Chapter Five
“Is a marriage license the kind of thing that needs to be cancelled?” Riley asked, sipping from the cup of coffee Brent had made him. Brent seemed a little brighter, a little less defeated now that he’d gotten drunk, cried a lot, and had a decent breakfast.
It wasn’t the most elegant solution, but it had worked.
“What? No,” Brent said wrinkling his nose. “No, they expire on their own.”
“How the hell am I supposed to know that?” Riley asked. “I stick to best man duties. No one would be stupid enough to marry me.”
“Maybe you’re the smart one, here,” Brent said.
Riley sighed. Brent did seem better, but he wasn’t back to his old self yet. Riley wanted to hug him until he was okay, until the world seemed better, but he wasn’t sure that would work right now.
He missed being a kid with Brent. Things had seemed a lot simpler back then. Hugs had fixed everything.
The doorbell ringing stopped him from responding, which was probably just as well. Riley didn’t have anything constructive to say right now.
He wasn’t used to feeling helpless. He was used to having a way to solve problems for the people he cared about.
This wasn’t really a solvable problem. It wasn’t even really a problem. It was just pain.
There was no easy fix for pain like this.
Riley opened Brent’s front door to see Marcus stranding on the other side of it, his hands tucked deep into his jean pockets.
“Oh,” Riley blinked at him, surprised. He liked Marcus, but he was glad his little brother wasn’t dating him anymore.
They hadn’t been right together. Some people just weren’t. It didn’t mean either of them were bad people.
Marcus was actually a sweetheart, even if he wasn’t all that expressive about it. A man who baked cakes for a living couldn’t be all bad.
“How’s Brent holding up?” Marcus asked.
Riley sighed. “He’s… getting better, I think. Do you really need to talk to him? Because I’d rather not put him through any stress right now.”
Marcus nodded. “Understood. I just wanna know what you want me to do with the wedding cake. You can ask him if you want.”
Riley pinched the bridge of his nose. He’d forgotten about the cake.
How did people even plan weddings? There were so many things to do. And Brent had only been engaged for something like two months. Just long enough to put something like this together.
Wedding planners must have been wizards.
“I wouldn’t ask, but it’s got a shelf life. I don’t want it to go to waste if it doesn’t have to.”
“Can you do me a favor?” Riley asked.
“Sure, anything,” Marcus said.
Riley believed that. He was one of the good guys, and even though he didn’t know Riley particularly well, Riley was confident that he really would have helped with anything he’d been asked to.
Riley’s request was fairly simple, though.
“Cut it up and give it away. And send me the bill via Owen.”
To Riley’s surprise, Marcus shook his head. “I’m writing it off. It actually works out better for me that way. Besides, I feel for the guy.”
That sounded like Marcus. He had a little bit of a tough exterior about him, but underneath that beat a heart of gold. Riley didn’t have to know him well to see that.
“I have no idea how to help him,” Riley confessed. “Other than taking care of things like this.”
“Chocolate,” Marcus suggested. “Chocolate fixes everything.”
“That’s not the worst idea I’ve heard,” Riley said. “I guess the real answer is that he needs time, but it hurts to see him hurting.”
“I know. I know how it is.” Marcus nodded. “If there’s anything I can do…”
“You’ve done more than enough. I’ll tell Brent you dropped by and how kind you’ve been.”
A blush crept up Marcus’ neck. “I’m not here to make a show of being the good guy. I just wanted to make sure Brent was okay. I wasn’t sure you were still here.”
Riley’s stomach clenched at that. He knew Marcus didn’t mean it as an insult, but he also knew that he had a habit of not being around. Of swooping in for ten minutes to celebrate something, and then disappearing again.
It hurt that his reputation meant people would actually think he’d abandon his best friend at a time like this, but he only had himself to blame for that.
“I won’t leave him,” Riley said softly. “Not until I’m sure he’s okay.”
“Good. That’s what I wanted to hear.” Marcus smiled at him. “You take care, okay? And if you need to offload… the bakery’s always there. Charlie knows where I live.”
Riley chuckled at that. Charlie knew where everyone lived. That was just who Charlie was.
“Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”
Riley watched Marcus step back from the door, waving as he left and waiting until he was a respectable distance away before closing it.
He was glad Brent had other people who cared about him. Of course, he shouldn’t have been surprised. Brent was a good man, and people rightly looked up to and trusted him.
He probably did Marcus’ taxes. Riley had never exactly asked Brent what his client list looked like.
“Who was that?” Brent asked from behind him.
Riley turned to see him hanging back, his head poking out of the kitchen doorway. “Just Marcus, coming to let you know you don’t have to worry about the cake. I figured you wouldn’t really want to talk to him.”
Brent glanced down at the floor, his long, bright blond eyelashes making the gesture look even more dramatic. “Yeah. Thanks. Nice of him to come, though.”
“Yeah,” Riley agreed. “He’s a good kid.”
“Hey, uh… thanks for doing all this. Taking the wedding apart, I mean. I couldn’t have done it without you,” Brent said.
“It’s no big deal for me.” Riley shrugged. “It would have been a lot harder if you’d decided to cancel beforehand. This way I didn’t have to call every guest.”
“Even so… thank you. It means a lot to me to have you around.”
“Hey, you mean a lot to me,” Riley said. It hurt how true that was. He’d almost gotten to the point where he’d forgotten all about how he felt about Brent, where he could be happy for him to start living his life, but…
Seeing him like this had brought it all back. There was nothing Riley wanted more right now than to hold Brent until he forgot any of this had happened.
Short of being able to do that, Riley intended to do whatever Brent would let him to make this better.
“Thanks,” Brent said again.
He had a habit of thanking people a hundred times for even the smallest thing.
“No problem. This is what friends are for,” Riley said.
“Well… not everyone’s running to my rescue, here. You’re always the one doing things for me.”
“I’ve been keeping you all to myself for years,” Riley joked.
Although, sometimes he worried that it wasn’t a joke. Brent was the only friend he’d had growing up, and he was the only friend Brent had. They’d both made other friends now, but Riley wouldn’t have been all that upset if it had been just them, forever.
He’d done a good job of pretending to himself that he wasn’t still desperately in love with Brent, but he realized now that he was. That wasn’t about to change, either.
“Putting up with me, you mean,” Brent said. “My life has been one disaster after another.”
“None of which is your fault. Besides, we’ve had good times. And we’ll have good times again. Those are worth the bad ones.”
“You always know exactly what to say.” Brent smiled down at his feet.
Riley snorted. “Reserve that judgement until you hear me flailing on the phone with the airline. Because that’s what I’m tackling next.”
“You’re a lot braver than I am,” Brent said. “I was gonna leave it.”
“Hey, it can’t hurt to try. And it’s a lot easier to ask for things for other people than it is to ask for them for yourself.” Riley shrugged.
“You’re weird,” Brent said.
Riley grinned at that. “If it’s taken you this long to notice, I don’t know what to tell you.”