SIXTEEN #2
It broke her heart how in her head Jane could get. Her overthinking, her anxiety, it had been more controlled since Knox. While two of them knew what lay ahead, the most important person, Jane, was making up all kinds of scenarios in her head.
“Why would you think he doesn’t love you?” she asked, stroking Jane’s hair.
“Last night, he wouldn’t… and I called, today, and he…”
“Is this because he didn’t screw you last night?”
“No!” Jane said, though maybe not totally convincingly. “He’s all distant. Doing that thing guys do, you know, when they’re over you. He’s over me! I know it! I called him today and he was too busy to talk. He’s never busy.”
“We’re your best friends.” Toria clasped Jane’s face. “If we thought for a second he was screwing around on you, we’d be over there kicking his ass. Trust us when we say he adores you. He’s not over you.”
“You don’t know,” Jane said. “He always listens. He’s never busy.
He’s been weird all week. Last night he didn’t want to sleep with me, today he can’t talk.
What if it’s the wedding? What if all this…
wedding stuff has shown him he doesn’t want to get married?
He doesn’t want to settle down. And he doesn’t have to.
He’s so gorgeous and sweet and—he could have any woman he wants. ”
“Yeah, he could, and he picked you. Just like you picked him.”
“What if he never wants to get married? What if he asks me to choose?”
“Choose what?”
“Marriage or him. Maybe he doesn’t want it. Maybe he thought he did and now he’s seen all this activity—”
“That’s a lot of maybes, honey.”
“It’s been all about the wedding, that’s not that I—I love the wedding stuff, your wedding, I think I… I scared him.”
“Because there were magazines or swatches lying around and he’s too much of a dude to care about that stuff?”
“Know what he does care about?” Roxie asked, hoping her smile might inspire Jane’s. “He cares about you, honey.”
“Care doesn’t mean love, does it? Doesn’t mean forever. I think he did love me—used to love me, thought he loved me—all the bachelor parties… What if he remembers what it was like, before me, when he had fun, and loved his life? His life was better before he met me.”
“That’s you saying that. Not him. He loves you, honey.”
“Why is the wedding stuff freaking him out?” Jane cried. “He’s never pulled away like this.”
She guided Jane’s head close to kiss her temple. “You stay here, I’ll go talk to him.”
“No! No, no!” Jane grabbed her wrist to halt her. “You can’t.”
“I won’t let you be upset like this…” And maybe it was time to let the secret out, before Jane broke her own heart. “You don’t deserve to be unhappy, even for one minute.”
“I love him,” Jane said. “I don’t want to lose him. And not today… but then… What if he dumps me at a wedding?”
“Yeah, then you’d hate them for life,” Toria said.
Which wasn’t exactly helpful. It was okay for Toria because she knew how this would play out. Toria was aware that there was a proposal in Jane’s not too distant future. They just had to pray their dear, sweet friend, didn’t panic herself into a stroke.
“That’s maybe a little—”
“Come on!” Toria declared, giving both of them a shake. “This is a huge day, for both of you! Roxie’s getting married and, Jane, babe, you pulled off the damn near impossible and built a wedding around a woman who’d get married in jeans if she had a choice.”
“Be fair. If I’d been left to my own devices, I might’ve squeezed into a cocktail dress.”
“At most and only if it was lying around within reach,” Toria said. “And she definitely wouldn’t be wearing anything Zairn might want to take off in private tonight.”
The things we do for love.
“I’m going to talk to him,” Roxie said, going another step though Jane still anchored her. “It will only take a second.”
“You can’t.”
“I can.”
“But you—”
“I won’t say anything came from you. It’ll just be… a quiet chat. Friendly. No pressure.”
“But you can’t,” Jane said, squeezing her. “He’s with Zairn.”
“So? I’ll tell him to make himself scarce, he’ll get the hint. If he doesn’t, I have no problem shooing him.”
Toria laughed. “You just going to rock up on the man you’ll marry today and tell him to get lost?”
“Marry today,” she said, understanding Jane’s objection. “That’s it. You don’t want me to see Zairn.”
“Then I’ll go,” Toria jumped in. “I’ll talk to the asshole.”
Okay, that wasn’t exactly the best attitude or approach. Toria’s tact was even more lacking than hers, and that was saying something, especially when it came to matters of the heart… or the loins.
“No,” Jane said, inhaling so deep, her shoulders rose and fell on the exhale. “No, this is Roxie’s wedding day.” The beauty backed out of Toria’s hug and opened a hand. “Give me my present… please.”
Right, yes… Roxie handed over the box.
“You don’t have to wear them today, or at all, if you don’t want to. They’re just a token of our appreciation.”
“We’ve got those fancy fingerprint boxes now,” Toria said, impressed. “Like yours.”
Honestly? She had a zillion of them now, but the novelty endured for her friends, and it was fun to see.
They opened their boxes and gasped almost in unison.
“Roxie…” Jane exhaled.
Toria rushed to put her box on a side table and immediately started to take the accessory out. “I am wearing this today. I might never take it off, help me.”
As her friend swept aside her hair, Roxie fixed the clasp of the choker at the back.
The mirror above captivated one friend while she helped the other friend fasten hers too.
“I told you we’d get you rubies, didn’t I?”
“Rubies and diamonds,” Toria said, seemingly unable to stop touching it. “I’m never taking it off. Rox!” She spun around to hug her and Jane quickly joined in too. “Thank you!”
No amount of gold and jewels could replace the two women who’d been with her through everything. This was a big day for all of them. Only not all of them knew just how big.