“Okay, whatever you say, but if you blowthis, she may never forgive you. Which reminds me, we have a list of weddingthings we need to go over.”
“An entire list?”
“Uh—be happy. You only got one list thatis only a page and a half long. I’ve had three separate lists, and they’ve allbeen at least four pages long.”
“Okay, okay, I’m grateful for my onelist.” Cole takes me to a little restaurant off the strip. It’s a local place thatdoesn’t get too much tourist traffic, which is the way the owner likes it, orso Cole tells me. When we’re sharing a piece of Tiramisu, I pull out his list.
“Are you ready to go through this?” Ilaugh, shaking the paper in front of him.
Cole gives me a stern, serious look. “Hitme.”
“Oh, good grief. The first item is: wheredo you plan to stay the night before the ceremony?”
“With you. In fact, that reminds me Ineed to order something.” He pulls out his phone, jotting down the reminder.
“Order what?”
“A—”
“Don’t you dare say surprise.”
Cole closes his mouth, shrugging.
“My mother is going to want you to stayat a hotel.”
“I’ll book a room. It doesn’t mean I’mgoing to stay there. What’s the big deal, anyway?”
“You know the old adage the bride and groomcan’t see each other until they’re walking down the aisle?”
“I’m supposed to go over twenty-fourhours without seeing you? I don’t think so.”
I shake my head. But then when I thinkabout that, it is a long time. We haven’t ever gone that long without seeingone another since we got married. “Okay, we’ll worry about that detail later.The next item is, who’s standing up with you?”
“I’ve got that taken care of.”
I wait for him to go on, but he doesn’t.
“My mother is going to want to know. Cometo think of it, I want to know.”
“Cooper is the best man. Kit, Race andLuke are groomsmen.”
“Oh, well…Luke, huh?”
“Luke and I go way back. We’re friendsfirst and partners second.”
“Wait, you and Luke are partners?”
“Yes, I helped him start his securityfirm. I own a portion of it, and I contract all my security for the hotel andcasino, as well as my offices.”
“Wow, I didn’t know that. Okay, so mymother wants to know where they are staying, and do you need help getting thetuxedos?”
“Your mother’s demanding.”
“Yeah, tell me about it.”
“I’ll take care of everything, evenBen’s, Kurt’s, and your dad’s. Just tell your mom to send me theirmeasurements. I’ll also book hotel rooms for my grandpa, dad and Olivia.”
“Excellent. Those were down here on thelist. These other questions we need to answer together. Do you want to writeour own vows? I put yes but decided I should ask what you’d like to do.”
