The Rules of Dating a Younger Man

Two months later

“I love this song.” Alex turned, watching a sea of couples sway to the music. “Do you want to dance?”

I sucked back the rest of my gin and tonic and tossed my napkin onto the table before standing and offering my hand. “Sure.”

She smiled, and the fact that I wasn’t in the mood to dance became a distant memory. Hand in hand, we stepped onto the dance floor. I pulled her close, wrapping my arm around her back and letting my hand settle on her bare skin.

“You can dance!” she said after a minute.

“You sound surprised. And here I thought I was showing off my good rhythm in the bedroom.”

She laughed. “I have no complaints in that department, but you haven’t asked me to dance all evening, so I thought maybe dancing wasn’t your thing.”

“Sorry. I guess I’ve been preoccupied.” As soon as I said it, I realized it was a dumb thing to say. She was going to dive right into that. “The attorney who’s helping me submit for that new patent I told you about sent me a bunch of questions right before we left tonight,” I explained. Not a lie, but also not the issue.

“Oh. I didn’t realize.”

“It’s not a big deal. Sometimes I just get lost in my thoughts, I guess.”

“You’re allowed.” She pushed up to brush her lips against mine. “As long as you get lost in me once in a while, too.”

I leaned my forehead against hers. “There’s nothing I like better, sweetheart.”

Alex settled her head against my chest. She fit so damn perfectly. It’s hard to believe I’d once thought the idea of spending a lifetime with one woman was insane. These days I didn’t like to spend more than a couple of hours without her. When she was gone for a few days, it felt like part of me was missing.

I glanced around the room, my eyes finding the happy bride and groom. Owen must’ve sensed someone watching, because his head lifted, and he raised his glass with an approving nod and smile.

And bachelor number three bites the dust. Who would’ve thought this day would come? My three best friends were all happily married, all of them with kids, and I was head-over-heels in love. I nodded back at my friend, and his attention returned to his bride.

Alex and I stayed on the dance floor for two more songs. Just as we were swaying past the DJ, he stepped out and covered the top of the microphone with his hand. “Hey, Brayden?”

“What’s up?”

“Just giving you a heads up that I’ll be calling you for your speech soon.”

“Oh. Okay. Sounds good.”

A few minutes later, the music changed to a new pop song, so Alex and I headed back to our seats. I stared off, again lost in thought.

“Are you nervous about your speech?” she whispered, squeezing my hand.

“Who me?” I leaned back in my chair, trying to seem casual. “Nah.”

Alex lifted our joined hands. “Oh good. Then maybe you can loosen your grip? You’re cutting off my circulation.”

I smiled, thinking she was busting my chops, but when I looked down, her fingers were turning white. “Oh shit. Sorry.”

Holden leaned over, a giant grin on his face. Of course, he had to overhear and couldn’t give me a pass. “He’s scared shitless because he knows his speech is going to suck compared to the one I gave at Colby’s wedding. That’s why I was picked as best man first—everyone knows I put on a good show.”

I shook my head. “Dude, first off, you were the best man at Colby’s wedding because we picked out of a hat and you happened to pick the scrap of paper that said Best Man instead of Douche Bag. And your toast consisted of a five-minute explanation of the words yin and yang, which you had to look up before writing that dumb speech.”

Colby leaned across the table. “If we’re talking about best-man speeches, mine was a hell of a lot better than Holden’s.”

I chuckled. “If I remember correctly, all you did was remind everyone that the groom was a dumbass and the bride should’ve married someone more intelligent.”

Colby smirked at Holden. “The truth can be ugly, my friend.”

The DJ cut the music, interrupting our debate. When he lifted the mic and pointed toward our table, I thought I might throw up the beef Wellington I’d eaten a little while ago.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to our best man, Mr. Brayden Foster, who is going to come up and say a few words about our lovely bride and groom.”

Alex kissed my cheek. “Good luck.”

I stood and walked to the middle of the dance floor to a round of applause. Damn, there isn’t even a podium to hide behind. It was just me and the mic, swinging in the wind.

I cleared my throat. “Hello, everyone. For those of you I haven’t met, I’m Brayden Foster, Owen’s best friend.”

“I object!” Holden shouted from our table.

I chuckled and pointed. “You’ll have to excuse our friend Holden. He’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer, so whenever he’s wearing a suit and someone speaks into a microphone, he assumes he’s in court—arrested for a barroom brawl or indecent exposure again.” I waved my hand and spoke slowly in the direction of our table. “This is a wedding, Catalano. We’ll explain the difference later.”

Everyone laughed. That helped me relax a little.

“But seriously, folks, I’m thrilled to be up here tonight to celebrate Owen and Devyn’s marriage. I’d also like to point out that Owen actually picked me for this special honor of being his best man, and my name was not merely selected out of a grab bag.” I looked over at Owen and Devyn, both of whom were smiling bright.

Since I hadn’t taken my speech from my pocket yet, I figured it was okay to go off-speech. I slipped the mic out of the holder, leaned my elbow in its place on top of the stand, and pointed to the bride and groom. “Do you guys see that smile? That’s all Devyn’s doing. Before my buddy met his beautiful bride, he was a grumpy workaholic. He worked eighty hours a week, and I couldn’t have told you for sure if he had teeth anymore. But now he never stops smiling. It almost makes me think something’s wrong with him. You didn’t hit your head recently, did you, buddy?”

Owen laughed and shook his head.

“Alright, good. Well, I guess I can’t blame him for smiling all the time, because the dude seriously married up.” I bowed at the bride before continuing. “Devyn, you look absolutely beautiful tonight. Welcome to the family.”

She mouthed thank you.

“In case you all weren’t aware, Devyn is a casting agent. She’s found actors for several parts that have gone on to be nominated for Academy Awards. Yet somehow her little brother’s video of Colby trying to save a blow-up doll has gotten more views than any of her actors’ movies.”

The room broke out in boos and hisses.

I shook my head. “Oh, come on now, I’m an equal opportunity toaster-roaster.”

Colby wagged his finger in warning, but he was still smiling. It was all in good fun.

“All jokes aside, Devyn is amazing. Not only is she beautiful and smart, but she also runs her own business, is raising a baby, and pitches in to take care of her brother and sister. She’s as caring and compassionate as anyone I’ve ever met. So she really deserved an equally wonderful husband. Thank God Owen got her to say yes before she found one.”

Owen flipped me the bird, still laughing. It wouldn’t be one of the guys’ weddings without someone giving the finger. That made me feel like I’d done my job, and it was time for my planned speech. So I reached into my suit jacket and took out an index card with my notes and a small bag of fortune cookies. Holding the bag up, I shook the plastic so it crinkled into the microphone.

“Even though I’m the official best man today, I’m just one of a five-man team of brothers. Owen, Holden, Colby, and I have been friends since we were kids. Our fifth brother, Ryan, passed away almost a decade ago. Recently, I went to visit him, and I found these sitting on his grave—fortune cookies.” I held up the bag a second time. “Ryan didn’t ask much of us in the twenty years we were all friends, but he left us very specific instructions when it came to visiting him after he was gone: ‘Don’t come to my grave empty handed. Bring me something to eat.’ The guy liked to chow down. Anyway, last time I was there, I found a bag just like this that his sister, Lala, had left behind. At the time, I’d been struggling to figure out how to proceed with something important to me, so I talked to Ryan about it. I asked him for a sign on what to do. No lightning struck and no rainbow appeared out of the blue, but before I left, I opened one of the fortune cookies, and the message inside inspired me to take a chance in my life. And I’m happy to report, things worked out pretty great. Not to be too hokey, but it felt like Ryan helped manifest my destiny. I thought it was pretty cool, so I asked my buddies to each write out their wish for Owen and Devyn to see if we can’t manifest good things for them, too.”

I walked over to the table where my crew were all seated and set a hand on Colby’s shoulder. “Now, I haven’t read the wishes they wrote yet, and I’m not stupid enough to blindly say what these bozos wrote out loud—especially not Holden’s. So I’m going to have them read their own wishes.”

I held the bag out for Colby first. He grabbed a cookie and snapped it open, pulling out the little slip of paper.

“What are you manifesting for the bride and groom?” I tilted the microphone toward his mouth.

“May you never go to bed angry and wake up with a smile when you look at your wife every morning.”

The room broke out in a round of awws.

I moved the mic back to my mouth. “Their baby is with the sitter tonight. He just wants to get laid.”

Everyone laughed, and I walked around the table to Holden.

“Alright, Mr. Catalano, what does yours say?”

Holden grabbed a cookie, snapped it in half, and hung his head. “I forgot what I wrote until just now. And I also thought these were supposed to be funny, not sappy.”

“Uh-oh. What does your fortune for the happy couple say, Catalano?”

Holden grinned. “Every exit is an entrance to a new experience.”

The ballroom exploded in a roar of laughter. Devyn cracked up so hard, she had to wipe tears from her face. I gave it a minute for the room to settle down before slipping the last fortune cookie from the bag. My nerves from earlier were suddenly back with a vengeance. I took a deep breath and stole a glance over at Owen. He and his bride were the only ones in on what I had up my sleeve. Owen winked and nodded.

I stepped over to Alex and extended the last fortune cookie to her. “I don’t have my glasses,” I said. “Would you do me a favor and read this one for me?”

“Umm…you don’t wear glasses, but sure.”

I held my breath while she cracked the fortune cookie open and slipped out the tiny piece of paper. “I wish the bride and groom a lifetime of the happiness I’ll have today.” Alex looked up, her adorable nose wrinkled.

“Turn it over…” I circled my finger around. “There’s more on the back.”

“Oh.”

“If you say yes…” Alex looked up, still a little confused.

“Read it again,” I said. “The whole thing as one.”

She turned the slip of paper back over and read without stopping this time. “I wish the bride and groom a lifetime of the happiness I’ll have today, if you say yes…”

She still didn’t seem to get it—until she looked up and found me down on one knee.

My hands shook as I opened the red velvet box. “Alex, will you marry me?”