Page 19 of The Rule of 3

And just then, the man in question broke into Zoë’s reverie and exclaimed, “God, it’s so good to have my two favorite people in the whole world together with me finally. Come on in, Eli. We have lots to catch up on and lots to discuss.” Tanner led them into his house. “We’ll have lunch and then we’ll get you settled over in Zoë’s house. She’s all moved in here with me now, so that place is free for you to use.”

Zoë also explained, “It’s small, but you ought to be comfortable enough. We had the furnace fixed finally, so that’s not a problem anymore.” She gave him a sweet smile that he returned.

Those hazel eyes of his bore into her once again as Eli said, “I’m sorry to put you out of your house, Zoë, but I’m sure that living with Tanner full-time is no hardship. I know he was always the best roommate I could have ever hoped for at college.” He smiled at Tanner then and continued, “And you’ll be married in two weeks anyway, so I guess this makes good sense.” He looked back at Zoë and asked, “How are the wedding plans going?”

Laughing, Zoë began to relax. “The plans are going well. The entire town has turned our wedding into the event of the century and, spearheaded by Tanner’s mother, there are committees upon committees taking care of every last detail. I think all Tanner and I have to do is show up at St. Mark’s on time and say the right words.”

“Honeybee Hollow certainly is a pretty town. When we drove in, I had this strong sense of Mayberry, USA,” Eli laughed. “And now that I hear what the residents are doing for you, it seems like a wonderful place.” He regarded Tanner carefully. “It’s a little late to ask, but are yousureyou’re willing to give this up and move into the governor’s mansion up in Frankfort?”

Tanner, who was sitting on the couch next to Zoë, took her hand and looked at Eli. “We’re sure. Zoë knows she’ll have to give up her classroom teaching job here, but we’re both ready. A small town is great, but we have our sights set on something a lot bigger.”

Zoë chimed in, “It’s going to be bittersweet after the way the town has embraced us, but they also give us both constant encouragement to reach for the governorship. They know Tanner is destined for great things, and he’s put the town on the map already. It’s like we have this huge family behind us, cheering us along.” She smiled brightly and felt herself relax even further. “I’ll just go put lunch together. It’ll just take a few minutes, and I’m sure y’all have some catching up to do.”

As Zoë headed to the kitchen, she overheard Eli say, “Jesus, Tanner. You said she was something special, but I had no fucking idea!”

Tanner made a satisfied sounding chuckle. “Yeah.”

Chapter 19

The next two weeks were a whirlwind of last-minute wedding preparations and short-range trips for Tanner’s campaign speeches. There was one strange thing going on, however, that Zoë didn’t understand how to grasp.

Every so often, she would catch sight of Tanner and Eli interacting with one another. They were clearly close friends who shared a mutual affection, but there was an unmistakable air of melancholy between them. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but at first it worried her that possibly Eli might be sick or something. She knew Tanner was alright. Then other times, she could swear their bodies wanted to gravitate to one another. The energy that flowed between the two men was palpable as she watched both of them resting their hands a few inches apart on the tabletop when they sat discussing some speech or strategy. It was as if they were touching without touching

Zoë didn’t even know how to verbalize a question about her strange feeling, so she kept quiet. She did have her suspiscions, however, that maybe there was more to their friendship than she’d thought. She decided to keep her eyes and ears open.

A few times over the next couple of weeks before the wedding, Zoë had the chance to spend time just with Eli. She found him as charming as he was attractive, and their conversations always felt like old friends rather than new acquaintances. She couldn’t help feel a draw to him and noticed that Eli looked at her the same way he looked at Tanner on many occasions. She started watching him interact with others, but there was never the same electricity as when Eli was with one of them.

The sadness seemed to grow by the day, however, as they approached the wedding. Zoë was pretty sure by now that she knew the cause. Eli and Tanner were both suffering broken hearts. She loved Tanner so much, and she was becoming very fond of Eli, and their suffering was beginning to break her heart as well. She just didn’t know how to broach the subject and figured it was their business.

And then finally, the wedding day was upon them. The church was booked for a 6:00 pm service, after which the reception would be held in the parish hall. Lucky for them, the Episcopal Church had a large hall because the crowd was going to be enormous. But even so, they finally decided to add to the square footage for the party-goers by erecting a large tent on the church grounds for the overflow. The parish hall had double doors that fed seamlessly right into the tent, and with lots of space heaters it would be perfect.

Despite all of the careful planning, however, something always happens. And what happened was that Zoë’s parents decided to show up for the blessed nuptials of their beloved daughter. They’d never said a word to Zoë about whether or not they’d be there, so she’d just chalked their silence up to their general spaciness and self-importance. That, and she neverexactlytold them the date—she just mentioned to them that she’d be getting married to Tanner.

At 7:30 in the morning, Eli was rudely awakened by angry pounding on the kitchen door. He could hear a raised voice saying, “Hey, let us in, you ungrateful little brat!” And a deeper voice shouted, “This is still our house too, you know!”

Attired only in pajama bottoms, Eli squinted at a frowning couple as he opened the door. They were about the oddest people he’d ever encountered and, coming from New York, that was saying a lot. Dressed head to toe in tie-dye and leather with long, flyaway brown hair streaked with pink and blue, the woman gawked at his bare chest and then adopted a flirty tone. “Well, well! You’re not Tanner. Who are you, you delicious young stud? And what are you doing in our house?” Her voice became a little shrill finally as she continued, “And why are we locked out?” She wore a cheesy green crown on her head that had a marijuana leaf motif and was emblazoned with the word “Highness” across the front. The crown wobbled as she berated him.

The man, whose salt and pepper hair was nearly as long as his wife’s and who sported a scraggly beard that stretched halfway to the waistline of his filthy jeans, grumbled, “It’s cold as fuck out here, Junior! Let us in!” Apparently, his fringed buckskin jacket was no match for the weather. Both of them wore sandals that were completely inappropriate for February, and their toes were turning blue.

With every ounce of courtesy he could muster, Eli stepped backward into the cramped kitchen and explained, “Mr. and Mrs. Deliban. I’m Elison Whittaker, Tanner’s best man. I’m sure they didn’t know you’d be arriving, or they’d have made other housing arrangements for me. My apologies.”

“Are you sleepin’ here with my daughter?” demanded Mr. Deliban. “If so, I’m glad to see she’s not limiting herself to just the mayor. A young woman needs to explore her options.”

“Sir, please. Why don’t you both have a seat, and I’ll make us some coffee. Zoë isn’t here. She’s over at Tanner’s house.” He waited for them to plunk themselves down at the kitchen table and flipped the coffee maker on, saying, “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be right back. It’s a little chilly in here, and I’d like to get more clothes on.”

“Not on my account!” giggled Mrs. Deliban.

Eli made a beeline for the bedroom and dressed as quickly as possible in jeans and a heavy sweater. He sat to tie his shoes when he became aware of a distinctive aroma wafting through the house that wasnotcoffee and toast. The aging hippies had decided to light up in the kitchen. “Oh great,” Eli muttered.This is going to be a hell of a day with these two around. I need to talk to Tanner right away.

Heading back into the kitchen, Eli saw that the room was already smoke-filled. He wanted to crack open a window, but it was freakishly cold, even for February. Thinking fast, Eli stepped back out of the room and Googled something quickly with his phone, shook his head with a grimace, and then called his driver to come pick him up as quickly as possible. Fortunately, Eli had not unpacked most of his clothes yet, and his tux was still in his travel bag.

Re-entering the kitchen, Eli announced, “Help yourself to the coffee. I think Zoë stocked the refrigerator with plenty of food for me… I mean for you. I’ll be getting out of your way now. I’m sorry for the disturbance. I’ll just go find somewhere else to stay.”

“Zoë’s always been kind of a scatterbrain,” her father chuckled and gave a dismissive wave of his heavily tattooed hand. “No harm done, Junior. We’ll see ya at the weddin’.” He frowned then and grumbled, “It was damn rude to find out from the internet that the weddin’ was today instead of from our ungrateful daughter.”

Eli was quite sure Zoë was not a scatterbrain, and he had no idea why she’d be considered ungrateful for anything, but he didn’t want to get into it with this weirdo. The man seemed to run hot and cold at the drop of a hat. Then, Eli stepped backward as Mrs. Deliban thrust a bony hand towards him with an enormous joint in it. “Care for a hit, cutie pie?” she giggled. “It’ll loosen that stick you have up your ass. This is the good stuff we helped grow out in Cali!”

“No thank you, Mrs. Deliban. And you both know, don’t you, that marijuana is still illegal in Kentucky unless it’s taken orally for medicinal purposes under strict guidelines?”

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