“Is there food in there?” Hazard muttered.

“Lots of food. Good food.”

“Is this plated? Or buffet?”

“What? Buffet. I didn’t think you wanted a sit-down meal.”

“I wanted everyone to subtract the cost of a plated meal from their gift so we wouldn’t have to do this.”

“Dear God,” Somers said.

“How much is this costing us?”

Somers shushed him as Maria said, “Here they are, everyone! Let’s give the newlyweds a great big hand!”

Somers grabbed Hazard’s hand and headed into the ballroom.

After that, Somers was so busy that he barely noticed how quickly the night was passing. For a while, he and Hazard stood in a reception line, greeting people, thanking them for coming, and making small talk. Well, Somers made small talk. Hazard grunted and, if Somers elbowed him hard enough, made a passingly polite observation about the person’s occupation or about the intricacies of a state legislature bill still in committee that had to do with naming baby farm animals. Later, when Hazard whispered something in Somers’s ear about calling in a bomb threat, Somers sent him over to the buffet, where Hazard scooped up a plateful of toasted ravioli and immediately got cornered by Charlene McDowell, who was seventy-six and whose last husband had been thirty-three. She looked like a purple, velour lioness and kept stroking her hair while she leaned closer and closer to Hazard.

When Noah and Rebeca arrived with Evie and their own gaggle of kids, Hazard took a second look at Noah and groaned so loudly that Somers had to elbow him again.

“He insisted,” Rebeca said, rolling her eyes. “He thinks he’s funny.”

“It’s a blue tux,” Noah said, plucking at the jacket and then gesturing to the spill of lace on his white shirt. “It’s hilarious.”

“It’s not your junior prom,” Hazard said.

“John-Henry,” Noah said, “tell him it’s funny.”

“It’s hilarious,” Somers said with a smile.

“He’s just humoring you,” Hazard said.

Somers elbowed him even harder that time.

Evie was wearing a pink dress that Somers had picked out, and she dominated the dance floor, demonstrating to anyone who would pay attention how well she could twirl in her skirt. Rebeca stuck close to her, which was good because most of the twirls ended in falls. Hazard leaned in and spoke quietly into Somers’s ear.

“No Cora?”

“No Nico?”

“Don’t do that.”

“I invited her,” Somers said. “I invited Nico too. I guess they couldn’t be bothered.”

“John.”

“Ok, that was bad. I know this would be hard. I know she’s totally within her rights not to come. But I couldn’t not invite her either, and she’s been so supportive . . .”

“It would be hard for anyone, John. Cut her some slack.”

Somers nodded. Hazard just squeezed his hand, and that helped.

When Dulac and Darnell worked their way through the line, Dulac saluted Somers so many times that Somers gave Hazard a nudge and said, “Make him go away for a while.”