Chapter 18
Mac paced back and forth in front of the tiki bar, rubbing his hands together. They couldn’t have asked for a better day, the sun setting over the Gulf of Mexico in a showy flourish of purple and pink. “Do I look okay?” he asked Lewis.
“You look fine. Stop pacing, or you’re going to sweat.”
“You’re not making me feel any better.”
“Relax. Mom and the girls are already here. The guests are arriving. We’ll be done with this in no time.”
“If the ushers would get out there to seat the guests. Stay still,” snapped Sloan, who was working to attach Hawk’s boutonniere. “This isn’t easy to do with only one good arm, you know.”
Hawk ignored him, continuing to make silly faces at the baby in his wife Olivia’s arms. “Who’s the funniest daddy in the whole wide world, huh, Pumpkin?”
Sloan held up the four-inch needle. “If you get any funnier, I’m going to stab you through the lung with this thing.”
“Aww,” said Hawk to the baby, “Is Uncle Swoan a buwwy? Is he? Is Uncle Swoan– OUCH!”
He turned to Sloan, who’d just stabbed him with the needle. “What the hell was that for?”
“I told you to stay still!” He skewered the flower to Hawk’s jacket. “There. Now you look like a groomsman.”
He turned to Lewis. “How’s the best man making out? You need a hand with your flower-on-a-stick?”
“Nah, my dad did mine.”
“Good. Then get your asses out there, both of you. You’ve got people to seat and I’ve got a wedding to perform before the sun goes down.”
Mac clapped Sloan on the shoulder. “Thanks for doing this, man.”
“Are you kidding? I was made to be ordained. I think I should form my own church. Take this show on the road with Joanne and the kids. We’ll become famous, maybe own a megachurch or two. Ride a Harley. That kind of thing.”
“I have no idea what that woman sees in you.”
“Honestly, I don’t either. I lucked out on that one.”
“I can relate. You ready to do this?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be, Padre.”
“Then let’s get this show on the road.”