“Lee, Hank, Vance, with Max, Mace, Luke, Marcus and Jason are all on their way over.”

He started laughing.

She smiled at him while he did.

He circled her with his arms. “What? Not Tex?”

“He said he’s setting fire to any wedding planner in his sight from now until Ally gets hitched. So when Jet asked him to pop over tonight, he said he’s not coming within five miles of our house if the wedding planner is in it.”

“Is Ally getting hitched?” he asked curiously, considering her situation with Ren Zano hadn’t yet been outed, at least, not that he knew.

“I don’t know, is she?” Sadie asked back, watching him closely.

He shrugged a single shoulder.

She stuck her tongue out at him.

It was an offer he couldn’t refuse.

So he kissed her.

Hector stood back.

Sadie moved forward.

And at the base of the pink marble tomb, she rested a spray of gardenias.

She then sat on the step and said, “It’s official, mama. Our wedding colors are seashell and opal.”

Hector leaned against a tree.

Gretl found her spot and urinated next to a tombstone.

When she was done, she loped to Hector, and they waited as Sadie visited with her mother.

“C’mere,” Hector muttered.

Sadie fought the bubbles and drifted across the hot tub toward him.

Even though she’d seen them in it dozens of times, Gretl prowled the deck like she feared them drowning and sporadically barked at the foaming water.

Sadie straddled Hector and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Under the water, he did the same around her back.

“You good?” he asked.

She nodded, trying not to let it show. How happy she was. But it burst from her like a beacon.

“We can wait,” he offered.

“What?”

“We can wait,” he repeated. “To get married. So your dad can give you away.”

Her eyes gleamed, but she bit her lip.

She let it go to ask, “Do you want to wait?”