Justin and I get into his truck and head back toward the ranch. When we hit the highway, I decide to go in on the subject that’s been bothering me all week.
“So am Inotsupposed to know you and Charlie got married?”
“Shit,” he says under his breath. “I keep meaning to talk to you, but we got busy as soon as we hit the ground, and then it feels like I haven’t even seen you until today. Hell, how did you even find out?”
“Erik told Ant.”
He lets his head fall back to the headrest. “Why would he do that?”
“I dunno, man. Maybe he thought it was important information.”
“Fuck. I’ve gotta let Charlie know.” Turning to me, he says, “You know we weren’t trying to keep it from you, right? We just…wanted a few days with it all to ourselves.”
“I get it, man. I mean, you don’t have to tell anyone a damn thing. But finding out secondhand wasn’t…great. It’s a real good way to make somebody feel like they don’t matter that much to you.”
“Youdomatter,” he says, sending me a pleading look. “You and Ant matter so much to us. Charlie and I… I don’t regret getting swept up in the moment and flying off to Vegas. Honestly, it was the most romantic thing ever.”
“And see, man, I love that for you. I don’t know anyone who’s worked harder for his happily ever after. It’s just…words like brother and family are sacred to people like us. Me and Ant…we can’t go back to our families, right? You know how that last visit with my mom went. So, it’s real tender, you know?”
He drops his chin to his chest, and…argh. Bram was right. I hate that he feels bad.
He responds with absolute sincerity. “I promise it doesn’t mean we don’t think of you as family. We genuinely do. You’re incredibly important to us, both to me and Charlie and to me and Jason. When you start a business, those first employees can make or break you so fast. You were the best decision we ever made for our business. Though I hope you know you’re more than an employee to us.”
“I do know that, but it is nice to hear.”
After driving silently for a while, I bump his shoulder. “So, tell me about Vegas. Don’t leave out any details.”
“Oh, there are some details I will definitely be leaving out. But Saturday morning, we were just…”—he pauses to blush, which cracks me up—“…making love, and there was a moment where we were looking into each other’s eyes, and I knew I’d never want my life without him. Aaand at that same moment, he just sorta blurted out, ‘Marry me. I’ll get Erik. We’ll go to Vegas. Marry me. Today.’”
“Oh,damn. That’s romantic ashell.”
His grin lights up the inside of the truck.
“It was. When we got there, we had to go to the courthouse and wait for the paperwork, which sort of sucked because everyone around us was drunk and sloppy. After a while, we decided it felt kinda like a party.”
I laugh at the visual.
“And even though we were looking for anything but, the only places with availability had Elvis officiants.”
I laugh even harder, and he continues, “So we just got the classiest-looking one.”
At this point, I almost have to pull over. “Fucking classiest Elvis impersonator. Fuck, dude, that’s hilarious.”
“He had a good voice too. Most Elvis impersonators are just about the cheese factor, but he was, like, weirdly sincere. I couldn’t tell if it was cool or sad.”
“We’ll go with cool,” I say as a thought occurs to me. “Oh shit, dude. How is Charlie’smomtaking this?”
He grimaces. “We didn’t tell them until after we got home, and it didn’t go well. It’s probably gonna take a family wedding or reception before she forgives us.”
“You should do it in the therapy barn. It worked well for the grand opening, and you know the horses will behave during the ceremony.”
“Wherever we do it, it’ll have to be sooner rather than later, or we will absolutely never live it down.”
“Especially after all that shit y’all went through just to get her to accept you.”
He drops his head back on the headrest. “Yeah…that was brought up.”
“You know, I feel a little better now.”
