Played to Death (20 page)

Jamie

The party was winding down; the older generation and Pete’s family had all left, returning either to Neil’s or their hotels. Gabe had fallen asleep, his head in his mom’s lap; Colin was playing a game on Jeff’s phone. The rest of us were sipping our last drink, about to call it a night, when Kevin’s phone rang, startling us all.

He looked at his screen. “It’s Tim.” He answered, “Hey boss, good news? Yeah?” He listened for a minute. “No
shit
. How did that go down?”

Kevin began to grin as he listened. “He did? Good thinking. Is he okay? Do you want us to come down there?”

I thought,
No. Not tonight
. I was relieved when Kevin said, “Excellent. Thank you. Sounds right to me. Yes, sir. See you Sunday.” He hung up. “They got him.”

Jon said, “They got who?”

“Cameron Wiley.” Kevin tossed his phone onto the end table. “Scott’s a hero.”

I said, “
Seriously?
The cello teacher?”

“Yep. Wiley changed locations on them, first, so Scott had to drive from Bel Air to Glendale. Then he realized it was Wiley, of course, as soon as the guy got in the car, but Scott stayed cool. Alerted Tim and Pinter by ‘accidentally’ honking the horn.”

Jon said, “What motive?”

“Wiley was the father of Elena Morales’s baby. He wanted her to have an abortion and she refused.”

I said, “And Scott’s okay?”

“He is. Shaken but okay. Garcia drove him home.”

“I’ll be damned.” I held up my glass. “Here’s to Scott, braver than I ever imagined him to be.”

Pete said, “Brave enough to take on Ethan Williams, for sure.”

I laughed. “I’ll drink to
that
.”

Scott

Pinter parked Ethan’s car in the driveway; Garcia pulled to the curb and let Scott out. “We’ll need you to come in and make a statement, but it can wait until tomorrow. Give me a call when you’re up and about.”

“You? Not Jon or Kevin?”

“They’re off until Sunday.” Garcia smiled slightly. “Tomorrow is Jamie’s wedding.”

“Oh.” Scott thought,
of course
. “I will. Thank you for everything.”

“Thank
you
.” Garcia reached across the seat and shook Scott’s hand. “You may get a citizen’s commendation.”

Scott winced. “I’d rather not.”

Garcia grinned. “Maybe you’ll feel differently tomorrow. I’ll see you then.”

Garcia and Pinter drove off. When Scott turned around, Ethan was standing in the doorway, backlit from the house. Scott started up the front walk and Ethan met him halfway, grabbing him and hugging him so tightly it took Scott’s breath. “Thank God. Thank
God
. You’re okay.”

A corner of Scott’s exhausted brain thought,
Now that’s more like it
. He hugged back then let go. “I’m fine. Your car is undamaged.”

“I don’t care.” Ethan took Scott’s face in his hands just for a second, brushing his thumbs over Scott’s cheekbones. “I don’t care about anything except the fact that you’re standing here.”

“I’m glad to see you, too. And I could really use a drink.”

“Oh,
hell
, yeah. Come on.” Ethan took Scott’s hand and towed him inside. “That wasn’t Kevin that dropped you off.”

“No. Jamie’s wedding is tomorrow. The rehearsal was this evening.” Scott made a beeline for the liquor cabinet and poured himself a tumbler full of Jameson, tossing a third of it back at once. He blew out a deep breath. “Never again.”

“
Please
don’t ever do that again.”

Scott smiled, in spite of himself. “Okay, since you asked nicely.”

“I deserve that.”

“Yes, you do.” Scott didn’t know if his courage would hold in the light of day. He needed to take advantage of it now. “Ethan, listen. I like you enormously. I have a wonderful time when we’re together. I’d like to see if we can make this work. But I will tell you right now, there is a list of behaviors that I will not tolerate. Attempting to be the boss of me is one. Being anything less than completely honest with me at
all
times is another. You can tell me anything, but you had damn well better
tell
me. Anything less than one hundred percent loyalty is off the table, too. I’ll hold myself to these as well, so I’m going to be honest with you right now. My career comes first. You’ll be a close second, but I have focused my entire life on achieving my current position, and there are more heights to scale. I’d be delighted if you come with me, but I will not slow down for you.”

Ethan nodded, his eyes solemn. “I wouldn’t expect you to.” His expression eased into a hint of a smile. “I might even be able to help you, if you’d allow me.”

Scott drained his drink and set his glass down with a thump. “Sounds like a plan. You know what you can do to start?”

“What?”

“Fire up that whirlpool tub and join me in it.”

Ethan’s grin spread slowly across his face. “Coming right up.”

Jamie

We showered together and went to bed, but neither of us was falling asleep. I said, “Twenty-four hours from now, we’ll be married.”

Pete said, “Twenty-four hours from now, I’ll be forty.”

“What time of day were you born?”

“No idea.”

“So twenty-four hours from now, you might still be thirty-nine. Barely.”

“Twenty-four hours from now we’ll be over the Atlantic.”

“We won’t get to consummate our marriage on our wedding night.”

He chuckled. “I don’t know about you, but I feel pretty damn consummated.”

I snickered. “We could join the Mile High Club.”

“Oh,
hell
, no. I have no desire to be banned from Virgin Atlantic for life.”

We lay quietly for a while. I began to run through my packing list in my head, hoping that it would make me drowsy enough to nod off, when something occurred to me. “Remember we have to change shoes and pack our boots before we leave for the airport.”

“I remember.” Pete yawned. “I think we should get a dog.”

That
woke me up. “
What??
”

“You grew up with dogs, right? I like dogs. I think we should have a dog or two. We can afford vet bills now.”

“We’re related to a veterinarian. We wouldn’t have many vet bills. What brought this up?”

“I dunno - I was browsing online, looking at pictures of male couples and most of them seem to have a couple of dogs. I’m home enough to handle adult dogs. I’d want to adopt them already housebroken, not puppies.”

I’d never thought of having a dog in our house. I’d grown up with big dogs - Labs, German shepherds, a standard poodle and an Airedale. When I thought of dogs, I thought of them. “I’m not having anything under thirty pounds.”

Pete scoffed. “Of course not. Something medium-sized. We can find out from Jeff what the healthiest breeds are.”

I said, “Mutts are healthy.”

“True.”

I raised up on my elbow to look at Pete. “You don’t want a dog only because you think it’s something married people should have, do you?”

“Pfft. No. The last time we were at Jeff’s, I was watching you with Ralphie. You miss having a dog, I can tell.”

“That’s true, but I am not having a Lab in this house.”

“No, no. Something calmer. Maybe a greyhound.” Pete rolled onto his side and pulled me into his chest. “We can talk about it on vacation.”

I poked him in the ribs. “Honeymoon, not vacation. Can we go to sleep now?”

He chuckled into my hair.

Friday, July 3

Jamie

I dreamed that for some reason everyone else in the wedding party had gone ahead of us, and Pete and I were climbing the mountain by ourselves. We came around a bend in the trail to find my mom, sitting on a rock, waiting for us.

I stopped. “Hi, Mom. This is Pete.”

“I know.” She hopped off the rock. “Do you know what the easiest way to stay married is?”

“No.”

She grinned at us. “Don’t get divorced.”

Pete laughed. “Gee, thanks, Julie.”

“You’re welcome.” She reached out and hugged me, holding me for what seemed like a long time, then stepped back and rested her hand on my cheek. There were tears in her eyes. “My sweet baby boy. I’m so happy for you.” She looked up at Pete. “You take care of my baby for me.”

Pete nodded solemnly. “I promise.”

I said, “You can come with us.”

“No, I can’t.” She patted my cheek. “I’d give anything to be there. But I can’t.”

I felt a rush of fear. “You’re not leaving me, are you?”

She smiled and took my face in both of her hands. “Of course not. I’m always with you. Always.” She tilted my head down and kissed me on the forehead, then stepped back. “They’ll be wondering where you are.”

“Yes, ma’am.” I took Pete’s hand again and we began to climb.

Our wedding day dawned foggy, but by the time we were up and dressed, the fog was lifting and I could see clear blue sky above it. Up on the mountain, it should be glorious.

We did our last-minute packing; my dad was going to drive us to the airport on his way home from Neil’s. Our flight left at quarter of six, so we’d need to leave our reception by 2:30.

We didn’t talk much. Pete had a goofy grin on his face that he kept trying to suppress. When I looked at him, I got a goofy grin too. When I wasn’t looking at him, I felt - surreal.

I couldn’t believe the day was here. That we were actually going to do this.

We dressed in our new briefs, old hiking boots, pants and flannel shirts. We tucked our borrowed bandanas into our hip pockets just as the doorbell rang.

I opened the door expecting to see Kevin. What I didn’t expect to see was the person standing beside him.

Kristen.

She grinned. Kevin said, “You told me I could bring a date.”

Pete and I were speechless. Kristen said, “I thought you deserved to ride to your wedding in something a little classier than Kevin’s Civic.
And
I really wanted to be at your wedding.”

I found my voice and said, “Liz will be soooo jealous.”

“I know.” Kristen picked up my carryon bag and grinned. “I can’t wait to tell her.”

Kristen’s Beemer was sparkling clean. Pete said, “This is great.”

Kristen said, “It’s not a limo - there’s no booze in the back.”

I said, “We’ll have plenty of that later.” We loaded our luggage into Kristen’s trunk and climbed into the back seat.

Kristen pulled away from the curb and Kevin twisted around to look at us. “Ready for this?”

I shrugged. “I guess so.”

Kristen laughed. “That’s not the most enthusiastic declaration I’ve ever heard.”

I looked at Pete. “Are you ready?”

He grinned, but I could tell he was nervous. “Hell, yeah.”

We congregated at the foot of the trail. I took my ring off my right hand and looked at it for a moment. When it went back on, it would be on my left hand.

Unreal.

I handed my ring to Steve. “Don’t lose this.”

“Don’t worry, I checked my pocket for holes.” Steve lowered my ring into the chest pocket of his shirt. I saw my dad tuck Pete’s ring into his pants pocket, and we were set.

After we’d all milled around for a few minutes, Neil said, “Normally I’d head up the procession, but I’m not as familiar with this trail as you are. So you can lead the way.”

“Yes, sir.” I reached out to Pete and took his hand. “Let’s do this.”

“You bet.” He was smiling, but his hand was damp.

Since Jack wasn’t with us, we could walk a little more quickly than we’d planned, but I didn’t want to be a sweaty mess when we got to Eagle Rock. There wasn’t much chance of that, though. The air was still cool, and as we climbed, it became drier. It was going to be a gorgeous day.

I squeezed Pete’s hand, and he shot me a grin.

When we got to the rock, we arranged ourselves around it. Neil stood with his back to the rock. I was to his left, with Dad next to me and the rest of my family surrounding us. Pete was on his right, with Steve next to him and his family surrounding them. Mel was going to film and Ali was going to take pictures, so they moved around a bit while Neil was talking.

Neil looked around at the gathered family and smiled. “Friends, family, loved ones, we have gathered today as witnesses to the marriage of Pete Ferguson and Jamie Brodie. Pete and Jamie, are you entering into this marriage freely, voluntarily and without any conditions?”

Pete and I said together, “We are.”

We’d given Neil free rein to say a few words of his own before we took our vows. He took a 3x5 card out of his pocket, but barely looked at it as he spoke.

“Pete and Jamie, as you begin your married lives, remember these things.

Happiness in marriage is not something that just happens.

A good marriage must be created.

It is at no time taking the other for granted.

“It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives.

It is standing together facing the world. 

It is forming a circle of love that gathers in the whole family.

“It is not expecting one person to wear a halo or the other to have the wings of an angel.

It is not looking for perfection in each other. 

It is cultivating flexibility, patience, understanding and a sense of humor. 

It is having the capacity to forgive and forget. 

It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow.

“It is not only marrying the right partner, it is being the right partner.”

Pete was gripping my hand so tightly I thought he might cut off the circulation to my fingers. I wiggled them a bit, and he loosened his hold, giving me a sheepish smile. Neil said, “Pete, what words would you like to say to Jamie?”

Pete let go of my hand and took a piece of paper out of his pocket. “This is adapted from Rainer Maria Rilke’s
Letters to a Young Poet
.” He cleared his throat and began to read.

“It is good to love, because love is difficult. For one human being to love another human being: that is perhaps the most difficult task that has been entrusted to us; the ultimate task, the work for which all other work is merely preparation. Loving does not
at first
mean merging, surrendering, and uniting with another person, for what would be a union of two people who are unclarified, unfinished and still incoherent? It is a high inducement for the individual to ripen, to become something in himself for the sake of another person.” He re-folded the paper and took my hand again. “Jamie Brodie, thank you for waiting for me to become something coherent.”

I sniffed hard. Now was not the time for tears - I still had to speak. Neil said, “Jamie, what words would you like to say to Pete?”

I reached into my back pocket and removed the blue piece of paper I’d tucked into it. I held it up to Pete. “Something blue - on which I wrote you a poem.”

He laughed. “I thought we’d agreed on the poetry.”

“Don’t worry, it’s a haiku. Sort of. Adapted from a song by Crowded House.” I unfolded the paper and read.

With blue skies above

Solid ground beneath our feet

The wind at our backs

I promise you this:

You will never see

The end of the road while you’re

Traveling with me.

Tears sprang to Pete’s eyes, which caused my own tear ducts to go into action. I sniffed again. Neil said, “Pete and Jamie, please face each other and repeat after me.”

We were already facing each other, but we each gripped the hand of the other that we weren’t already holding. Neil said, “Jamie, repeat after me. Pete, I take you to be my husband, to join your life and to grow with you through the years. Time may pass, fortune may smile, trials may come; no matter what we may encounter together, I vow here today that I will make my home in your heart from this day forward.”

I repeated, sentence by sentence, the words that Pete and I had chosen. Pete had tears slowly trailing down his cheeks by the time I finished. As he recited the words back to me, my own waterworks began to flow. At Pete’s shoulder, Steve was grinning; I could hear my dad sniffing behind me.

Neil said, “May I please have the rings?” Dad and Steve handed them over.

Neil handed Pete’s ring to me first. I said, “Pete, what I have to give you is the promise to stand by your side, to listen when you speak, to comfort you when you cry and to join your laughter with my own. Take this ring and be part of my life forever.” I slid the ring onto Pete’s left hand.

He gazed at it for a moment, then took my ring from Neil and repeated the words I’d said, his voice shaky.

Neil said, “Pete and Jamie, if there is anything you remember of this marriage ceremony, remember the love that brought you here today. It is by love that your marriage will endure. Now, as you have consented together in lawful wedlock and have declared the same by joining hands and giving and receiving of rings - tokens of the vows that you have just made to each other - by the powers vested in me by the State of California, I now pronounce you married.” He grinned at both of us. “If you wish to seal this marriage with a kiss, you may now do so.”

Neither Pete nor I were fans of messy kissing in front of relatives. In front of anyone, for that matter. We’d already agreed that a quick peck and rubbing our noses together would suffice, so that’s what we did. When we turned around to acknowledge the applause, I noticed that we’d attracted a few onlookers - who were applauding just as vigorously as our families were.

Ali arranged us for a series of formal photos, with the ocean as our backdrop, while Mel kept filming the live action. When we couldn’t think of any more poses or combinations of people to photograph, Neil clapped his hands. “All right, everyone, let’s get off this mountain and go drink some beer.”

We walked into Neil’s house to find a kind of reverse receiving line. The rest of our friends and family were lined up from the foyer to the back deck. When we walked through the front door, everyone cheered raucously. Pete looked supremely embarrassed; I gave everyone the Queen Elizabeth wave and got them laughing.

Jack was first, his usual laconic self; he shook my hand and slapped Pete on the shoulder. “Congratulations, boys.” Then my uncles and aunts - Doug and Dennis - hugged me and shook hands with Pete; Linda hugged us both vigorously, and Toni hugged me - somewhat timidly - and gave Pete the two-handed extra-meaningful handshake. Doug and Linda went to the back with Dad to supervise the lowcountry boil; Pete and I moved on to Carly and Mike, then Aaron and Paul, then Elliott and Stewart. A handful of my rugby mates were next, and they surrounded us in a mini-scrum, hooting and hollering. Carly, Mike and Aaron joined in; Elliott, Stewart and Paul looked on in fascination, and Aunt Toni fled to the back of the house. I had to laugh.

Clinton was waiting for us next. He took both of our hands at the same time and said, “Congratulations, my friends. The word of the day is
anfractuous
.”

Pete laughed. “What does that mean?”

Clinton smiled. “Full of windings and intricate turnings. The path of your life will twist and turn, but it will lead you to unexpected and marvelous places.” He squeezed our hands and let go. “Enjoy the journey.”

I was then grabbed by Liz; I picked her up and whirled her around a couple of times until we were both laughing and dizzy. I set her back down and said, “Where’s Jon?”

“In the back, tending the fire. I think he’s discovered his inner caveman.”

“Did you know that Kristen was picking us up this morning?”

“
No
. That
hussy
.” Liz grinned. “Wait until I find her…”

Neil and Mark finally began herding everyone toward the back yard, where the boil was nearly ready. We all gathered in clumps around the tables, and Neil tapped a fork on a beer bottle to get everyone’s attention. “We have about three minutes before the shrimp is done for our grooms to say something. Pete, Jamie?”

Pete and I looked at each other; no one had told us we’d have to speak. I said, “First, we want to thank Neil and Mark and Ali and Mel for hosting this fantastic reception.” I began applauding and everyone joined in. “We also want to thank all of you for being here. It means more to us than we can say that all of you have come to see us off into our married life.”