Seth
After two long hours, Joey has finally crashed. Hannah and I have spent the evening keeping him from literally climbing the walls. There’s a huge rose trellis outside that he attempted to climb. I grabbed him off of it, but the kid held onto that thing like his life depended on it. He may only be four years old, but the kid is strong. He put a crack in the wood. Hopefully no one notices that for a while.
He tried to strip out of his clothes again, and Hannah managed to find some duct tape to secure his clothes on with. This proved to be a problem when he had to go to the bathroom thirty minutes later. But now he’s asleep, lying across Hannah’s and my laps, and his parents are still nowhere in sight. I understand wanting some time to yourself, but hire a babysitter. Don’t ditch your kid at a wedding and expect complete strangers to make sure he doesn’t accidentally kill himself or others in a red-dye-induced fit of rage. Aren’t they concerned about his whereabouts? I’m adding this to the ever-increasing list of things to not do if I ever become a parent.
Hannah fell asleep with her head on my shoulder a little while ago, and now this whole night feels like it might be worth it for this moment. Hannah has always had this ridiculous ability to fall asleep anywhere. Her mom has pictures of her sleeping at Colby’s football games, in shopping carts, at a theme park…the list could go on and on. She gets really embarrassed when these pictures get pulled out of hiding.
I’m loving this ability now. Her head feels like it was made to rest on my shoulder. I place a quick kiss on the top of her head. Her hair smells like hairspray and feels a little stiff from all the things holding it in its fancy style, but I don’t care. I lay my head on top of hers and breathe in her scent.
I’m absolutely exhausted, so I close my eyes to rest for a few moments. We’ll eventually have to get up to go find this kid’s parents, but I’m going to enjoy this moment for a little longer.
I wake up to someone shaking my shoulder and laughing quietly. I jerk awake and see Jameson squatting down in front of me with a very curious expression on his face. “What’s going on?” he asks, nodding his head at Hannah and the duct-taped child snoring in our laps. I explain the Joey situation to him, and he vows to repay me after he gets back from his honeymoon, not that it’s his fault. I should find the kid’s parents and demand retribution from them.
“Okay, well, Millie and I are about to head out if she ever comes out of her dressing room. I’ve been waiting on her forever. Y’all should head outside.”
He walks off in the direction of Millie’s dressing room, and I give Hannah a little shake to wake her up. She cuddles in closer to me and mumbles unintelligible words, and I’ve never wanted to stay sitting on the floor with an achy backside more in my life. I would stay here all night if it meant staying close to Hannah.
What? No! What am I saying? Colby would flip tables if he found out I’m having these thoughts about Hannah. The shared trauma of this night is just making me have weird thoughts…again. Or perhaps it’s just the dress. She’s an absolute babe attack in it. The shade of pink matches her cheeks perfectly. Ignore the fact that Lo and Tess are wearing the exact same dress and I didn’t give either of them a second look…but Lo’s seventeen, and Tess is married. So, yeah, it’s just the dress. That’s all. Nothing else.
Why couldn’t Millie have been one of those bridezillas who chose ugly dresses for her bridesmaids so they wouldn’t look better than her? I’ve heard it’s a thing that some women do. Then, I wouldn’t have had to work so hard to avoid staring at her all day. And it has been work. And to make matters worse, Colby was hovering all day, turning me into a jumpy mess. Just a little added motivation to shake off all of these confusing feelings.
I brush the hair off Hannah’s face and give her another shake. This time, she wakes up and asks, “What’s going on? What happened?”
“We need to go find Joey’s parents. Millie and Jameson are about to leave.”
We both get up, and I pick up the sleeping boy. He’s draped over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes while Hannah finds his parents. It doesn’t take long since the crowd has thinned out a lot since we left the reception. We walk over to the two of them, and I dump Joey in his dad’s arms and walk away. The look of shock on both of their faces as they see the duct tape covering Joey’s clothes and his unconscious state is the only thing that keeps me from losing my temper. I hear Hannah tell them goodnight and then scurry up behind me.
“You told them goodnight? I wanted to put a hex on them or something.”
“You know how to hex someone?” she asks.
“Well, no. Of course not. But at this moment, if I knew how to hex someone, they’d be the ones I chose.”
“Fair enough.”
We go outside together with the rest of the guests to wait for the happy couple to leave. Their car has been decorated, and I’m pretty bummed that I missed out on helping. Jameson and Millie will be thankful I didn’t get to help, because whoever did the decorating kept it a lot classier than I would have.
Colby spots us from across the parking lot, and his eyes narrow before he walks over to us. “Where have you two been all evening?” he asks. It now occurs to me that he would notice his best friend and baby sister missing. And it also occurs to me how that might look to him, since he has been questioning my involvement with Hannah.
Hannah jumps in and explains the situation with Joey—something that's starting to get a little old. Colby still looks skeptical, but he lets it go. We stand in awkward silence before I can’t take it anymore.
“Where are they? What could possibly be taking so long?” I rant.
Hannah and Colby exchange glances, and Hannah excuses herself to go talk to Tess. My eyes follow her as she walks away. I can’t help it. It’s like she has me hypnotized. It’s fine. Everything’s fine. I’ll get over it as soon as she’s wearing her typical jeans and t-shirt. Maybe when her hair is up in one of those messy buns that drive me crazy…
Colby clears his throat to subtly get my attention, and I turn to face him. He opens his mouth to say something, but he’s cut off by the cheers of the rest of the crowd. Jameson and Millie have finally made their appearance—and just in time to save me from playing twenty-one questions with a suspicious older brother. Not that I have anything to worry about. I don’t have feelings for Hannah. Is she gorgeous? Yes. Do I love hanging out with her? Absolutely. Does that mean anything? Not at all.
It’s the morning after the wedding, and unfortunately, I have to go to work. I’m exhausted. Not a great way to start a twenty-four-hour shift. I make a mental note to talk to a few other guys about joining me at the library’s story time on Wednesday. I was silently hoping that our chief would say no about story time since it’s so last minute, but he actually seemed a little excited about it. Public relations and all that. I’m especially dreading it now that I’ve met Joey. If one kid can create so much chaos, what can an entire room of them do? It doesn’t sound promising, if you ask me. Hannah has assured me over and over again that the children are as sweet as pie, but I’m not buying it.
I walk into the firehouse and see the other guys sitting around and decide to just ask them if anyone wants to join me on Thursday. They all immediately perk up.
“You said Hannah’s going to be doing story time that day?” one of the rookies asks. I don’t like the eagerness I’m hearing in his voice. I mentally scratch his name off the list of candidates to join me. It’s only because Colby would not appreciate me bringing around a bunch of guys who are only going so they can hit on his sister.
Besides, Hannah wouldn’t be interested in him. Sure, he’s toned and all that, but he’s a little on the scrawny side. And he’s so young…fresh out of the fire academy. He can barely even grow a mustache. It’s not stopping him from trying. I bet his mama still kisses him on those round baby cheeks of his. Hannah probably likes older, more mature guys. Men who have a savings account, a retirement plan, and a Roth IRA. Men whose humor is no longer strictly limited to fart jokes. Am I bitter that he’s clearly interested in Hannah? Yes!
“Chris and Jake, you guys want to come with me?” I ask, and the little rookie’s shoulders slump in defeat. I shouldn’t, but I feel very satisfied that I’ve shut him down. He only wants to go for Hannah, and he is not getting Hannah.
They both answer at the same time with, “Yeah, definitely,” and “Sure thing.”