Episode 2 The Proposal
The Girl of Sugar Beach
*Based on the interview with Ellie Reiser
The members of the wedding party lay on loungers around the pool and soaked up the Caribbean sun.
The guys drank Piton beer and the girls sipped rum runners and mojitos.
Charlotte Brooks, the bride, had invited five of her girlfriends as bridesmaids, including Grace and Ellie.
In their midtwenties now, they were all at different stages of life.
Charlotte was an elementary-school teacher about to marry her high-school sweetheart, whom she had dated since they had all met in Fayetteville, New York.
Grace and Ellie were now in medical school.
One other bridesmaid was finishing law school, and the others were scattered in marketing and event planning.
Daniel Greaves was the groom. He, too, had invited a host of friends from high school as his groomsmen. Since the group had known each other for years, many of their parents were invited to the wedding, and a few—including the Sebolds—had made the long trip to St. Lucia.
“Ellie,” Charlotte said. “Where did you place?”
“Duke.”
“To deliver babies?”
Ellie smiled. “Yes. OB-GYN.”
“So, if Daniel and I get pregnant, you can deliver my baby?” Charlotte laughed. Too many mojitos.
“Give me a few years to figure out what I’m doing first.”
“Don’t worry,” Charlotte said, leaning back in her lounge chair and crossing her legs. Her Bottega Veneta crocodile flip-flops were covering her feet. “We’ll need some practice before we have a baby.”
“Wear those eight-hundred-dollar flip-flops to bed,” Ellie said, “and I’m sure Daniel will want to practice often.”
This brought laughs from the other intoxicated friends who sat around the pool.
The peaks of the Pitons, draped with green foliage and rain forest, rose up on either side of the resort.
Petit Piton to the north, and Gros Piton to the south.
Massive twin volcanic structures that held Sugar Beach Resort between them.
“Are you guys ever going to stop making fun of my shoes?”
“I could finance medical school with what you spend on footwear,” Ellie said.
“But they’re so pretty. Anyway, Daniel and I have been together since high school, so we’re not going to wait too long. We know we’re right together.”
“You guys broke up for a while, didn’t you?” Ellie asked. “In college?”
Grace put a stare on Ellie, and squinted her eyes. What the hell, she mouthed as she brought her mojito to her lips.
“Yeah,” Charlotte said. “But just for a couple of months. Besides that, we’ve been together for close to ten years now.”
“Of course,” Ellie said. “That’s my point.” She glanced briefly at Grace with a suppressed grin. “You guys took a break to see other people and then decided you were right for each other. It’s the best way to do it. Make sure, you know.”
“I was a mess for two months. Never left my house that summer. Daniel was the same way. Neither of us dated anyone, just took a break and then ran back to each other.”
“Well,” Ellie said, “you two did it the right way. Took a break, got into other things.” Another quick smirk at Grace. “And then found each other again.”
“Yes,” Grace said. “You’re great together. You, Daniel, and your outrageously overpriced shoes. Cheers to you guys. Really, Char. We’re so happy for you.”
They touched glasses.
“So Ellie will be at Duke. And where did you end up?” Charlotte asked.
“Cornell. In New York,” Grace said.
“Neurology, right?”
“Neurosurgery.”
“Wow!” Charlotte said. “That sounds so . . . I don’t know. Serious.”
Grace looked back at Ellie. “OB-GYN is serious, too. And seriously difficult. But, yes, I’m expecting it to be a challenge.”
“And Julian?” Charlotte asked.
“Julian and I placed together.”
“Aww,” Charlotte said. “That’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard. So when are we all coming back here for your wedding?”
Grace smiled. “Who knows? Maybe after residency.”
Ellie Reiser had met Julian Crist a handful of times over the last year and a half since he and Grace started dating.
The first time Julian had caught Grace’s eye, Ellie knew, was during the summer after second year when Grace went off to do volunteer work in India.
She met Julian on that trip, both spending a three-week stint aiding in a general-surgery clinic in Delhi.
Despite that Julian was at NYU and Grace was in Boston, the miles didn’t seem to hurt their relationship.
Grace and Ellie had discussed the pros and cons of a serious relationship during medical school and what sort of distractions it might cause.
And about how difficult long-distance relationships were to maintain.
Ellie had gently warned her friend to be careful going into the crucial third year of medical school.
Eighteen months later, Grace and Julian were going strong, were damn near inseparable, and were both heading off to a highly competitive surgical residency, where they would be pitted against one another.
Ellie stirred her mojito at the thatched-roof beach bar, sitting on a stool and looking out toward Pitons Bay and the sun waltzing over the calm water. Julian walked up next to her.
“Hey,” he said.
Ellie smiled. “Hi, Julian.”
“I’ve hardly had a chance to talk with you this trip.”
“I know. This is the first afternoon the bridesmaids haven’t been ordered around. I think Charlotte saw that we were all stressed out and pissed off that we came to this beautiful resort and haven’t had the chance to enjoy it.”
“You guys are good friends,” Julian said. “I don’t even talk with anyone from high school anymore.”
“Really? We’re like a cult.”
“No kidding. I’m feeling a little like an outsider.”
“Don’t be silly. Everyone loves you. Grace loves you, so that’s good enough for me.”
Julian smiled. “Thanks. That’s why I wanted to talk with you.” He looked back over his shoulder to make sure Grace was occupied. She lay on a pool lounger and soaked up the sun.
“About what?”
Julian placed a small jewelry box onto the granite bar and looked at Ellie.
Ellie stared at the box for a moment, then slowly asked, “What is that?”
“I’m going to ask Grace to marry me. I need your help to pull it off.”
Ellie also looked back toward Grace. She put her hand over the box and glanced around. The other patrons of the beach bar sucked pina coladas through straws and tilted bottles of Piton beer up to the sky.
“You’re kidding me, right?” Ellie asked.
“Kidding? No, I’m dead serious.”
“You guys just met.”
Julian laughed in his casual manner, flashing his perfect teeth and sharp-angled jaw. “We met a year and a half ago, Ellie. We’ve been inseparable since.”
Ellie leaned closer. “You go to school in New York, and she’s in Boston. That’s the opposite of inseparable. You’re actually separated almost all the time.”
“We’ve been very good Amtrak customers.”
Ellie rolled her eyes.
“Every weekend we have free, one of us travels. It works for us. And next year, we’ll both be in New York. And then, during residency, yes, that will be a new form of inseparable.”
“Listen, Julian, I’m happy for you guys. But why don’t you wait to see how things go before you jump into an engagement. I mean, what’s the rush?”
Julian reached for the engagement ring. Ellie relinquished her hold on it and he slipped it back into his pocket.
“Forget I asked,” he said.
“No, that’s not what I meant. I just want to make sure no one gets hurt.”
“How will proposing hurt Grace?”
“I don’t know, Julian. A lot has changed lately.
Up until Match Day, Grace was looking at UNC and Duke for her residency.
Then she matches with you in New York. She never told me any of this, and that’s fine.
It’s her business. But for nearly four years, her plan was to go to North Carolina, and now suddenly she’ll be in New York for the next seven years.
When you make these huge decisions without putting a lot of thought into them, you sometimes regret them later.
I don’t want the same thing to happen with a proposal. ”
Julian nodded his head. He tipped his Piton back and drank the last third in one swallow.
“We’ve actually put a lot of thought into this.
All of it. Our residency and getting married.
You see, Ellie, Grace and I talk a lot when you’re not present.
I know it’s hard for you to imagine, but Grace does things in her life that don’t include you. ” He put his empty beer bottle down.
“No kidding. More and more, lately.”
“At least, act surprised when she tells you.”
Julian turned to leave. Ellie grabbed his wrist.
“Wait, Julian.”
He turned back. “What?”
“I’m her best friend, so I’m only bringing this up to prove a point.”
“Bringing what up?”
Ellie took a deep breath, looked back over at Grace lying by the pool. “Has Grace told you about Daniel?”
“Told me what?”
“See. Maybe you guys don’t know each other as well as you think.”