Page 107 of Forever

I did kind of want to see it…But no.It was probably very weird. And I didn’t want our rehearsal dinner to be at Nigel’s. It was strange enough that he was a groomsman.

There was a knock on the door.

“Company?” Justin asked. “We’ve barely gone over anything. Whoever it is better be ready to make some decisions for this rehearsal dinner.”

I walked over to the door.What the hell?Tanner was standing there in a suit and a bushy mustache.

“What’s with the stache dude?” And how had he grown it so quickly? I’d just seen him a few days ago. Or had it been more like a week?Huh.I definitely hadn’t seen him as much as I used to before Brooklyn was back. I think the last time I saw him was when we’d played football in the back yard with Jacob and Mason.

“What?” He touched his upper lip. “Oh.” He ripped it off and concealed his scream with a cough. “Ow. Sorry about that. It was for a sex thing.”

“What sex thing?”

He gave me a funny look. “Mustache rides. What else would it be for?” He patted my chest and walked in. “I’m glad you texted. It’s been forever since we had a proper boys night. I…” his voice trailed off when he saw everyone in the room. “Oh. Yeah, this works too.” But he sounded kind of sad. He cleared his throat and walked past me. “Hey, Brooklyn.” He sounded cheery again as he sat down next to her on the couch where I’d been sitting.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” Brooklyn said. “We have a huge favor to ask you.”

Tanner nodded. “If this is about your third, we can…”

“No,” I said firmly.

“You are a fascinating creature, Tanner,” Justin said. “Or…should I call youMasterTanner? If you’re ever needing a third, you can write my name down.”

Tanner laughed. “I appreciate the offer, good lad. But I only partake in dalliances with women. I bet I can find you someone though. Are you only interested in a throuple? Or…”

“Oh my God,” Brooklyn said. “Justin, do you remember Donnelley?”

“Donnelley.” Justin tapped his index finger against his lips. “Donnelley, Donnelley, Donnelley.”

“He’s one of my dad’s bodyguards.”

Justin smiled. “Oh. Yes. That big bear of a man! Yum. Ah, it’s been years. Well, I guess about 16, huh? To be young again...”

“He’s coming to the wedding,” Brooklyn said with a smile.

“Shut the front door! He’s not on the guest list! You can’t just add random hotties without consulting me! Especially bears! You know what they do to me!”

Um…

“I’d really like him to come,” Brooklyn said.

“Me too!” Justin yelled. “Damn it. This changes everything.”

“Does it though?” I asked.

“It definitely changes what I’m doing with my hair.”

Okay, this seemed unimportant to the rehearsal dinner discussion. “Tanner, we were hoping we could have the rehearsal dinner at your place. Since we were planning on having Thanksgiving there anyway. But we’d need a few more place settings.”

“Yeah. Sure. That’s fine. Um…” he looked at Nigel. “We’ll have to move a few things around. But we can make that work. How many people exactly? I’ll have to figure out how many bathrooms to open.”

What was he talking about?

Justin tore off a sheet of paper and handed it to him. “Here is the guest list. And my number just in case. You’re a billionaire, right?”

“I am,” Tanner said as he scanned the list. “Why is Robert on this list?”

I sighed. “Tanner, he’s one of the groomsmen. You know this.”

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