The Armenian folk music blared into the night, and Raffi was thankful they were far away enough from neighbors that they wouldn’t get any noise complaints. And then he stopped worrying for a moment and enjoyed the spectacle.
He loved the sound of the instruments; it brought him back to Armenian Sunday school, the Armenian dance classes he took there years before ballroom dance.
Grace was already on-site and had been waiting for her bride to arrive. When Grace herself had been driven to the property, Raffi witnessed the reporters and cameras go into a feeding frenzy, the likes of which he’d never seen before. They stepped all over each other, shouting like mad, all trying to get the perfect shot of her. He had to say, Grace handled them with, well, grace. She gave them one look over her shoulder and a closed-mouth smile that he was sure would make the papers the next day.
Now, a couple of paps had climbed the walls of the winery and snapped photos of Grace and Kami holding hands while the band played around them. He’d hired security for the wedding, as instructed by the couple, but not for this event. Raffi was regretting not going ahead and doing it anyway, but he thought if Kami and Grace were okay with it, he would be, too. Maybe they wanted to tease this event so they could get more cash for selling the private wedding photos. And the shots of Ô would be stunning at least.
Kami’s mom breached the circle and fed a spoonful of honey to Grace and then one to Kami. She handed them walnutsas well, which, if Raffi remembered correctly, were supposed to ensure a sweet and happy life for them.
Raffi glanced over at Ani, standing too far away from him on the outskirts of the crowd. He wanted to do this with her. Have a hinoum. The whole shebang, too. He could imagine Talar at the front door of the Avakian family home with a saber, not allowing Raffi in until he paid the traditional bribe. Usually it was the brother of the groom who played this role, but he thought Talar would do formidably.
God, he wanted this with Ani. Three more days. Tonight, tomorrow, then the next day was the wedding and they could really be together, no more hiding.
Grace’s family had entered the circle and were pretending to barter for Kami. Grace’s brother was promising chickens, lamb, and a whole cow. It was a good joke because that’s what was on the menu for the feast tonight. This was Kami’s family’s big chance to showcase Armenian culture, while tomorrow there would be a tea ceremony, and at the wedding, there’d be Californian and Malaysian fusion food to honor Grace’s.
After some dancing and cheering, the guests took their seats for dinner. Server after server stepped out of the kitchen with enormous trays of roasted meats from a well-known Armenian caterer. The air filled with spiced lamb, pilaf, and fire-kissed vegetables.
Raffi stayed on the periphery, although technically Kami had invited him to sit and eat as a guest. Raffi’s father was there, though, seated next to Kami’s father, no doubt talking business. Raffi didn’t feel like he could just hang out and socialize while so much was happening at the winery, so muchpotential for things to go wrong at any second. Besides, Ani wasn’t going to relax for even a moment, so why should he?
Ani was chatting a hundred miles a minute with somevendor, which he was certainly not—not a vendor but her boyfriend. Ani caught his eye and seemed relieved to find him.
“Raffi jan,” she said formally, though with a hint of endearment, since they were in front of the vendor, whoever he was. “This is Dillon. He mentioned that someone tripped over one of the patio lights and the plug broke off but it’s still in the socket. Do you know how we could fix that?”
Shit, he didn’t. But this seemed like a solvable problem and not a party-ruiner. They had so many patio lights he hadn’t even noticed. Ani didn’t seem overly worried, either, so they’d take the time to fix this without freaking out. Raffi mentally patted himself on the back for keeping so levelheaded in the face of a setback.
“I’ll take a look and call the electrician.”
But Raffi did not get a chance to call the electrician.
Suddenly, several guests started screaming, and then more screams joined in. A cluster of guests were jumping up and Raffi ran in that direction, now fully freaking the fuck out—what was it? A fire? He didn’t see or smell anything. Or was it a rat? God, that’d have the wedding shut down faster than he could say “health code violation.” But then he saw it.
Arching over the guests, looping, twisting, and turning like an inflatable tube man outside a car dealership, was a small plastic hose, mercilessly soaking all the guests at his winery.
What. The fuck.
It was one of the fountain tubes, the newly installed fountain tubes that had been working perfectly until this very second.
He saw Ani rushing toward it now, getting splashed by one chaotic swoop, her hair sticking to her face, and she and Raffi raced together, then grabbed it at the same time, wrangling the tube and trapping it underwater in the fountain.
Raffi didn’t register that he’d gotten wet, too, until he and Ani stared at each other, panicked, not speaking, just taking huge, terrified breaths.
Then,pop pop. Flashbulbs flared from over the fence. Raffi scanned Kami’s guests, all uproarious about the unwanted waterworks. Fancy Armenian ladies, like cats, didnotlike to get wet without permission. Or at all. His mother had never once stepped foot in a pool their entire childhood, although she was more than happy to sit at the perimeter of one. He spotted aunties with their furs doused, men with their toupees plastered to their heads, and younger guests with makeup running down their faces.
How the hell could this have happened? Chris was flawless in his designing, there was no way he’d let something like this slip. He wasn’t rushed toward the end, not that Raffi could recall. Then Raffi remembered the flower predicament. And how Kami’s alterations went wrong. Could this be related?
Raffi asked Ani as quietly as he could, while still being heard over the din, “What the hell do we do?”
Ani’s eyes were massive, terrified, and he thought that for once, maybe she didn’t know, either. “I—I need a second to think—”
Then, her gaze roamed over to Kami and Grace, who hadescaped the impromptu shower. And Kami? Kami was standing up, laughing. Then Grace was laughing. Kami was trying to shout and say something over the ruckus, but it was hard to hear her.
“Hold this down,” she said, then Ani bolted. Raffi had no idea what she was doing or how to help other than keeping the wiggle-happy hose in place, so he just stood there, hand plunged in the water. Sanan rushed up to his side then, also half-doused, and grabbed the hose from him. “I’ve got this. You might be needed elsewhere. I’ll figure out what to do with this thing.”
“Thanks, Sanan,” Raffi said with sincerity. He took his hands out, dried them on his pants, and looked for Ani.
Ani had grabbed a mic from somewhere and handed it to Kami.
Kami’s voice boomed, and between her giggles, she said, “Calm down, everyone! This was obviously a gift from Anahit, goddess of water, healing, and…” she waggled her eyebrows in Grace’s direction. “Fertility.”
