Page 98 of For All It's Worth
To give us all time to relax and sort out last-minute things, the wedding was scheduled for three days after the grooms arrived, which allowed time for bachelor parties and some much-needed pampering.
The day before their wedding, Andy and Will spent the day in the resort's spa while Max and I took the resort's bus to the nearest town and explored.
We ate lunch and dinner away from the others and soaked up the culture as we sat enjoying each other’s company. We shopped in the local market, finding trinkets to take home to our friends and little things that we could keep in our apartment to remind us of this trip. We took endless photos of everything and I watched Max light up with delight at every turn.
I promised myself that Max and I would travel both to places unseen and places we’d been before, and explore them as a couple. That I would prioritize being with Max over making money, the way that my father never had. I wouldn’t take for granted what we had, especially since there’d been a point when this had been a far-off dream.
The ceremony was beautiful and as I hugged my new brother-in-law, I said “Congratulations, and welcome to the family.”
Andy glowed with happiness. “Thank you! This is better than I could have ever hoped for.”
“You’re just glad you didn’t have to plan a wedding!” I joked as Max came up beside me, wrapping his arm around my waist.
“I really am. I’m so grateful Will planned all this.” I could see the hearts in his eyes over his new husband.
“Well, I’m happy for you both. You guys are great together.”
“Me too,” Max said, leaning his head against my arm.
“Thanks. No wedding in the future for you two?” Andy asked.
We’d already answered this a lot recently. We shook our heads, “No,” we said firmly and in unison, making us laugh.
Andy was called away by another guest and Alex took the chance to come over.
“Charlie? Can we talk now?” he asked softly.
I looked at Max, who gave Alex a side-eye and moved away to speak to Henry and Pete. Neither of us was hugely keen on Pete but he and Henry were trying to be friends again. Henry had even been on a few dates with a guy from the gym but I needed to catch up with my friend judging by the way he and Pete were looking at each other.
“Charlie?”
“Yeah, sure.” I indicated to the edge of the room, away from the servers setting up for the dance and clearing away the remnants of our perfect meal.
“Look, I know you’ve been avoiding me and I get it but I wanted to clear the air,” he said, looking contrite.
“Clear the air?” I repeated.
“Yeah, I’m well aware that it’s past time for that.”
I gave a humorless chuckle. “Just a little.”
He gave me a look that suggested that he was pushing down his temper. “Did you know I was in therapy, too?”
My laugh was shocked into cutting off. “Therapy? That’s just Matty to go now, huh?” I was being glib but I wasn’t surprised.
“Around the time you ended up in the hospital I was already on a leave of absence from the company after Helena admitted she was pregnant by her new man.” He paused, collecting himself. “I had a breakdown.”
I went to interrupt, to say something comforting, my hand reaching for his shoulder.
“Mom kept it quiet since you were heading for rehab. Will knew some of it but he had enough going on and we were still working things out.” His head hung low like he still held onto the shame of what had happened with Helena. As far as I could see, that was all done and dusted. Will didn’t hold a grudge.
I gave in then and wrapped my arms around my brother. He sagged into the hold. “I’m sorry, Charlie. We could have lost you and I wanted to stay angry for something that didn’t even have anything to do with me.”
“Then why?” I asked quietly, even as I kept a firm grip on him.
Alex felt frail still. When I thought back to last year, he’d looked as bad off as I had. Thin, haggard and stressed, but he hadn’t rallied the same.
“I needed someone to blame things on when I was sick of putting it all on myself.”
