Page 197 of Play Along

Miller bursts a laugh. “I was perfectly fine, and you knew it.”

Kai smiles to himself before leaning over to kiss her, following that with a press of his lips to his daughter’s head. “My girls.” He turns to me and his son, taking Max from me. “And my guys. You’ve got a big job today, Max. You ready?”

He nods enthusiastically. “I’m gonna carry Auntie Ken’s ring.”

“Heck yeah, you are,” I encourage. “Do you know whose ring that was before Kennedy’s?”

His smile goes wide. “Grandma Mae.”

The room goes silent. We’ve been teaching Max about our mom for a couple of years now, so it’s not shocking to hear him say her name, but today, on the day she passed, on the day he was born, on the day I get to marry the love of my life, it feels important to say her name out loud.

“Yeah,” I exhale. “She would’ve loved to be here.”

Kai puts a hand on my shoulder. “She is here.”

My brother and I look at each other for a moment, silently saying all the things.

“Well,” Miller pipes up. “I’d offer you a wedding day shot, but we all know how that turned out last time.”

The room shifts to laughter, Miller’s specialty.

“Thanks for that, Mills.”

“Come here,” she says, opening her free arm for a hug, and I wrap mine around her and Emmy.

“Is she doing okay?” I quietly ask.

“She’s doing great. Excited to see you.”

“Thanks for being such a good friend to her.”

“Well, thanks for marrying her. How lucky am I to get to grow old with one of my best friends?”

She rubs a hand down my back as we separate.

“I’m gonna run to the bathroom before we leave.” I throw a thumb over my shoulder towards the door. “Be right back.”

In my wedding suit, I close that bedroom door behind me, stepping into the living room of the massive house rental we’re staying in for the weekend. It’s outside of the Vegas strip and big enough to house all our friends and their kids. The past few days have been a blast, all of us hanging out here. Days at the pool and nights making dinner together, playing board games, and staying up to hang out after all the kids are asleep, only to wake up to do it all over again.

“There he is!” Cody calls out from the couch, dressed for the ceremony, beer in his hand.

The room cheers so I give them a spin, showing off my wedding suit.

Zanders and Stevie, Ryan and Indy, Rio, Cody, and Travis all boost my ego as I cross the living room to one of the guest bathrooms. Only when I get to the door, my attention is immediately pulled to the room Kennedy and I have been sleeping in. The room she’s in right now, getting ready for our wedding.

Looking over my shoulder to make sure no one is watching, I quietly make my way to the door, softly tapping it with my knuckles.

“Who is it?” she asks, and just hearing her voice has my shoulders settling, has a smile sliding across my lips.

“It’s me, Kenny.”

“Isaiah? You can’t see me.”

“Please,” I beg. “Fuck, I miss you.”

She giggles this sweet laugh that has my forehead falling to the door at the sound.

“It’s only been a few hours,” she reminds me. “We weren’t supposed to even sleep in the same bed last night and we did. We weren’t supposed to see each other this morning and you still made us breakfast to eat together.”

---