“Karl Bowden, will you please be careful? That pitcher was given to me by my grandmother!”

“Sorry Mrs. Burns,” said Karl, steadying the flower arrangement in the center of the table. The poppy pods were really too heavy, and kept wanting to topple over the pitcher that held the arrangement.

She gave him a stern look. “I thought I asked you to wear a tie. This is a very special night for me.”

Karl reached up to his throat. “I forgot. I’ll call Burns and tell him to bring me one.”

She gasped. “He’s still at your apartment? But he was supposed to be going to the store! I gave him my party list! Go upstairs, see if there’s one in his old room, in the closet, on the left.”

When Burns finally got there, shopping bags in hand, she was practically frantic with worry. “The crepes are turning out too tough! And I don’t know why the celery has to be so stringy!”

She gave him a nervous kiss on the cheek, then looked at his neck. “Where is your tie? I swear, you boys will be the death of me!”

“You see,” said Karl, sporting the tie Burns wore to his graduation, “some of us care about appearances.”

When the doorbell rang, she called out, “Someone please get it! Oh, nothing is ready! Burns, won’t you answer it? Karl, come help me with the brisket!”

Burns opened the door, and let in Pastor Finch. “Glad you could make it,” he said.

“Oh, I never miss a free dinner!” said Mr. Finch.

If you had stood Mr. Finch and Reverend Ron next to one another, it would have looked like a before-and-after advertisement for the benefit of diet and exercise. Finch was plump, bald, a bit stooped. Of course, they differed in other, more important ways as well.

“Have you given any more thought to the vows?” said Finch, shaking Burns’ hand in his own.

“I’m working on it,” said Burns.

“Working on it? But the wedding is two days away! The rehearsal is tomorrow!”

Burns smiled at the kindly old man. “I promise, we’ll finish writing them tonight, and get them to you by tomorrow. We’ve just been really busy.”

“Pastor Finch!” cried Mrs. Burns, rushing out of the kitchen in her apron. “You’re early! Everything is in disarray!”

“I’m sure it’s wonderful. I can smell everything from here. Is that Karl I see? Young man, have you finished your vows at least?”

Before Karl could speak, Burns said, “He had this whole thing about how marriage vows are the tools of a heteronormative patriarchy, I made him scratch it all out and start over.”

“You boys and your big words,” said Mrs. Burns. “In my day, you just promised to love, honor and obey, and everyone threw rice at you.”

“Burns had literally three pages about how marriage is like a long mountain hike,” said Karl. “Be glad I spared you from all that. How did it end, Burns? At long last, we will arrive exhausted but fulfilled at the summit?”

“Oh, oh, a mountain, I like that,” said Finch. “I may borrow that for a sermon.”

“Has anyone seen my glasses?” said Burns’ dad, wandering into the room. “Pastor! I didn’t realize you were already here.”

“Everyone sit down!” cried Mrs. Burns. “The crepes will be ruined if they get cold!”

But as everyone moved to the dining room, Karl grabbed Burns’ sleeve, halting him. “Hey,” he said.

Burns turned and kissed him. “Hey. Can you believe this?”

“I’m so nervous,” said Karl. “Are you sure you don’t want to split the groomsmen? I’m telling you, Lucas and Pete won’t mind being on your side, then I can have Simon and Rex on mine, or whatever other combination.”

“Nah, I’m telling you, it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t have to be even. I’ll have my dad, and that’s plenty.”

“If you’d told me a year ago that I’d be this flustered over having a church wedding—”

“You would’ve given a long speech about how church weddings are an archaic relic, yes, I know.” Burns hugged him. “It’s okay to be nervous. This is a big step, for both of us!”

“And you’re sure you still want to go through with it? You’ve lived with me for a few months now. You’ve seen the bad and the good.”

“So much bad, man. So, so much bad. Have you ever picked up a piece of laundry in your life?”

“I’m serious,” Karl said. He stood as close as he could to Burns. “Are you sure? Marriage is a long time. Forever, really. Even Simon and Evan aren’t married yet, even though they keep talking about it, and Simon keeps showing off that damned ring.”

“Thanks, by the way, for not demanding an engagement ring.”

“You know my feeling on platinum mining.”

Burns hugged him again, holding him tight, not letting him go.

“Are you boys coming to dinner? The crepes!” said Mrs. Burns from the other room.

“Listen to me,” said Burns. “If there’s one thing I believe in, one fundamental fact I hold to be truer than anything else in the world, it’s that you are the man for me. You stuck by me when I was scared, you prompted me to make this change—”

“I saved your life,” Karl added casually.

“Yeah, that too. So of course I’m sure. I’ve never been more sure about anything.”

Karl’s face brightened. “You’re so cute when you’re serious. I want to see that look again tonight, with you on top—”

“Dude, hush. My parents have come a long way, but they don’t want to hear about us doing reverse cowgirl.”

“Okay, first, it’s not reverse, because you’re facing me,” said Karl, leading him to the dining room. “Second, you’re a cowboy, not a cowgirl…”

“I stand corrected. Now let’s go talk about vows.”