Chapter 13
Levi
The Wedding
I arrive at the church both anxious and excited at the same time. Anxious that I’ll make an embarrassing blunder during the ceremony—but, all I have to do is stand there, right? Excited to see Bailey again, pose as her fake boyfriend, and dance the night away with her at the reception.
“We’re down here!” Josh shouts as I enter the vestibule. He motions to me from a hallway at the back of the church.
“The women are over there,” he says, nodding his head towards a room on the opposite side of the hall. “I don’t recommend going over there. Syd’s grandmother will interrogate you about your relationship with her last single granddaughter.”
Ah, right. The matchmaking grandmother. I’m ready for anything she dishes out.
“Duly noted,” I say as we walk into a cramped room that looks like its main purpose is a storage room for coffee and paper supplies. There’s shelf after shelf filled with coffee containers. This congregation must drink a lot of the caffeinated brew.
“Dad, do you remember Levi Nyberg?” Josh says addressing an older man with a shock of white hair.
The man steps forward and shakes my hand. “One of the Golden Stars defensemen, right?”
I nod.
“I saw the game you played against the Wizards, the one where you scored that short-handed goal.”
“Thanks! Hopefully I’ll get another one soon,” I say, not sure what else to add since that feat was a couple games ago.
“The team needs to bring home another Frozen Four trophy! Two years is a long dry spell,” he says in his booming voice causing all heads in the room to turn towards me.
Trying to hide the frustration his words evoke, I say, “We’re leading our division and things are looking good this year.”
Josh inserts himself between me and his father, and says, “You can get ready over there.” He points towards a corner beside a shelf filled with napkins and paper towels. “Sorry, there isn’t much space. The women got the big room,” he says with a laugh.
Pulling out everything from the garment bag, I quickly get dressed. The pants seem to fit a little tighter this morning. Perhaps, I should have opted for the next size up. Tentatively, I do a couple knee bends to ensure I won’t split the seams. Two younger guys dressed in tuxes, who I don’t recognize, follow the pastor out of the room when he motions for them to follow him into the sanctuary. “Guests are already arriving,” the pastor says, so I assume those two must be ushers. Josh’s dad, Sydney’s dad, and Josh chat beside a box of donuts.
“Yoo hoo! Is everyone decent?” a female voice says through the closed door.
Josh opens the door, and two women stroll in. They’re both wearing mint green dresses. Bailey wasn’t kidding when she said this color was a theme in the wedding.
The older one of the pair sets her sights on me, ignoring the others as she marches over to where I’m standing.
“You must be the best man, Bailey’s boyfriend,” she says, perusing me from head to toe. I feel like a gnat under a microscope. Did I remember to zip my fly?
“I am...The best man...Bailey’s fak, er, um, boyfriend...That’s me,” I sputter nervously, my brain tripping over the word boyfriend. Faking real boyfriend status is more difficult than I thought.
She cracks a small smile. “I’m Sydney and Bailey’s grandmother. You can call me Nana.”
“Nice to meet you Nana,” I say as we exchange handshakes. “I’m Levi. You can call me Levi.” My Captain Obvious comment seems ridiculous.
“Your bow tie is crooked. May I adjust it?”
“Sure.”
She’s so short I bend down so she can reach the tie. After a few seconds of fiddling with it, she says, “There.”
“Thank you.” Belatedly I look around for a mirror in case anything else on my outfit is crooked.
“What are your intensions with my granddaughter?” she asks as her eyes pierce mine.
Huh? Intensions? I feel like I’ve just traveled back in time with that question.
Caught off guard, I blurt, “To dance the night away with her.”
Her eyes narrow. “That’s it?”
Tugging on my suddenly tight shirt collar, I say, “Share a piece of wedding cake?”
Shaking her head as if I just failed a test, she readjusts my tie and says, “How about longer term? Is this just a fling or a serious relationship?”
Gulp! No wonder Joey and Otto tried to dissuade me from attending a wedding with a woman I just met.
“Er, well, um...I haven’t actually thought about long term, per say—” My voice trails off and an embarrassed silence takes over. I start to sweat as she glares at me through her wire-rimmed glasses. “I like your granddaughter. A lot,” I add, shifting back and forth on the balls of my feet.
“Well, I would hope so!” she says, then crosses her arms over her chest. “How’d you two meet?”
“DoorDash delivery,” I reply.
She must know what DoorDash is, as she doesn’t blink an eye by my reference. “What’s your most memorable date?”
Well, that’s easy, considering we’ve only had one date. “Hockey game. I invited her to one of my hockey games.”
Her expression turns sour. “You’re a hockey player? What team?”
“The Golden Stars,” I reply proudly.
That answer doesn’t exactly win her over, as she scowls and snorts.
“Bailey’s never had many boyfriends, so her heart is very tender. Keep that in mind.”
I nod. Is this a warning not to break her granddaughter’s heart?
“I’ll be watching you,” she says, giving me the universal two-fingers pointing towards her eyes signal. “You hockey players are a fickle bunch.”
After that insulting statement, she toddles off to chat with Josh, hopefully not to interrogate him like she did me. Surely, he’s moved past that stage since he’s marrying her granddaughter.
I’m not sure what just happened. Is this what Bailey meant when she said her Nana could be a force when it comes to matchmaking? It feels like Nana just did a crosscheck, stole the puck, and left me fretting about whether I’m good enough for her granddaughter.
Is there such a thing as anti-matchmaking?
~*~
Several minutes later, Josh and I are standing at the front of the church near the altar. I notice the unity candle sitting off to the side and try to judge whether there’s plenty of room between the candle and the wooden rail beside it. I’m overly vigilant to the threat of fire after Otto made that silly comment.
The pastor joins us while organ music swells around the church. There’s quite a crowd of attendees sitting on both sides. One of the ushers accompanies Nana to the front row pew, then the other usher brings in Sydney’s mom. I try not to make eye contact with the older lady, not wanting to add further to my best man jitters.
A cute little girl comes next—wearing a mint green dress—and she daintily drops a single red rose petal on the white runner with each step. When she drops two petals, she bends to retrieve the extra one, walks a few steps, and drops that one. Chuckles float over the crowd, they’re quite amused at her careful attention to her task. A woman, who must be her mom, walks beside her, whispering words of encouragement while trying to speed up the process. When the girl finally gets to the end of the runner, she unceremoniously dumps the basket of remaining petals, and everyone laughs.
The organ music changes, and Bailey, the bride, and her father appear at the back of the church. My breath seizes in my chest when I see Bailey. There’s certainly no wardrobe mishap this time. She looks stunning in that dress; it fits her like it was made for her. When she starts down the aisle, I can’t take my eyes off her, she’s a vision in mint green silk.
Bailey winks at me as she turns to the opposite side of the altar, standing by herself. I recognize the first stanzas of the traditional wedding march song. The crowd stands, then Sydney and her dad make their way down the runner. Beside me, Josh sucks in a breath as he watches his bride approach. His beaming smile says exactly how he feels about her. Sydney is a beautiful bride, but I only have eyes for the maid of honor.
The ceremony goes by smoothly, the pastor says a few words, a teenage girl sings a song, and another teenager reads a Bible verse. I remind myself not to lock my knees, and I force myself not to stare at Bailey the whole time, but my eyes keep rotating her way. She’s holding the bride’s bouquet, along with her own, and my heart flips whenever I gaze at her. At this rate, Nana isn’t going to have to worry about Bailey’s tender heart, I’ve already moved into the “let’s date seriously” phase, so it might be my tender heart that ends up being broken, not hers.
There’s one non-life-threatening glitch—when the bride and groom light the unity candle, a little boy starts singing “Happy Birthday,” much to the crowd’s amusement. His mom quickly shushes him, but personally I was ready to join in the singing, it seemed like a special touch. I keep an eye on the candle as it continues to burn during the rest of the ceremony and thankfully there’s no fire or need to evacuate the sanctuary.
When it’s time for the ring exchange, the pastor holds out his Bible where I’m supposed to place the rings. Josh gives me a side-eye look as I dig around in the tux’s tiny jacket breast pocket. For a guy who’s dexterous with a stick, I’m sure a fumble fingers.
“Um, just a second,” I say when I realize that pocket is empty.
“Pants pocket,” Josh whispers.
Right! It was a last second decision to move the rings, so this exact thing didn’t happen. Feeling like a dunce, I pat my right pants pocket. Empty. Then I check my left pants pocket and hear a small jingle. I reach into the pocket, locate the rings, and pull them out.
“Found them!” I say triumphantly, trying to cover my gaffe, and the crowd laughs. The pastor waits patiently as I carefully try to place the rings on the Bible. He reaches for the first ring as I’m placing the other one. Our hands collide, causing me to drop that ring at the pastor’s feet. Dé·jà vu hits as the pastor and I both bend over to grab the ring, just like Bailey and I did for her DoorDash cap. Not wanting to replay that scene in front of this crowd, I back off and let the pastor fumble around on the floor for the ring.
Is being an awkward clutz going to be a permanent state of mind for me when I’m around Bailey?
She tosses me an amused grin while I straighten back up in relief as the pastor locates the ring, and the service continues. My part of the ceremony is done for now. As long as I don’t botch the best man speech, I’ve fulfilled my duties.