Chapter 20
Mabel drove to Rexburg early that morning, feeling nervous anticipation, like she was about to take a big test or give an important speech.
It probably had more to do with her feelings for Zane than the events of the day ahead. She felt an undercurrent of fear that her relationship with him would revert to somewhere it was before: the icky unknown.
She wanted to seal this up in a bottle, put a cork in it, and set it high on a mantle, protecting it from the world.
And they hadn’t had a chance to talk much since the debacle in the cow pasture the day before.
When she arrived at the reception center, there were three things very clear to her.
One: it was going to take a lot of work to get this event up to the expectations of the powers that be.
Two: Several people from the committee weren’t there yet.
And three: She might just need to go buy a chunky milkshake for herself before too long. Because it was just her and Dallin, and even though she knew she was a hard enough worker and good enough with design to pull this off, she needed backup in the form of creamy, chocolaty, melty goodness.
“Where’s the rest of the committee?” Mabel asked when she entered the reception center to find Dallin lounging on a sofa in shorts and a t-shirt. She’d only ever seen him in scrubs and formal wear.
“They’re coming. They’ll be here in and out throughout the day.” He threw an arm up in the air. “What can I say? Nursing students are busy, busy folk.”
“You know this, yet you have to form committees full of students just to pull the gala off.”
“This gala has been an institution here at this school since the very beginning. We’ve got this.”
She laughed and rolled her eyes. Doc Conforth was an attractive man who seemed to maybe have feelings for her. But the fact that he was an attending physician and a professor at the school was only one small part of her hesitation.
The other much bigger part? Zane. It was always Zane.
Something had happened as things progressed with him these last few days. Now she knew what she wanted, full-hearted. She just had to make it through this day.
Dallin cast lines, trying to flirt with her in the morning. By the afternoon, it was clear he was all about the flirting. At that point, there was no trying. Just doing. And again, the eyes of the other nursing students held questions.
Late afternoon waned, and students came and went until it was just the two of them again. While they were finishing up making the most gigantic balloon arch she’d ever seen, Dallin reached his arms around her from behind, his hands around her waist and his chin near the top of her head.
Everything in her shouted foul play. She stepped from his embrace, rolling her shoulders as his arms slipped away.
Dallin brought both hands up. “Okay. I can take a hint.” He was smiling a mirthless smile, but his laugh was bitter and his eyes seared.
Her heart pounded, and she had to force herself to slow her breathing. “I’m not in a place in my life where I can—”
“Just forget it. I’m sorry, okay?”
Yeah. Real sorry.
They finished the balloon arch in silence.
“Don’t be mad.” Tory held her phone close to her chest, as if shielding Mabel from something scary.
They were lounging around Tory’s apartment the next evening.
Liam had gone to visit his mom after church, so the women decided to get together.
Someone had suggested a board game, but no one had actually pulled it out and set it up yet.
A ripple of warning eyes made the rounds among Tory, Mabel, Anjali, Hannah, and Cady.
Nothing was to be said to Ruby about Weston’s planned proposal.
The group had wondered if hanging out together in one united front made it easier to not let any of the plans slip.
Time would tell if they could pull all of this off.
“What is it?” Mabel asked. The whole day had felt off to Mabel, so it wouldn’t be any surprise if weird things continued to happen.
“Do you want to just…see it? Or do you want me to show it to Anj first so she can help you process?”
“What’s going on?” Mabel asked, reaching for Tory’s phone. “Why the drama?”
Tory moved the phone back and away, even standing from the couch so she was out of reach. “I always get Facebook group notifications, you know? So it was kind of interesting to see one pop up with a familiar face.”
“Who?” Mabel tried again to reach for her phone. “Will you just—?” She sighed and took her phone out of her pocket. “I’ll look myself. It’s probably in the Silver Plum group.”
Tory gasped and handed her the phone. “Here. I didn’t know how you’d feel if you saw it. And it’s fine.”
It took a second to compute what she was looking at and why Tory would be so concerned. The top of the post read, Commissioner Jorgenson awarded Bartlett’s Citizen of the Year. But it was the subheading that tripped her up. Silver Plum resident there to support.
The Silver Plum resident in question? Zane Taylor.
There he was in the photo, his arm around a beautiful willowy woman with dark hair and luminescent skin.
He was smiling, leaning toward her like they were sharing a joke.
On the other side of the woman stood an older couple holding up a large trophy.
It wasn’t just that he had his arm around her. They could have been trying to squeeze in together, and, to be fair, it looked like everyone in the photo had an arm around another person. But it was the look in his eyes and the familiarity they shared—that’s what stung.
Who was she?
Mabel was back in junior high, in the library, feeling that rejection pounding in her ears. Feeling the loss.
Her eyes skimmed the post, but her mind wouldn’t focus on the words.
The women crowded around. “Oh, that’s probably the daughter of the citizen of the year, Liza Jorgenson—Carolina Jorgenson, the post says,” Cady said.
Hannah looked it up on her phone too. “It says all attendees made contributions to Bartlett’s water commission. I wonder if Zane actually did that.”
Mabel wondered if her friends knew about her and Zane. Not what they’d always sensed, but the budding, real relationship. It was still so new, and she’d asked Ruby to not say anything yet.
“I have to admit that’s a killer dress she’s wearing,” Tory said then she placed a hand on Mabel’s cheek. “But you would have worn it better.”
“It’s Silver Plum who needs the money, I’ve heard,” Anjali said and then glanced at Mabel.
“They sure look cozy, though,” Ruby murmured, her brows forming a straight line just above her eyes.
Anjali swatted at Ruby. “How can you tell that in one photo? Maybe the photographer said something funny and they were laughing at that?”
“I was trying to sympathize with Mabel,” Ruby insisted. “It might be a little off-putting to see a photo like that. I’m just trying to support her.”
“I don’t think it’s that big a deal,” Anjali said. “He was roped into going, right? And probably roped into donating. What has he said about the night?”
Mabel chewed on her lip. “Honestly? Not much at all. I asked, and he said it was fine but that he would have rather spent the evening with me.”
“See?” Cady said. “He would have rather been with you. It’s all good.”
But he’d been very short in his text responses the night before. And she’d had a hard time falling asleep because she’d been waiting for more of a response from him. He could have also written her all day, but he hadn’t.
There were a few seconds of silence before Anjali finally said, “What’s going on in your head, Mabel? I mean, can we just all acknowledge that the feelings are there, and we can hope you two lovebirds get on with it? Is it finally safe to say that?”
Mabel tried to stay straight-faced but then groaned when she no longer could. The women let out a chorus of excitement. This was a bad time to ask such a thing. She didn’t want to confess her love for a guy who looked like something weird had happened the night before.
“Yes.”
At another chorus of excitement, Mabel held up a hand to silence them. “But can I take a raincheck on answering that any further?” Her heart thudded in her throat.
Everyone seemed to get it, and they nodded and patted her back or shoulder.
To fill the silence, Cady chimed in, “So, how about them Mollusks?” The Silver Plum football team was usually a pretty safe discussion topic, especially when they were winning as much as they were this year.
Everyone laughed.
“Or we could talk about Hannah’s honeymoon.” Tory pressed on her baby bump and glanced at Hannah.
“What’s there to tell? August is the kind of man who never really wanted to leave our hotel room.”
“Awwww,” the women cooed.
Hannah held up a hand. “Except to eat. I totally stuffed my face on my honeymoon. I didn’t have to worry about fitting into that wedding dress anymore, so I went for it!”
“Oh, before I forget,” Ruby cut in. “Weston and I are going hiking tomorrow night. Anyone want to come?”
The group froze. Of course they were all going hiking. But she couldn’t know that.