Missed Connections by Tan-ni Fan Page B

now, though, the tight proximity of all these strangers dampened his interest sufficiently.
    Charles started off by making everybody introduce themselves and tell the others how they were connected to the wedding. "Obviously, I'm the insanely lucky guy who's getting married," he said. The next person was his nephew, and then Jack who said, "I'm the son of this mess," and then there was a friend of Jack's, and Rob, who said, "My mother says that the bride is her best friend from high school."
    Then Charles made them play twenty questions and won with "peridotite." On Rob's turn he lost on the second question as Jack drawled out "marmot, of course." Jack almost won but Rob got him on the nineteenth question. His word was "terrace," by which he meant the geological sense, of course, which had thrown the others off. Rob was pretty sure he knew what the word was by the seventh question, but he didn't want to be pushy, so he waited until the others had plenty of chances before he ventured his guess. There was a glint in Jack's eye as he conceded. By then they were into it and they went several more rounds, forgetting their alarming surroundings and undignified attire (or lack of it).
    George's voice rung out over the meadow, "Keep hydrated, guys, there's water in the buckets too." And then he said more quietly, but Rob could still hear, "No, Stanny, you cannot have a beer."
    Jack hauled out and brought back a variety of drinks. He handed Rob a bright blue can of soda. Rob barely remembered to mumble his thanks as he stared at the label. "Wow, I haven't seen one of these in years," he finally said. "I wouldn't even have guessed they were still making them. I had forgotten all about them."
    "That's unsurprising," Jack said, taking a sip of beer from a bottle with a picture of a nudibranch on it.

    The Second Chance Dance
    Suddenly Charles turned serious. "I want to talk to you younger guys about something," he said. "It's kind of important. Not kind of. It's really important."
    Here it comes, Rob thought. I let my guard down and now it's going to get embarrassing.
    "You ever hear that saying 'don't be that guy?' I'm here to tell you, don't be that guy. And whenever you find out you're being that guy, stop it, apologize, and do better right away. Don't wait fifteen years or whatever."
    He looked around and indicated Jack with a gesture. "I could go all, 'but look what a great thing came out of it, if I hadn't been an asshole I'd never have got this great kid' , but that's bullshit. Jack's the greatest thing, but Constance's suffering matters, and Jack could just as well have been born later with all the right things in place. And what-ifs are not the point anyway. Just, don't be that guy. What I did was just straight up wrong. I don't want that to get lost in all the celebration."
    Rob hadn't had a drink of beer, but the altitude and sun must have taken its toll, because he was having trouble putting all the little bits of information together to add up to a total narrative. He snuck a glance at Jack, who was staring stonily at his beer bottle. Of course he'd be embarrassed, but that didn't add anything to Rob's understanding.
    "So I don't know if you know the story," Charles went on. "Jack, if it bothers you, remember we said you don't have to stay for this part. Anyway, back in high school I went down to the coast for a party at some friend of a friend's cousin's house. I met this awesome girl. I could tell she was the best of the best, even though a lot of the guys were kind of dissing her because she'd slept with a lot of them. I think the thing that pissed them off really was that she hadn't slept with all of them, honestly. Even at that age I thought they were being assholes to slag her for doing what they were always trying to do, but the thing I most got out of that conversation was that if she was freely having sex with whomever maybe I had a chance with her."
    He took a swig from his beer—which had a picture of an upside