I was still wiping the tears from my eyes when Marco came over to us. “Michael asked for an update, and he needs Sean to give him access to…something.”
Tony rolled his eyes at his brother. “How are you, a Navy SEAL, not tech savvy?”
“Former Navy SEAL,” Marco emphasized. “And nobody knows what the hell Michael is talking about half the time.”
I couldn’t help but smile at the two men. They reminded me a little of Liam and me. I gestured for Marco to follow me. “Come on, I’ll help Michael, and then you can help me bring out some cases of water. There’s food for everyone coming in a little while.”
Marco and I walked past the front porch steps to go around to the side entrance of the hotel. “How’s Jeremy doing after yesterday?” Marco asked.
I went up the steps to the door that led to the back hallway and opened it for Marco. “He's a little shaken up, but overall he’s okay.” I smirked and said, “I was able to take his mind off it.”
He snort-laughed. “I’ll bet. Where is he now? With Evan?”
“Yeah,” I replied. “Evan was having a meltdown about something this morning, so Jeremy took his tux and went to Evan’s room.”
“I guess that’s what a best man is for,” Marco commented.
“Yep.” The door to my office was open, and Michael was at my desk, tapping away on his laptop.
He looked up when we walked in. “Oh good, you’re here.” He gestured for me to come over to look at his laptop. He pointed at one of the many security camera views and asked, “Where is this room?”
I squinted down at the feed. “Can you make it bigger? It’s hard to tell at this size.” Michael clicked a few keys and pulled the feed to full screen. I looked at the image in confusion because the camera pointed toward the ceiling rather than into the room.
“Huh.” I took a closer look and noted a familiar painting on the wall. “Oh, okay. That’s one of our two hospitality rooms on the first floor. They should be set up for the cocktail hour so the wedding guests can choose to stay inside or go outside. Someone must have knocked the camera out of whack while decorating.”
Michael nodded. “I just need someone with a ladder to fix it for me.”
I pulled out my cell phone. “I’ll get Chris to do it. He’s around doing a bunch of the heavy lifting. He has keys to all the rooms. I’ll have him meet you here.”
“Sounds good,” Michael said.
Marco stepped up behind me and picked up the picture of me, Liam, and Mr. Whitaker. “Who’s the cutie with you?”
I snorted a laugh. “I’m assuming you don’t mean Mr. Whitaker. That’s my brother, Liam.”
“Oh yeah?” Marco put the picture back in its place. “Does he live around here?”
I gave Marco the side-eye because that’s what big brothers do. “Usually. But right now, he’s somewhere outside of Syria.”
Marco looked shocked. “The fuck’s he doing over there?”
“He’s a nurse practitioner. He took a twelve-month contract with Doctors Without Borders,” I answered. “He’s got two months to go.”
Marco shook his head. “Damn civilians should stay out of war zones.”
Fear twisted in my gut. “Do you think he’s in danger?”
Marco started to say something, then shook his head. “He should be fine. They have good protection, and nobody usually bothers them.”
Michael elbowed his older brother. “Hey, we have work to do. Stop perving on his little brother.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Marco muttered.
I called Chris and asked him to meet Michael in my office so they could solve the camera problem. By the time Marco and I got the cases of water outside, the food for the choirs was being delivered. I’d ordered takeout rather than adding to Joanna’s stress by having her make something. I saw Sister Beth talking animatedly with some of the members of the Gay Men’s Chorus and shook my head.
Most of the protesters were quieter now, and there seemed to be fewer of them. Never underestimate the power of a pissed-off nun. I couldn’t wait to tell my mom all about it. There were still a few that were pretty riled up, even to the point of taunting the police officers. Those were the ones I worried about.
My phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out and saw it was my alarm. Noon straight up. It was time for me to get showered and changed for the wedding. The first buses would be here in half an hour. Since parking was sparse around the hotel, I’d rented the parking lot of the local Catholic grammar school just a few blocks away. Buses would bring the guests from the parking lot to the hotel and drop them off. The Spring Lake Police department was grateful for my solution to a potential logistics problem.
