We finish eating and go back up to our room, getting the receipts so we can make a plan of attack.

“We already remember the restaurant and what we did there, so I think we should skip going there and go directly to the bar. We’ll save time that way.” I hold up the receipt, showing it to Zach.

He shakes his head. “Even though we remember being there, we should still go to recreate the whole night. If we skip parts of it, we may miss something.”

He makes sense, so after making sure that we have all the receipts and they’re in order, we go to relive Monday evening.

We walk into the buffet and look around. “Let’s go sit in the seats we sat in Monday,” Zach suggests. We find our seat and sit down, waiting for the waitress to bring our drinks to us.

The same lady who waited on us on Monday sets our drinks down in front of us. “Hey! It’s the newlyweds! Congratulations!”

Zach blinks. “We came back in here Monday night?”

“You did. I worked a double that night.” She smiles at me and points to my ring. “You were flashing that humongous diamond ring and wedding band, telling everyone who would listen that you got married.” She points at the rings I’m wearing. “You were flashing your wedding band also,” she says to Zach. I’ve never seen a man’s ring like that one before, and I’ve worked here for a long time.” She nods at the ring on Zach’s finger. I look at his ring, just noticing it. It matches my wedding band exactly, except it’s bigger.

“We must have really thought this through,” Zach says, inspecting the rings on our hands. “What time did we come the second time?” he asks the waitress.

“It was about eleven-thirty p.m.,” she tells him. You had a big group of people with you. Some guy paid for everyone’s meals. Said he was you father.”

Zach and I look at each other and then at her.

“Was my mother with him?” Zach asks.

She shakes her head. “I think he said that she was back in the room sleeping or something. There was so much going on, I can’t remember it all.”

Zach hands her a fifty-dollar bill and his card. “If you remember anything else, please call me.”

“No problem. Congratulations again.” She walks away to the next table.

We sip our drinks in silence for a while, lost in thought.

“So we came back here and my dad was with us.” Zach looks a little stunned. He picks up his phone and calls his father, but immediately hangs up. “It went straight to voicemail.”

Why were his parent’s there? They were stuck out of the country for my wedding, but that night, there they were.

“Let’s go to the bar. Maybe they’ll have some more information for us,” I suggest.

Zach stands up, and I follow suit. We leave the restaurant and stroll down the boardwalk to the bar. We find that it isn’t open yet, so we decide to listen to the band that’s playing on a stage next door. I lean in to him as the jazz music flows around us and the rest of the crowd that’s formed. His arm comes around me and pulls me in front of him. He places his other arm around me as well, and sets his chin on top of my head. We sway back and forth to the music.

“It’s the newlyweds! Come on up, Mr. and Mrs. Hyde!” the singer announces at the end of the song. We look around, then turn back to him. He points at us and waves us up to the stage. Zach takes my hand, and I follow him up to stand by the singer.

He turns us to face the audience. “These two wonderful people were married Monday night. We sang for their first dance, and would like to sing for them again. What do you say?” He waves an arm toward the audience. “Should we do it again?”

Applause fills the area, and the band starts the first strains of the song. It builds, and the singer starts the first words to “Thank You In Advance” by Boyz II Men, my absolute favorite song. I’m mesmerized as Zach pulls me into his arms to dance.

“Your favorite song would be our wedding song,” Zach chuckles as we move around the small stage.

“If it were up to you, it would be “Baby Got Back”, I giggle as we continue to sway together.

I glance at the audience, and all the other couples are dancing too. I lay my head on his chest and hold on to him a little tighter, eliciting a sigh into the top of my head. His hands rub my back, up to my neck and then back down, gently massaging as he goes. I close my eyes, enjoying the feel of him against me and the song surrounding us.

The last notes of the song fade, and I reluctantly pull back from Zach. We face the audience as they clap for the band.

“We’re going to take a break now. Thank you very much.” As the crowd disperses, the singer says, “Congratulations! How’s married life so far?”

“We’re on a pilgrimage to find out what happened that night. We can’t remember anything about it,” I tell him.

He smiles consolingly. “It seems that way with quite a few couples here. Just think twice before you decide to get an annulment. Sometimes when people do things while intoxicated, it’s something they always wanted to do subconsciously, but never had the nerve.”

“Where and when did we meet you on Monday night?” Zach asks.

“It was about ten p.m. We were packing up for the evening when a man who said he was your father approached us. He asked if we could stay for another hour to play for his son’s wedding party, and he handed me a big wad of cash. He promised that it would only be an hour and he would treat us to a late dinner. Of course we said yes. You and your wedding party came along about fifteen minutes later, and we played for you all.” He takes a sip of his water.

Zach pulls his phone out of his pocket and tries to call his father again, putting the phone to his ear. “Damn! Voicemail again. If he would just answer, we wouldn’t have to go through all this. He could just tell us what happened that night.” He puts the phone back in his pocket.

“What’s your name again?” I ask the singer.

“Sam. We had a great time singing for your wedding! You all were so nice. Anytime you need a band, just let us know and we’ll be there.” He shakes both our hands.

“Is there anything else you can tell us about Monday night?” Zach asks.

Sam thinks for a minute. “You spoke with your mom on the phone.”

“How do you know it was my mom?”

“You said something to your father about speaking with her, and your dad told you that if she called again, to ignore her calls. I didn’t hear him tell you the reason, but it must have been fine, because every time she called after that, you pressed ignore and told your father it was her.” Sam looks at his watch and then at his band. “Time to go back to work. Congratulations again, you two.” He takes a drink of water and steps back onstage.

Zach pulls his phone out of his pocket and dials his mother this time. He gets a frustrated look on his face. “Her phone is going straight to voicemail too. What’s going on with them?” He looks at the bar a hundred yards away from us. “It looks like they’re open now. Hopefully we’ll get some answers there.”

I grab his hand and pull him toward the bar. Hopefully the bartender who was there Monday night will be there tonight. We could really use some answers, and it all started at this bar.

We take stools at the bar and order a drink. “Only one drink tonight,” I warn.

“I agree. It all started here, and we don’t need a repeat of Monday night.” He shrugs sheepishly. “Even though we’re already married. What more can we do, right?”

We both look up and down the bar for the bartender who served us Monday night. We don’t see him, so we ask the bartender who serves our drinks about him.

“Rob won’t be in for another hour. Wait, are you the ones who got married Monday night?”

We both nod.

“Oh man! It’s an honor to meet you all! You’re the talk of the strip! Everyone’s talking about your story and how everyone you all came across was invited to the wedding. I’m so mad that I took off Monday night—I miss everything,” he rattles.

“What happened?” I ask.

“After you all had been drinking for a while, you two told everyone the story about how you were left at the altar the day before.” He motions toward me. “Everyone was sympathetic, and then a few things happened and you were married. You’ll have to wait for Rob to come in to tell you the rest. All I know is that it was a big party starring you two. I’m around if you want to do it again tonight.”

“Not until we find out what happened that night. But if we party again, we’ll definitely invite you,” Zach promises.

We sip our drinks and wave back to people who wave at us. Evidently we were very popular on Monday night. We keep asking people what happened, but they don’t remember. Evidently we got everyone just as drunk as we were.

Finally, a humongous tattooed guy steps behind the bar, and we wait impatiently while he gets settled in and talks to the other bartender. He points our way, and Rob’s face lights up in recognition. He makes a couple of drinks and comes down the bar, setting them in front of us.

“Hi, guys! Congratulations on the marriage. Try this drink—I made it in honor of you two. It’s called ‘bliss’.”

I study the purple drink for a second before taking a sip. I smile, because it has grape juice, one of my favorites.

“Thanks! This is good.”

“Anything for my favorite newlyweds!” He places his hands on the bar. “What can I do for you this evening?”

“We’re piecing together Monday night. We just need to know what happened after we started drinking. We kind of blacked out.” I move around in my seat until Zach’s hand lands on my thigh, stilling me.

“Sure. I’ll be happy to tell you. Give me one second and I’ll be back.” He moves down the bar to a new customer, getting their drink order.

“I hope we’re finally getting to the bottom of this,” I say as I watch Rob move around the bar, getting drinks for the customers lining up.

“It looks like everything starts here. This is the key to our night.” Zach looks up hopefully as Rob approaches us.

“As you know, you came in and started drinking Patrón shots right off the bat,” he tells us.

“Yes. And then what?”

“You two polished a whole bottle off by yourselves, then really started talking to everyone. You,” he points at me, “told everyone about how you were left at the altar just the day before, which was a good thing because you’ve always been secretly in love with your best friend, who you were sleeping with up until you met Mike—I mean Mark? Whatever his name is.”

I touch my hot cheeks with my cool fingers and hear Zach chuckling. I roll my eyes at him and look back at Rob. “What happened next?”

“Zach admitted that he always loved you too and was ecstatic when Mark left you at the altar. He said it was his chance to make you his.”

It’s Zach’s turn to blush, and I admit, I do have a small smile on my face.

“The whole bar encouraged you all to get married. But you,” he points at me, “said that you wouldn’t get married without the right dress and ring. There were people here that night who sold those things, and they were willing to open their shops for you. You two hesitated until this man walked in the door, saying he was your father. You two look just alike, so no one questioned him. You three drank some more, and he listened while the rest of the bar tried to talk you into getting married.”

Zach picks up his phone again and tries his father, getting his voicemail again. This time he leaves a message. “Dad, I know you’re in town. Call me back, please.” He hangs up the phone. “Rob, did my father tell you the hotel where he was staying and why he was here?”

Rob shakes his head. “He didn’t. He did talk you two into getting married. They opened the shops for you, and you picked out a dress and rings before going to the chapel two doors down to get married. I wasn’t there for the ceremony, but you all came back here after. You were so happy.” This big, tattooed guy actually has a dreamy look on his face.

“How could you tell?” I blurt out. “We were both blackout drunk off our asses. We don’t remember anything that happened Monday night.”

“I’ve been behind this bar for ten years, and I can tell when someone has something real. You two,” he moves his finger back and forth between us, “are definitely the real deal. So whatever you do, don’t get a divorce as soon as your time is up. Please figure it out, because you will be miserable without each other.” He looks down the bar. “Be right back.”

“At least we know what happened now. I just need to know where my father came from and why he isn’t answering my calls. My mother isn’t even answering my calls. Why are they here? Did they follow us, or was it a coincidence?”

I reach over and touch his arm. “I’m sure we’ll find out when your parents decide to show their faces. Until then, let’s find out the rest of the story and enjoy the rest of our week.”

“Like I said Monday night, I’m all in.” He leans in to me and kisses me on the forehead.