“Yeah, trying to book you boys more jobs. Dad needs to retire,” Lemon says. “We need more men on the crew. What about you, Cash? You ever think of working for my father full-time? I know you've been helping out while Rye and Prairie were—”
Cash cracks up. “What were Rye and Prairie doing, Lemon?”
She sputters before rolling her eyes.
Prairie and I have been doing nothing but having fun getting to know each other. Making sure we’re comfortable with one another in every way imaginable. Heart, soul, skin. Now we're getting married.
Cash shakes his head. “I had no problem pitching in when your dad needed some help on his crew. But I belong over on the ranch.”
“Dad appreciated having you around,” I tell him.
“It was fun hanging around you fancy boys from Home, but I got horses to break, and I got cattle to feed,” Cash says with a laugh.
“You think you’ll ever find yourself a wife on that ranch?” Lemon asks.
Cash tosses it right back at her. “Probably the same time you find yourself a husband in that office, tied to a desk.”
“You’re taking next week off for your birthday, right, Lemon?” I say. “Going to Stout Lake?”
Cash cracks up, pressing a hand to his chest. “You really are going fishing for a man, aren't you?”
She shoves Cash away, wagging a finger at him. “Don't you get started. I'm not going to the lake for a man. I'm going for a week of rest and relaxation for my birthday. I'm not going to work. I'm not going to answer my phone. And I am not going to talk toanymen.”
Lemon walks off to report on Cash and me being Rough and Rowdy as usual.
I turn to Cash. “Thanks for being here today.”
He grins. “Thanks for asking me to be your best man. Your brothers mad?”
“You and I grew up together. Since before we were in diapers. It seemed right.”
Cash pauses, his eyes meeting mine. I know our memories are not all fucking around and causing good trouble. There have been hard times too, heartbreaking ones. “You stood by my side at my ma’s funeral; seems right I stand next you now, Rye.”
“Damn,” I say, choking up. “I love you, man.”
Cash shakes his head, grinning. “I can't believe you're really getting hitched. But Prairie, she seems happy. You both do,” he tells me.
“I've never been happier.”
“Hell,” Cash says, “you really are a changed man.”
I laugh as my brothers all join us in my old bedroom at the family house, bringing in a bottle of whiskey.
“We thought we needed a toast,” Bartlett says. “To the groom!”
“Cheers to that,” I say, laughing.
“Cash getting married next?” Bartlett teases as Cash’s Rowdy brothers pile into my bedroom. It's getting mighty full. But none of us mind.
The ten of us boys grew up together, roughhousing and getting rowdy in this room and down this hallway.
I know, of course, if I get this suit too wrinkled Prairie will have something to say about it. But we pass that bottle of whiskey around as we start shooting the shit. Sitting on my old twin bed and laughing about the days gone by.
Soon enough, though, my mother is in the doorway. “You Rowdy boys and you Rough boys need to get downstairs. There's a wedding to be had. If your mother were here,” she says to Cash and his brothers, Williams, Carter, Nelson and Jennings, but then Mom starts to cry. “Well, if your mother were here, she would just be so happy. You all look so handsome.”
“Mom,” Graham says, “you can't cry right now.”
“Yeah, Auntie Annie,” Jennings says. “You can't cry at a wedding.”