Some two in the morning, you'd been tossing in a shallow sleep, jostled by a ping from your phone under your shoulder.

The name caught you entirely off guard. John Price.

You hadn't spoken to him in years- first met in the military at 17, you'd suddenly drifted when he got promoted to captain in a different unit. And then you got injured too bad to continue field work.

You'd always been very close, and he visited you several times while you were doing physical therapy, and then once at your house. But he was still swarmed with work, and then... everything between you had dissolved into the occasional voicemail awkwardly asking how you were recovering.

You clicked on the message.

"Arthur mate. Hope you're well :) letting you know I'm getting married in a month and want you to come to the weddinng"

... Huh.

Informal, misspelled, friendly.

He was getting married. And he was inviting you, in the middle of the night, like this. Instead of a proper save-the-date...?