The words took a moment to register. Then Theo turned to look at his brother. “Are you serious? You and Tara are finally taking the plunge?”
“After two kids, I think it’s about time,” Max said with a grin. “We always talked about doing it after the baby was born, and now that he’s here, I think it’s perfect timing. But I can’t do it without you by my side.”
“You know I love Tara,” Theo said hesitantly. “And I think you two are great together. But are you sure this is what you want to do? I mean, a wedding… all that junk…”
“It’s not junk, Theo. And Tara really wants it.”
“I wouldn’t like to think you were getting into something you weren’t sure about just because she wants it. What about whatyouwant?”
Max was quiet for a moment. “Look, I know how you feel about weddings — about marriage,” he said. “But I don’t think it always has to be a bad thing. I think it could be really good with Tara. And it isn’t just her who wants it. I want this too. I want us to be a family. Me and Tara and our kids. We already are, of course, but there’s something special about making it official, and I want to do that.”
Theo nodded. “If it means that much to you, of course I’ll be your best man,” he said. “I think you and Tara are a great couple.”
A look of relief broke over Max’s face. “Thanks,” he said. “I know it’s really important to her to have you be a part of this, too. Shedoesn’t have any siblings, you know, and she wants to have a relationship with you. She values you, Theo.”
“You know I think she’s great.”
“And it means the world to me. There’s just… well, there’s one other thing about all this.”
“What do you mean?
“We kind of jumped the gun on our preparations — well, we were so excited,” Max said quickly. “We were calling around, trying to find a venue to have the wedding reception. We haven’t found one yet, but then we decided to contact Tara’s church. She wants to get married there. And they had an opening in six weeks.”
“Hang on,” Theo said. “Sixweeks? You’re going to do this that quickly?”
“I mean, there’s not really any reason to wait. We’ve been together for years. We have two kids together. It isn’t like we’re going to change our minds about this.”
“No, I know, but do you really think you can plan a wedding that quickly?” Theo asked. “I mean, I don’t know about you, but knowing Tara, she’s going to want something fancy and elaborate. It won’t be enough to have a backyard barbecue reception or anything like that.”
“No. And I agree,” Max said. “I want something nice too.”
“You’re going to have a hell of a time pulling it all together in six weeks.”
“And that’s what I need your help with,” Max said earnestly. “As my best man…”
“Oh, no,” Theo said, realizing where this was going.
“Tara and I really can’t handle all that wedding-planning stuff. You know how busy our jobs keep us, and we’ve got the kids.”
“Andyouknow how busy I am withmyjob. I could hardly get away for this pickup game today!”
“I know,” Max told him. “I know how hard you work, Theo. I know what a big ask this is. But in a way, your job would help, wouldn’t it? You have a lot of professional contacts. You know photographers, event planners, even DJs… I’m sure you’ll be able to pull something together much more easily than I could.”
“You’re asking me to take advantage of my professional resources?”
“I’m not asking you to do anything unethical. But surely you know some people who do this kind of thing, people you could get in touch with and try to hire for the wedding. I mean, I know for a fact that you know catering companies. You probably have huge lists of vendors that would be relevant.”
He was right, even though the request annoyed Theo. “It’s still an awful lot of work,” he said.
“I know. And I’m not asking you to do it alone. Tara’s maid of honor will help you — she’s already agreed to it.”
“Do I even know this person? I don’t think I’ve met any of Tara’s friends.”
“No, I doubt you do. She was at Jack’s baptism, but…” Max trailed off.
Theo knew what his brother would have said if he had continued.But you didn’t come to the baptism.That was a sore subject and a half. He’d been invited to Jack’s baptism, of course, but he’d had a big meeting that day, and it wasn’t asif Jack was going to remember who had been there and who hadn’t. He would have been attending purely for his brother’s sake, and his brother just didn’t need him to be there that badly. He had gone to Jenna’s baptism when she had been born, after all. He had participated in one of them. How many times could he realistically be expected to take time off work for one of these things? And the kids were going to have birthdays every year, and graduations — he had to pick and choose what he was going to be present at. He couldn’t do every single thing. Max should understand that.
Still, raising the subject had had the intended effect — Theo was feeling guilty. “All right,” he said. “I’ll meet this person. At the very least, I can give her my contact list, and maybe she can make use of it.”
