But Jon and Kevin’s wedding is special. At the risk of being mawkish, it represents more than a celebration of their romance. It’s a celebration of the chance to live life again. And for that, I will endure all the double-masked transcontinental flights and suffocating humidity you can throw at me.
And tonight, the eve before the blessed event, I am soaked not just in sweat, but also in the pleasure of being with my best friends. Reuniting with Dezzie and Alyssa after not seeing each other for eighteen months is transcendent.
Except for the presence of Rob.
We’re sitting on the patio of a restaurant, and he is speaking way too loudly to our waitress.
“Another old-fashioned, sweetheart,” he says, rattling the ice in his empty crystal tumbler at her.
Dezzie gives him a dirty look. We’ve been here forty-five minutes and he’s already two drinks in. That’s not counting the two martinis he had at Alyssa’s mom’s cocktail hour. His consonants are already muddy. It’s seven o’clock, and he’s basically slurring.
“Don’t call her sweetheart,” Dezzie hisses.
“She likes it,” he says in a much too loud voice.
The server gives us all a tight smile. “Coming right up. Can I get anyone else anything?”
The rest of us shake our heads.
Ryland leans back in his chair. “It’s so nice to be at a restaurant without three screaming children.”
He’s obviously trying to clear the air, but Dezzie’s glare doesn’t lift.
“Yeah, much more relaxing to be here with only one screaming child,” she says, her expression trained on her husband.
“Are the kids having fun with their cousins, Ry?” I ask.
“Who cares?” Ryland jokes. “I’m having fun. This is the first time we’ve been child-free in”—he gestures like he’s checking a watch—“seven years?”
Alyssa groans. “It certainly feels that way.”
“If you’re sick of your kids, why did you have a third?” Rob asks.
We are all silent for a moment, taken aback.
Dezzie has worried about Rob’s change in attitude for months, and Alyssa and I have been increasingly concerned about the two of them. But this is far worse than I imagined.
“I love my children more than anything, Rob,” Alyssa says evenly. “But the older kids are doing virtual school and need our constant supervision, and Jesse is still in diapers. We’re both working full-time from home with no childcare, in close quarters. It’s been very stressful.”
“She means it’s been like Dante’s ninth circle of hell,” Ryland says, putting an arm around her.
“Yeah well, at least no one died,” Rob says.
Alyssa’s face goes ashen.
Ryland leans in. “What the fuck did you just say?”
“I said I’m sorry you’ve been inconvenienced by having to watch your own children when people are dying,” Rob says. “In my job—”
“I lost my mother,” Ryland interrupts. “We couldn’t even say goodbye to her because she was isolated in the hospital, okay? So shut the fuck up about my kids dying.”
Alyssa takes his hand and stands up. “Come on, babe. Let’s take a walk.”
“Shit, my bad, my bad,” Rob says thickly. “Sorry, man. Sit down. I didn’t know.”
“I told you,” Dezzie says.
“Well, I forgot!”
Ryland, who is among the most good-natured people I know, is visibly vibrating with rage. He lets Alyssa pull him up, and they wordlessly make their way through the crowded restaurant toward the doors.
“Really nice,” Dezzie says to Rob.
He doesn’t look at her.
“I have to take a piss,” he mutters, rising.
This leaves Dezzie and me alone at the table.
Of course, this is the exact moment the entrées arrive.
Neither of us touch the food.
“Jesus. You weren’t kidding,” I say.
She puts her head in her hands.
“I know. Sometimes he’s completely sweet and normal, and then sometimes he’s … this.”
