“Thank you for being stubborn and not giving up on me. For being a man I can love with my whole heart, and trust with everything I hold dear. For giving me and people who look like me a safe place to live and love, to feel like part of a family. I love you and…” Samir laughed. “I think there was more, but I forget. I lost my notes.”
Clancy chuckled. “That was perfect.”
Nat pressed his shoulder to Zack’s, wistfulness and joy swelling inside him for the sweet words exchanged by two men in love. He didn’t know all the details of Clancy and Samir’s love story, but the results of that journey were all over their faces and in their vows. They’d been challenged, they’d overcome, and they had triumphed over adversity.
Thomas asked if anyone had reason these two should not be wed. No one spoke, but Clancy did glance around, as if nervous some homophobic relative might appear from behind a support pillar and scream obscenities at them.
“You got this!” someone shouted. Nat wasn’t sure who, but it came from a cluster of food truck tenants. Maybe one of the Pratt triplets.
Clancy and Samir repeated the traditional vows, to have and to hold, to honor and cherish, until death did them part. Thomas took a moment to smile at the gathered crowd, and then said, “By the power vested in me by the state of North Carolina, I now pronounce you husband and husband.”
Nat swallowed back tears as he joined in the applause for the happy, kissing couple up on the small stage. He wanted that to be him and Zack one day—maybe not with such a big, gawking crowd in attendance, but the love and devotion and vows. It was too soon to make those kinds of plans, though. They’d only been together for six months, and they were slowly building their life. Nat was investigating all the different ways he could work in health care, the licensing required, and the kinds of patients he’d be most comfortable with.
Right now, he loved his job with Chase, and he’d even started bartending again, two nights a week at River Bistro’s first location. Nat was still having trouble dealing with killing Austin. The man’s face still appeared in his nightmares, but Nat liked his therapist, and he was making progress. Things were…even. Calm. Neither of them wanted a big upheaval anytime soon.
Music blared over the speaker system again, this time “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” Clancy and Samir stepped off the stage, and into the welcoming arms of their friends and family. The folks seated at the front-left picnic table got up and prepared to serve a long sheet cake to the happy couple and their guests. No cutting the cake, no first dances, nothing else traditional.
Nat loved the simplicity. Publicly declaring their love, saying vows, and then preparing for another workday at Neighborhood Shindig. Because sometimes life didn’t stop for a party; parties had to be worked into life.
“That was lovely,” Zack said. “I much prefer simple weddings over the fancy ones, full of pomp and circumstance. When I was a teenager, a female cousin of mine got married. She had eight bridesmaids, which meant her future husband had to scrounge up eight groomsmen. I ended up being groomsman number seven to fill the slots.”
Nat laughed, even though he couldn’t properly imagine Zack as a teenager, stuffed inside a tuxedo so his older cousin had enough people in the wedding party. Zack didn’t have any photos from that period of his life, so he could only picture Zack as the gorgeous, muscular, silver-flecked man he loved. “I’ve only ever seen those kinds of lavish weddings in movies. Actually, this is the first wedding I’ve ever attended in person.”
“Really?” Zack shifted on the picnic bench so he was facing Nat. “You didn’t tell me that.”
“It didn’t really occur to me as a big thing until now. But yeah, this is my first wedding. Indoor, outdoor, same-sex, straight, whatever. And I’m glad this was my first.” Nat snuggled up closer to Zack, as much for a sideways hug as to share some body heat. “Weddings don’t need to be expensive demonstrations of wealth and design aesthetic. They need to be demonstrations of love and togetherness with the people you care about the most, whether it’s one person or three hundred. I think this one was perfect.”
“I agree. I’ve been to…at least a dozen weddings in my life, and I vastly prefer the simpler, down-to-earth ones over the uptight, tuxes and cocktail dresses, planned to the millisecond weddings and receptions.”
“Yeah. And I bet they’re a lot less stressful for the folks getting married.”
“Is that the kind of wedding you’d like one day?” Zack’s blue eyes shined with curiosity and affection. “Something intimate with our closest loved ones?”
Nat swallowed hard as he nodded. “Yes. I would.”
“So would I.” Zack pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. “One day.”
His heart galloped away with the joy of that promise. They were both in this for the long haul, and they both knew they had work to do. Demons to battle and paths to forge. But they were both traveling toward the same destination. The same beautiful castle in the sky where dreams came true, and Nat knew, one day, he’d live with his knight in shining armor. Not tomorrow, maybe not in a few months, but one day.
Cake was passed around. Tenants returned to their food trucks and business pods to prepare for the day. The gates to Neighborhood Shindig opened to the public.
Nat remained on that bench, snuggled close to Zack, ready to spend the last twelve hours of this year with the small circle of people he cared about most. To stand with his boyfriend at the stroke of midnight and leave all the stress, pain and turmoil of the old year behind. To embrace joy, love and fresh beginnings.
To welcome in the new year and its endless possibilities.
With Zack by his side and the future a clear path forward, Nat was finally, truly free.
* * *
