Page 43 of Nate Hayes

“She can be the flower goat,” Tessa said without looking up.

“She’s eating the napkin samples,” Nate replied.

“Perfect. She has taste.”

Over the next few days,the chaos continued to escalate.

Max volunteered his land for the ceremony. Jack offered to cookandDJ—until Grandma banned him from both roles after he attempted a test playlist titled“Love, Whiskey, and Questionable Choices.”

Axel stood quietly in the background until Grandma handed him a clipboard. “You’re in charge of keeping Maggie and Eloise from murdering the florist. Or anyone else. I like you. Don’t screw it up.”

Maggie, overhearing, casually flipped a butter knife in her hand like she was ready for combat. Axel never blinked but definitely stayed within arm’s reach after that.

Nate

Willa looked beautiful even when she was overwhelmed, her hair a mess from wind and her cheeks pink from stress. Every time I saw her glance at that ring on her finger, my chest squeezed. She wasmine.

And no matter what went wrong—when the chairs didn’t match, when Eloise cried over tablecloths, when Pancake ate half the unity candle—I kept thinking the same thing:

I’d go through all of it ten times over just to get to the part where I got to call her my wife.

One night, after a full day of chaos, I found her outside on the porch, barefoot, holding a glass of lemonade and staring up at the stars.

“Thinking of running?” I asked.

She smiled. “Only if you’re driving.”

I wrapped my arms around her from behind, pressed a kiss to her temple. “Everything’ll be perfect.”

“Even if Pancake headbutts the pastor?”

“Especially then.”

She turned in my arms, eyes soft and full of everything I’d ever wanted. “I still can’t believe I get to marry you.”

“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life,” I said. “And I’ve eaten street tacos in the middle of a war zone.”

She laughed, then pulled me down for a kiss that made every plan, every detail, every goat-related mishap worth it.

The night before the wedding,Grandma gave us her version of a toast: They all agreed that Mable didn’t get to give a toast in public, they were afraid of what she would say.

“If you two can survive wild animals, soap-making, and the mess that isthisfamily, then you’re already ahead of the game. Now don’t screw it up. Also, I brought whiskey.”

She held up the bottle like a trophy, and the room cheered.

Tomorrow,I would marry the woman who taught me how to breathe again.

But tonight, I was just a man sitting on a porch swing with the girl who said yes.

And I already felt like the luckiest husband alive.

25

The Wedding

Willa

The sky was the kind of blue you only get once in a lifetime—the soft, dreamy kind that made everything below it feel like magic.

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