Chapter 12 #2
‘Would you please stop saying he knocked me up? I never liked that phrase.’
‘What do you like better? Planted his seed? Made a deposit? Put a bun in your oven?’
‘Stop!’ I laugh. ‘Those are all horrible. Just go with he got me pregnant.’
‘He got you pregnant and asked you to marry him. Done. That’s your story. Your parents will be thrilled and so will his. Problem solved.’
‘It’s not solved because we’re not engaged. And I’m telling you, Jason would not agree to make up a story like that.’
‘He might. Didn’t you say you were doing him a favor by going to his brother’s wedding?’
‘Yeah. Why?’
‘If you’re doing him a favor, he owes you. And now it’s time to pay up, in the form of a fake engagement.’
‘Jason doesn’t owe me. And I want to go to the wedding. I think it’ll be fun.’
‘But he thinks you’re doing him a favor, right?’
‘Well, yes.’ I think back to what he said at breakfast. ‘I guess he did mention he’d do anything I want if I agreed to go with him.’
‘There you go.’ She shrugs. ‘He has to do this. He owes you. It’s as simple as that.’
‘Nora, I don’t think this is a good idea. I hate lying to my parents.’
‘You’d rather have them think their grandchild was conceived during a drunken one-night stand with a stranger?’
‘Well, no, but . . . I don’t know. I have to think about it.’
‘You’ve got a week to decide, but if you want to please your parents, a fake engagement is the way to do it. And hey, it’s not like you’re actually committing to anything. You let them think you’re engaged, then tell them it didn’t work out.’
Maybe she’s right. It’s a crazy idea, but it would save my parents the heartache of knowing their daughter got pregnant from a random hookup. And I know they’d love Jason if they met him.
I just don’t think Jason would go along with it, even if he owes me. But who knows? Maybe he would.
* * *
Friday night, I get nervous as I drive to Jason’s apartment.
I only talked to him once this week and it was quick.
We just confirmed the details for tonight, like when I’d be arriving and what I should wear, and that was it.
He hurried me off the phone. He didn’t seem like himself, but maybe he was just tired.
‘Hey.’ Jason opens the door and gives me a quick hug, then steps aside to let me in.
‘We need to leave in a few minutes. Mom just called. The place she ordered the food from screwed up. They thought the dinner was at six, not seven, so Mom moved the dinner up. Everyone’s there.
I told her we’d leave as soon as you got here. ’
‘Oh. Okay.’ I set my suitcase down. ‘Do I have time to change?’ I point to my shorts and t-shirt, which are wrinkled from the drive. ‘I don’t want to show up in this.’
‘Go ahead. I’ll get your suitcase.’ He picks it up and takes it to his room. ‘I’ll just wait in the living room.’
He’s acting strange. He barely even smiled when he saw me. And that hug he gave me was like one you’d give a person you just met, not someone you slept with and claim to care about.
I change into a sundress, then go into the bathroom to freshen up my makeup and fix my hair. When I come out to the living room, Jason’s on the couch, watching a baseball game.
He sees me and gets up. ‘Ready?’
I walk up to him. ‘Jason, is everything okay?’
‘Yeah. Why wouldn’t it be?’
‘You seem kind of off tonight, like maybe you’re in a bad mood.’
‘I’m not. I’m just tired. It’s been a long week.’ He goes around me to the counter to get his keys, then heads to the door and opens it. ‘After you.’
We walk down the hall and get on the elevator. He stands a few feet away and doesn’t even try to hold my hand. This is a totally different Jason than the one I was with last week. That Jason kept smiling at me, complimenting me, and couldn’t keep his hands off me.
Did he meet someone? Maybe that’s it. Maybe he has someone else. If so, why isn’t he taking her to the wedding instead of me?
‘How was the drive?’ he asks on our way to the brewery.
‘Good. It went faster this time.’
‘How was your week? Did you get everything done? All your assignments?’
‘Yes. I’m officially done with school.’ I smile at him, but he doesn’t even look at me, and he doesn’t say anything.
There’s definitely something going on with him and I think it’s more than him being tired. This is not the Jason I know. He’s acting like a different person. Cold. Distant. Quiet.
We don’t talk the rest of the way there. He parks in front of the brewery, which is closed tonight for the rehearsal dinner. He comes around the truck to help me out, but once I’m safely on the ground, he lets go of my hand.
‘Mia, welcome!’ Martha says as Jason and I walk into the brewery. She comes up to me and gives me a hug. ‘It’s so nice that you could join us.’
At least Jason’s mom is acting like she wants me here. The rest of his family seems to feel the same. They all come up and greet me. Gina, Kate, and Lyndsay give me a hug. Jason goes straight to the bar to get a drink.
‘Mia,’ he yells from the bar. ‘You drinking tonight?’
‘No. I’ll just have water.’
‘We have wine,’ Sawyer says to me. ‘And Brody brought some whiskey.’
‘You’ll need something to toast with,’ Nick says, holding up his beer glass.
‘Try this,’ Lyndsay says, offering me her wine glass. ‘It’s my favorite Chardonnay.’
‘Really, I’m fine.’ I back away from the glass. ‘I have a headache and wine will make it worse.’
‘A headache?’ Martha says with concern. ‘Do you need something? I have aspirin in my purse.’
‘Oh, no, it’ll go away.’
‘Martha, we need to eat,’ Carl, Jason’s dad, says, as he stands by the long table where the food is set up. ‘It’s starting to get cold.’
‘Just so everyone knows,’ Martha says. ‘The rehearsal has been moved to seven since the food showed up early.’
The rehearsal is at the orchard, where Nick and Lyndsay are getting married. Jason said they were going to have the rehearsal dinner at the barn but decided not to since it’s already set up for the reception tomorrow.
Maybe I’ll ask Jason to drop me off at his apartment on his way to the rehearsal. I don’t need to be there, and given how he’s acting, he’d probably rather go alone.
‘I love your dress,’ Kate says to me during dinner. ‘Where’d you get it?’
‘At a store back in Boston. I’ve had it forever.’
‘It’s really cute. Hey, while you’re here, do you want to come check out my store?’
‘I don’t know if I’ll have time. I might head home after the wedding tomorrow.’
‘Wait—what?’ Jason looks at me. ‘You’re leaving after the wedding? It’ll be dark and late. It’s not safe.’
‘I’ll be fine. It’s not that far.’
I’d planned to stay until Sunday, but I’d rather leave tomorrow if things between Jason and me continue to feel awkward and uncomfortable.
‘You can’t leave.’ Brody laughs. ‘If you do, the crazy girl will show up to be Jason’s date.’
‘Who’s leaving?’ Martha asks from the other end of the table.
‘Mia,’ Sawyer says. ‘She said she might leave after the wedding.’
‘Oh, honey, you don’t want to do that,’ Martha says in her motherly tone. ‘It’s dangerous to be on those country roads at night.’
‘A buddy of mine hit some deer on that road to Madison,’ Carl says. ‘The force was bad enough to land him in the ditch. He hit his head on the window and laid there unconscious until someone drove by the next morning.’
‘You see?’ Martha says. ‘It’s always safest to drive during daylight, especially with all the critters that come out at night.’
Jason leans over to me. ‘This will keep going until you agree to stay.’
I smile. ‘Okay, I’ll leave on Sunday.’
‘Isn’t that when your parents are coming?’ Jason asks.
‘They’re coming on Monday, and I’m not planning to be here with them. They have a list of things they plan to do. And they’re not spending all their time in Haydon Falls. They’ll stay here overnight, but during the day they plan to drive to the other towns in the area.’
‘Tell them to come by the orchard,’ Nick says. ‘I’ll give them a tour.’
‘Okay,’ I say, but I’m not going to tell them to go there. I’m going to tell them the orchard is closed for the season, which is true until they reopen in a few weeks for strawberry picking. I don’t want my parents to meet Jason’s family. I’m not even going to tell them about Jason.
I thought about Nora’s fake engagement idea and decided I’m not doing it.
Even if I wanted to, Jason would never agree to be my fiancé.
He isn’t even acting like we’re friends anymore.
Given how things are going, I think this is it for Jason and me.
We’ll be connected by our child, but that’s where our relationship will end.