of the bird. “Sod off,” he said with no heat. “We’re keeping Dylan out of the press, right? The vultures know where we all live.”

“Except me,” Linc said, hand up.

“Yeah, but you live in a postage stamp,” Bob replied.

“Not that small.”

“Can we play already?” Mikey said.

So, we killed each other—virtually—until it got dark, then found a grill on the patio for a backyard that had its own beach. The houses on either side of us were dark.

Eating around the fire pit with the stars above was nice.

“So, Linc, you’ll be next,” Jake said. “The rest of us are paired off.”

Lincoln laughed. “Hard to propose when there’s no girl to accept the ring.”

“Are you at a settling-down point, yet?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I’m thirty, so I’m open to it.”

We nodded. Jake was thirty-two, Bob thirty-one, and me and Mikey twenty-nine, so we’d all reached that point where the single rock-and-roller lifestyle was old.

“But there is a lady you have your eye on,” I said.

Lincoln rolled his eyes. “I’m curious, yeah.”

“Don’t make the man blush, D,” Jake teased.

Linc gave him a middle finger. “Isn’t the focus of tonight supposed to be on the groom?”

“Yeah, but we don’t have anything to razz Dylan about,” Mikey replied.

Bob stood. “I’m up for another round of kicking your asses.”

“Ooo, big words.”

Jake stood. “It was a one-kill difference, mate.”

They went inside and Lincoln soon followed to avoid more teasing.

Mikey moved to the chair next to me. “How’s it goin’?” Since our basketball chat.

“Good. I’ve got nerves, but they’re the want-to-get-there kind.”

He nodded. “Time is weird the day of, man. You’re counting every second to the ceremony, then everything after you’re standing in front of her is a blur.”

“You regret secreting off to Iowa and missing all this prep stuff?”

He took a swig from his beer bottle. “Being impulsive was right for us in that moment, but I do regret leaving you all out of it.”

“You can always do a vow renewal.”

He grinned. “True. When do your parents get in?”

“Tuesday.”

The breeze made his hair wild for a second. “They’ll like Jen. If they—”

“Hey slackers!” Bob yelled.

I stood. “Guess we better get in there.”

Mikey laughed. “Bob never takes the taskmaster hat off.”