I hesitated following Seth out the door and looked to Tori.
“Are you worried about leaving her with us?” Naomi asked. She, Nicole, and Deb had already formed a wall around her as if they were protecting her.
“I’m sure she can hold her own,” Nicole added.
Looking directly at Tori, I said, “I know she can.” Which earned me one of her wide smiles.
Outside, Chad was saying, “I don’t get it. It should be turning on.”
“Oh, hey,” Bob said when I clapped him on the back. He gave me a big bear hug.
“What’s the issue?” I squatted to inspect the tank and tapped on it. “This is new?”
“Bought it today.”
I whistled. “Oh, this is new-new. Nice set up,” I said, turning the knobs to light it. When it didn’t ignite, I put my ear close to it and listened for a clicking noise. “It’s not clicking,” I said more to myself. I pulled off the igniter button and Chad made a sound like he was surprised.
“That comes off?”
I showed him the AA battery inside the igniter module. “Yeah, and this battery still has the protective plastic around it. Which is why it wouldn’t ignite.” I unwrapped the plastic and replaced the batter and knob. After pressing it again, the grill ignited immediately.
Seth laughed. “How many idiots does it take to turn a grill on?”
“Four, it seems,” Chad said sourly and drained his beer. “Sorry, Bob.”
“Oh, don’t sweat it,” Bob said, flapping his hand dismissively. “Just glad we got it figured out, because I didn’t have a plan B and no pizza place delivers out this far.”
“The place looks good,” I said to Bob, bracing my hand on the recently stained decking.
“Took a few weekends.” Bob picked up his beer and joined me at the railing. “This cedar ate up a shit ton of stain. We went through gallons and gallons. But it was worth it.”
“I’d say so.”
“Speaking of looking good,” Seth said, causing me to turn around and look at him. “Tori.”
“Tori?” Chad asked, squinting into the sun to look at us from his place on the Adirondack chair.
“Who’s Tori?” Bob asked.
Seth tilted his head toward the great room, where Tori, Nicole, Naomi and Deb had all settled on the sectional in front of the windows that looked outside. “Liam brought that pretty blonde over here, Bob. Hasn’t told us a thing about her. He’s been holding out on us.”
“Tori’s here?” Vince asked, coming up from the side of the yard. He stopped and stared at the windows. “Whoa. You know, drunk goggles are supposed to make people look better than they actually look. She looked hot last night. But she looks better sober.”
“You met her?” Chad and Seth asked simultaneously.
“Who’s Tori?” Bob repeated.
I took a long pull from my beer, trying to think of how to explain the situation. “Well…”
Seth stood and pointed at my hand; his eyes wide. “What’s that?”
“What?” Bob asked.
“Is that a fucking wedding ring?” Vince asked.
“Uh, funny story,” I said. But was it? I hadn’t been worried about how to explain Tori to them until this moment. How did I tell them that, while mourning my best friend, I thought it was a good idea to have a cliché Vegas wedding with a stranger? I didn’t think there was any particular protocol for a situation like mine.
“She was all over him at the bar last night,” Vince said, setting his beer down beside a few others that rattled. “She helped get me to bed, didn’t she?”
How much had Vince remembered? I’d banked on him being mostly blackout drunk, but his memory was more powerful than I’d anticipated.
“But wait, are you married?” Seth asked.
“No,” I finally said. “Not married.”
Seth pointed at my hand again. “Then what’s up with the ring?”
“So, here’s the funny story part,” I said. “We thought it’d be funny to get married last night. Not the legal part—just the ceremony. It was spontaneous. And like I said, not legal, so not real.”
That sent them all into a few seconds of silence. The only sound came from the cicada out in the shrub along the edge of the property.
“Were you drunk?” Chad asked and pushed his glasses up on his nose.
“No.”
“Huh.” Seth finished his beer and stared down at the bottle.
“So, she’s your girlfriend?” Bob asked.
“No,” I said, realizing how ill-prepared I was for this conversation.
“She’s single?” Vince asked, and I knew exactly what he meant by that.
“Right now, technically, yes. But considering we’re both wearing wedding bands, I’d appreciate if you didn’t poach.”