Games of the Heart (The 'Burg #4)(202)

Fifteen minutes later, his daughter was Mrs. Finley Declan Holliday.

*

Two seconds after that, Mandy Haines looked at her Daddy from her place standing in front of her sissy Reesee’s pretty best friend, she opened her mouth and yelled, “Daddy! I’m gonna marry a boy just like Finny!”

Everyone in the chairs in front of her burst out laughing.

Even her Mommy.

But Mandy was confused.

Because Daddy’s eyes closed slowly and he shook his head like he did when he told her no, she couldn’t do something, eat something, have something or go somewhere.

She wasn’t worried.

Daddy tended to give in.

Eventually.

*

His new wife in her father’s arms five feet away, Fin looked down at his mother in his.

She smiled up at him and she did a good job. It looked almost genuine.

He swayed with her and whispered, “I know what you’re thinkin’.”

“That I’m beside myself with happiness that my son married a good girl who loves him like crazy?” she asked through her smile.

“That you wish Dad was here,” Fin contradicted and watched the pain shade her eyes for a moment before she rallied and forced her fading smile to brighten. He gave her a squeeze with his arms and kept whispering, “Ma, I do too.”

“I know,” she whispered back.

“So let’s bring him here,” Fin suggested and she blinked.

“What?”

“What song was sung at your wedding?” he asked and the pain slid out of her eyes as happy memories pushed it out.

“‘We’ve Only Just Begun,’” she answered then focused on him. “I know. Lame. But Dusty sang that too.”

“Bet it was pretty,” Fin muttered.

“Beautiful,” she whispered.

“You get drunk?” he asked, grinning at her.

“Of course not!” she exclaimed.

“Dad?” Fin pressed and her eyes slid away as her lips twitched.

“A little,” she admitted.

“Totally shitfaced, Ma, he told me, like, a million times.”

She looked at him again. “He did?”

“Uh…yeah.”

Her lips twitched again before she shared, “I was furious. Froze him out. The honeymoon was not what he expected.”

Fin burst out laughing.

“For the first two days,” she muttered through his laughter and Fin kept laughing.

When he stopped she was smiling up at him.

And that was genuine.

There.

He did it.

Then she informed him, “That was as long as I could hold out.”

Fin burst out laughing again, pulling his Ma close when she did too.

*

Rivera eased into the chair beside Mike and Mike’s eyes went to him.

“Bro, seriously, I can’t move. I have never eaten so much in my entire life,” Rivera announced. “Jerra’s all up in my shit. She says I do this at every buffet. But, what the f**k? It’s a buffet. Open. Which means seconds. And thirds.”

Mike’s eyes moved to Jerra who was dancing with Dusty on the wooden dance floor laid out on the grass in the Holliday yard. Their dance partner was Ryker, who, f**k him, had his hands up in the air, his h*ps rolling, his teeth sunk into his lower lip and he looked like a white man rapper surrounded by classy, white ‘ho’s.

Jesus.

“And I got another problem,” Rivera declared and Mike tore his eyes off his laughing wife, her giggling best friend, the fact that they were doing everything in their power to egg Ryker on and he looked to Rivera.

“What?” he asked.

“My thirteen year old is in love,” Hunter answered then jerked his head toward the dance floor.

Mike’s eyes went back, he scanned and found the pretty, dark haired, olive skinned thirteen year old Adriana swaying at its side, gazing with longing eyes at Jonas playing guitar with his band.

Mike looked back at Rivera. “I think you’re good. No has a girlfriend. Or, more accurately, twenty-five of them.”

Rivera chuckled.

Mike continued, “And she’s a little young for him.”

“Good to know,” Rivera muttered and stretched his cowboy-booted feet out in front of him.

Mike looked back at Jonas. His son’s band was doing this gig for his sister for free. Usually, they demanded top dollar because the places they played could demand top cover charges. He somehow made a living at this, playing all over Indy, in West Lafayette and Bloomington for college gigs and it was not unheard of for them to head up to Chicago, down to Lexington or over to Cincinnati or Cleveland. He wasn’t a rock god but they’d recently had a scout approach about laying down some tracks and doing a wider tour taking in the Midwest, the South and Texas. Jonas had graduated to writing songs which did not surprise Mike. They were better than good and the scout told him so. But Jonas had confidence in his talent; he wasn’t gagging to be signed. He just worked at it and expected it to happen.

And, apparently, it was happening.

And it wasn’t a mystery why. They were playing a wedding, a big one with nearly three hundred guests, but they were phenomenal and the packed dance floor was proof. The vibe they gave was fantastic.

“So, it’s gonna happen to me eventually, what’s this feel like?” Rivera asked and Mike looked back at him.