Page 90 of Zero Confusion

Instead of worrying about his father, Zach happily chatted with his mom and brothers—asking about the harvest, sharing interesting tidbits about college. When the long day finally caught up to him, and he yawned three times in a row, Walter tipped his chin toward the hallway and cleared his throat. “Get some rest, son. Big day tomorrow.”

It wasn’t much, but it was enough to make Zach feel like he belonged.

He woke at dawn, tiptoeing out of the room so as not to wake Jerry, then took a shower and carried his suit on a hanger in an outstretched hand to keep it from getting wrinkled on the way to the Carter house.

Raymond was already there, drinking coffee at the kitchen table, a frown on his face. As Zach approached, he lifted his head, staring blankly. “We should have eloped,” he said in a tired voice.

A shriek of excitement came from upstairs. Zach flinched, and Raymond shrugged. “See what I mean?”

Mara swept into the room and grabbed Zach’s forearm. “There you are! Come on, let’s go, let’s go, it’s time to get dressed!”

“It’s nine in the morning!” Zach struggled toward the coffeepot. “The ceremony isn’t for another seven hours. I’m sure there’s a line item for coffee on your detailed agenda.”

She sighed and let him go, hovering nearby as he poured himself a cup. Raymond ignored his pleading looks, grabbing his mug and hurrying out the front door the moment he heard Laura calling his name.

Zach chuckled and took a sip. “Today’s gonna be pretty intense, isn’t it?”

“Oh, yeah.” Mara nodded. “It’s a nightmare. I’m never getting married. Now, hurry up. Mom wants pictures of the best men putting ties on the grooms or something.”

“You know one of the grooms just ran away from her, right?”

“Don’t care. My job is to get you upstairs.”

Zach relented and followed her to the master bedroom. Max sat on the edge of the bed with his leg stretched out in its support boot. The cast had come off a week ago, and Zach had been surprised to see him limping around with ease the previous night, barely using his cane. Being mobile for the wedding must have been a great motivator when it came to physical therapy.

The twins were hunched over Max’s sleeves, fiddling with his cufflinks, while Miles carefully tied a black ribbon into an elaborate bow around Max’s cane. As much as Zach wanted to laugh at the absorbed look on Miles’s face, he was too distracted by the rest of him. The sleeves of his crisp white button-down were rolled up, showing off impressive forearms, and the dark slacks gave him an aura of authority. Combined with the clean-shaven jaw and neatly combed hair, he was a far cry from the farm boy next door Zach had fallen in love with. Not better or worse, just deliciously different.

Zach’s mouth watered, his hands itching to touch every part of Miles.

Mara prodded him to move, breaking the spell. “Get dressed, then pictures. Chop-chop.”

By the time Zach finished putting on his suit, someone had tracked Raymond down and deposited him in the room across the hall. Apparently, the grooms weren’t allowed to see each other before the ceremony, and Mara had taken it upon herself to enforce the rule with dramatic flair by loudly announcing each time a door was opened.

After locking the door behind her, even though she was the only one constantly traveling between the rooms, she insisted on getting a few dozen photos of Zach pretending to know what to do with Raymond’s tie. To her disappointment, he could barely tie his own. After the third lopsided knot, she put her phone aside and elbowed him out of the way.

“Boys,” she muttered as her deft fingers maneuvered the fabric into the perfect configuration. She patted it and stepped back to admire her work before moving on to Zach’s tie. “I’ll send you a YouTube video so you don’t embarrass yourself again.”

The rest of the morning flew by in a flurry, and before long, Zach was nervously shuffling from foot to foot next to a charming white arch, the scent of fresh earth and wildflowers heavy in the air. Miles stood on the other side, looking calm and collected. Zach tried to follow his lead and relax, but his nerves were getting the best of him.

He felt exposed, the two of them on display in front of what seemed like the entire town gathered in folding chairs on the lawn, hushed murmurs barely reaching him through the haze of anxiety. He did his best not to make eye contact with anyone, praying for the music to start. Far too aware of his hands, he stuffed them in his pockets and immediately pulled them out, then rocked back on his heels and sighed. Plop him in a big city without a single friend, armed only with two pairs of jeans and heavy sarcasm, and he’d emerge victorious, but standing quietly in front of people he’d known his whole life was making him lose his mind.

“Psst.”

The soft hiss carried on the air, just loud enough to get Zach’s attention. Miles winked at him with a smile, eyes crinkling at the corners. He held Zach’s gaze and mouthed, I love you, subtly tapping his heart with an open palm.

Something warm and gooey bloomed in Zach’s chest, softening his jagged nervous edges. He stopped thinking about the crowd a few feet away, fixating instead on the handsome man whose ocean-blue eyes threatened to swallow him whole. He mouthed, Love you too, and, once Miles shifted his attention elsewhere, let his eyes wander up and down.

Until today, he’d only ever seen Miles in an ill-fitting suit he’d inherited from Max, but the dark blue number clinging to his muscles right now was no hand-me-down. It fit him like a glove—accentuating his broad shoulders, tapering at the waist. The shirt underneath may have looked crisp, but Zach remembered its softness from a stolen moment earlier in the day.

It had been right after Mara finished fussing over her hair, and the rest of his family filed outside for more photos. Miles paused on the doorstep, claiming he needed a lint brush, and dragged Zach to his room. It was a ridiculous excuse that Zach was sure nobody bought, especially since Miles’s suit didn’t have a speck of dust on it.

It didn’t matter. The second they were alone, Miles’s large, warm hands had cupped Zach’s face—gently, like he was something precious—and their mouths were drawn together like magnets. Miles’s eager lips brushed up against Zach’s over and over, mingling their breaths, until Zach couldn’t remember his own name. He let his hands roam, tentatively at first, afraid to rumple the fabric, but his caution was soon abandoned, replaced with the overwhelming need to feel.

They’d lingered for too long, jolting apart when Mara shouted their names from downstairs, then exchanging embarrassed smiles at how carried away they’d gotten.

Zach’s fingertips still tingled with the memory of the smooth cotton, the heat of Miles’s skin just underneath. He licked his lips. If they weren’t standing at the altar, waiting for a wedding to begin, he would have launched himself at Miles right then and there, spectators be damned.

A quiet melody floated over from the speaker set up to the side. As the music swelled, the murmurs quieted down, a few people clapping their hands at the choice of song. Neither Max nor Raymond had any interest in walking down the aisle to the traditional march, picking a violin cover of a Johnny Cash song instead. Zach vaguely recognized some of the notes, but the violin interpretation was too slow and lyrical to place.