Page 65 of Best Man
“Because! We barely know each other, remember?”
“So far, I like everything I know.”
Gah!Why did he have to be like this? She couldn’t figure him out. Her heart wentthump-thumpin her chest.
Sasha, always a ball of energy, moved on to the next topic. He pointed outside. “Hey, look! It’s getting dark!”
“Yeah, so?”
“The surprise, remember?!” he asked. “It’s after dark!”
“Oh!Yeah!”
“So should we do it now, or what?”
Paulina nodded. “Could you run over to my place and bring my truck over? I’ll talk to the DJ so we can set it up.”
“Sure thing.”
***
The DJ faded the song’s outro and prepped the crowd for an announcement. He passed the microphone to Paulina and the crowd quieted, all eyes turning to her.
“Hi, everybody! Sorry to interrupt! But can I just ask everyone to follow me outside the barn? I’ve got a small wedding gift waiting outside.”
The crowd stood around like cattle, but Paulina made her way through the dance floor, waving and calling everyone to join her outside. They eventually moseyed over and soon, everyone stood outside the barn, where the sky was dark and the stars were overhead.
“I need Piper and Jax,” she said. The bride and groom stepped to the front.
“What’s this about, Paulie?” Piper asked.
“I just wanted to share one last story with everybody from our childhood,” Paulina said, speaking into the mic. “So, back when we were kids, Piper taught me how to make these sky lanterns made out of tissue paper. We’d make a wish and light the candle and watch it fly away into the night and it’s one of my favorite memories as a kid. Remember that, Piper?”
Piper nodded and shouted, “Oh my God! I totally forgot about that! Those were awesome!”
“I’m glad you think so!” Paulina said. She presented a lone sky lantern to her. “Because I wanted to bring a piece of our childhood to you and Jax. I want you to have this, so you two can make a wish on your wedding day and set it free! I thought we could all watch it fly away.”
The crowd wentawww,and Piper and Jax gave Paulina a hug.
“That’s so sweet of you!” Piper said. “Is this what you and Niko were working on all night?”
“Yup,” Paulina said as she handed the sky lantern over. “So make a wish, alright?”
Piper stared at her sky lantern. “… Hm.”
Paulina could sense that her sister knew something was up—even when they were kids, making one sky lantern took, at most, half-an-hour—but she wasn’t going to call Paulina out in front of everybody. Instead she and Jax silently pondered their wishes until, at last, they both looked confident and ready.
“Do you both know your wish?” Paulina asked, and the bride and groom both nodded. “Good. Don’t tell anybody what it is, okay?”
Jax chuckled and Piper said, “We won’t!”
Paulina passed Jax a box of matches. Piper held the lantern while Jax struck a match, but just as he reached into the lantern to light the candle, Paulina stopped him.
“Wait wait wait wait!” she yelled. “There’s one more thing!”
Paulina gave the signal and Sasha, behind the wheel of her truck, pulled up next to her with a pile of sky lanterns loaded into the bed of the pickup. The crowd—the children, especially—whooped and hollered with excitement.
“LOOK AT ALL THOSE LANTERNS!”
