Page 174 of From Now On

“This isn’t his wedding. It’s the rehearsal dinner.”

“Same difference, Morgan.” Aidan sips his drink.

Conor and Harlow are having their rehearsal dinner at the Georgia Aquarium. It’s the entire reason they’re getting married in Atlanta, actually. Because Harlow loves the ocean and Conor loves Harlow.

It’s a cool venue, I have to admit. We’re inside a glass dome, a giant tank, filled with fish and stingrays and coral and seahorses and one gigantic shark surrounding us. Her name is Nina, according to the sign.

“Hey, you guys made it.”

I turn toward Conor’s voice. “Made it? I took three separate flights to be here, Hart. Like I’d miss your fucking wedding.”

“I’m sorry about your grandfather, man,” Hart says, punching me gently in the shoulder when he reaches us. “Eve told Harlow why you were out of town.”

Since he got drafted and became the star of the National Hockey League, I don’t get to talk to my best friend as much as I’d like to. Half the time, we communicate through our girlfriends. Well, his fiancée and my girlfriend. Soon to be his wife and my fiancée.

“Thanks,” I say. “It was quick, at least. He didn’t suffer.”

“Was Sean there?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Still sober?” Aidan asks.

“Yeah.”

It’s been four years now. A hell of a lot longer than Sean ever stayed sober before. But I’m still scared to trust it.

Addiction doesn’t have a cure.

I do hope it means Sean has found some better ways to cope. We went skating together while I was home for Gramps’s funeral. The local rink where we both learned to play hockey stays open year-round. I suggested to Sean he join a local league, like I did in New York, and he said he’d think about it.

“Oh. Hey, I almost forgot.” I dig my phone out of my pocket. “This guy in the airport was wearing your jersey, so I snapped a photo. I told him I know you, and he told me to fuck off. New Yorkers, you know.”

Aidan starts laughing. “You took a photo of a guy who told you to fuck off just because he was wearing Hart’s jersey?”

“Well, yeah,” I say defensively. “It probably would have gone better if I’d been wearing mine.”

Conor sent me one to wear to his first game. I still have it. And I bought five more, so Eve had one to wear, and some extras because I was proud as hell of my best friend.

“Where’s Rylan?” Conor asks Aidan. “She here?”

“No, I left her in Seattle to run the brewery,” Phillips says sarcastically. “She’s over by that orange fish with her parents.”

Conor invited Coach Keller and his wife to his wedding.

We all glance that way. Rylan waves at me and Conor, then blows a kiss to Aidan.

He pretends to catch it.

“You guys all travel together?” I ask.

“Yes,” Aidan grumbles. “And Coach picked the five a.m. flight, so I haven’t slept since yesterday, practically.”

“That’s nothing,” Conor says. “I haven’t gotten a good night’s sleep in two months. My mom or Allison is calling all the time about wedding shit, and they forget about the time difference a lot.”

“Well, it’ll all be over after tomorrow, right?”

Conor lets out a relieved sigh. “Right.” He glances between me and Aidan. “So which of you two is going to take the plunge next?”

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