Page 72 of Goodbye Paradise
I became an appetizer machine, loading trays like there would be an inspection any minute.
“Guests arriving!” Trey called out in a high voice.
“Battle stations!” Cecilia called from the stove.
Trey and I and two other servers all took platters of food and carried them into the cocktail area. Hungry guests swarmed, of course. My plate of quiches was empty almost immediately, and I headed back to the kitchen.
“Here, hon,” Trey said, passing me a platter of tuna tartare. “These are always popular.”
“Thank you,” I said, my voice strangled. When he was close by, it was like I didn’t know where to put my eyes.
Luckily, the next hour was an exhausting whirlwind of food and beverage service. There wasn’t time to be preoccupied with gay Trey. I kept my head down and served round after round of appetizers, and then about a hundred champagne flutes.
That’s when we got a breather. It was rude to have servers walking around during the toast, so I stood at the back of the room like my coworkers.
A woman got up from the head table to make the toast. Usually men did this job, so that was the first thing that got my attention. My eye fell to the head table, taking a casual inventory of the wedding party.Uh oh. The bride was missing. Why would they start a toast without the bride?
Nobody else seemed bothered by it, though, which was odd.
“Family and friends,” the woman said with a smile on her face, and a flute of bubbly in her hand. “I have helped to plan weddings before. But never have I had so much fun as helping Joe and Evan plan their special day.”
Something went a little wrong in my stomach when I heard these words.Did she just say what I think she said?My eye fell on the table again, where two men in tuxedos were smiling at one another.
I leaned back against the wall behind me, because I felt a little lightheaded all of a sudden.
“…When my baby brother said the following words five years ago, I was stunned beyond belief.”
I’ll bet.
“ ‘I met someone,’ he said.” The audience chuckled. “Maybe that doesn’t sound unusual to you. But my brother spent his high school and college years dating every man on the Eastern seaboard.”
There was loud laughter then, and I actually wondered if I might be having a dream.
“After only a few months, Joey told me, ‘Evan is the man I’m going to marry.’ And I actually laughed. Because it was wayyyy too romantic a thing for my silly little brother to say. And I didn’t take him seriously. I laughed him off, even though he sounded serious. But I wish I hadn’t.”
The mood in the room dimmed a little bit, then. A current of worry washed through the place, and I didn’t know why.
“…That fall, Joey told us that there was something a doctor had found on his lung, and that he had to have a little procedure. We were all really upbeat. I mean, Joey was only thirty-three. Why worry, right?”
At the front of the room, the woman’s eyes had begun to sparkle.
“Joey, it was a long three years, baby brother. There were scary, scary days.”
I didn’t know these people. I’d never seen them before in my life. But it was as if I had been just sucked into their little reality. I was hanging on every word, wondering how this story ended.
“…Through every minute of this awful time, Evan was there. When he shaved his head in sympathy during your chemo…” The woman stopped to brush the tears from her eyes. “I’ve never laughed and cried so much in a single day. I’msoimpressed with your love for each other, and the way you dealt with the dark times. You’re both so strong and amazing.” She had to stop again, this time to take a deep breath. “Nothing makes me happier than to stand up here and toast your beautiful marriage. I could not be happier for you both. To Joey and Evan.” She raised her glass, the tears running freely down her cheeks.
The room erupted into applause, and glasses began clinking together all around me.
That’s when I kind of lost it.
My eyes began to pour forth, which in turn triggered my instinct to flee. Since Maggie was somewhere to my left, I went right, ducking out of the room and ending up in a hallway. I was on the wrong end of the building for the men’s room, so I dropped onto a bench and tried to look invisible.
That’s hard to do when you’re sobbing.
“Hey!” someone said, sitting beside me. “What’s the matter, hon?”
It was gay Trey. Of course.
