“I’m sorry,” he said. “I hope you all have a good night; Rebeca, Noah, thank you again.” He fumbled with the door, added another, “Sorry,” over his shoulder, and slunk out of the house.

“What happened there?” Somers said.

“Susan was upset and ran off. Wesley went after her.”

“Oh, somehow I missed that. Thanks.”

“Really, John? Because you were looking right at—oh. Don’t do that.”

Somers smiled at him.

“It’s not cute.”

Somers shrugged.

“Ask better questions.”

Somers kissed him on the cheek.

Scrubbing at his cheek, Hazard growled, “Specificity is the key to critical thinking.”

“You just can’t help spewing poetry, can you?”

“We’ll help,” Nico said. Mitchell whispered something to him, and both of them giggled. “Mitchell’s really strong,” Nico continued between bursts of giggles. “Look at these biceps.” And then more wrestling ensued, with Nico trying to show off Mitchell’s arms—in Hazard’s opinion, the kid looked like he needed to start with the ten-pound weights.

“We can help too,” Somers said, squeezing Hazard’s hand.

“No,” Hazard said. “Why’d you wait so long to ask for help? And why are you moving in together? Isn’t that a little fast?”

Somers squeezed his hand again.

Through gritted teeth, Hazard said, “I’ll drive the truck.”

“Awesome, bro, awesome,” Dulac said. “But we’ve already got somebody to drive the truck. I’m putting you on appliance duty: washer, dryer, refrigerator.”

“Pass,” Hazard said.

“We’ll get you a dolly, dude.”

“John,” Hazard said.

“You shouldn’t spend so much time working out,” Somers said with a shrug. “Then people wouldn’t ask you to lift heavy things.”

“Like Mitchell,” Nico put in, and then more wrestling ensued.

“For fuck’s sake,” Hazard muttered. “Why can’t they just screw each other and get it over with?”

“See, this is why I tell people you’re a born romantic,” Somers said.

“Forget I said anything,” Hazard said.

“It’s those rose-colored glasses; you can’t help seeing all the beauty in the world.”

“If I have to watch those two get to second base, I need another beer.”

“You’re like a modern-day Cupid,” Somers called after him. “Spreading love wherever you go.”

Hazard gave him the finger without looking back, but two steps into the kitchen, he spotted Ricky, who spotted Hazard in turn. Ricky’s eight-year-old eyes got huge as they locked onto the middle finger.

“Now let’s talk about this,” Hazard said, dropping his hand. “Are you amenable to bribes?”

“Mom!” Ricky screamed, shooting off into the living room. “Mr. Hazard did something bad!”

Groaning, Hazard got another beer from the fridge. He drank for a few minutes in the kitchen, leaning up against the counter, listening to the hub of voices from the other room. He ran his hand along the edge of the counter. He made up a new guest list for the wedding, and then he ran through a series of mental checklists. They’d managed to secure a venue not far from Wahredua, and Hazard had already finished background checks on the employees. They had all passed with the exception of a young man with a few convictions for possession. Hazard had spoken to the young man and explained, clearly, how he wanted this wedding to be the best day of his fiancé’s life. At some point, the young man had started crying, at which point Somers had gotten involved, which made Hazard feel the issue might not be fully resolved. He added another box to his mental checklist: find a few minutes to speak privately to that young man again. Just to make sure. But standing there, drinking a Guinness, running his hand along the counter, visualizing how he would corner that little delinquent and really impress upon him the gravity of this situation, the whole time listening to the voices from the living room, the thing Hazard did most was smile.