Chapter 9
From Maddy: What about these?
From Maddy: These ones or the blue?
From Maddy: This is nice, right?
From Maddy: I know I’m old, but do you think this would make me seem really out of style?
From Maddy: Sorry, I know I’m being ridiculous.
From Candice: Ms. C is in her head about everything today. She’s pretending not to be but it ain’t working.
From Maddy: These though…classically elegant, not dowdy and old fashioned?
The texts arrived so quickly that Natalie didn’t even have time to look at the accompanying pictures before the next one popped up and pushed them off the screen. Returning to Candice’s direct chat and rereading what the teenager had said, Natalie smiled.
It was amusing to see the teenager become one of her aunt’s friends—well, as much as they could be with a five-decade age gap between them. Either way, it made her laugh when Candice accurately and succinctly addressed what was going on.
To Candice: Great, any reason in particular?
Within a few seconds, the teenager replied with a cartoon animation featuring a raccoon racing around a supermarket and stuffing food into a large bag.
From Candice: Everything. Not enough time, not enough ideas, too many ideas—these ideas make her look old, those ideas are too cringe, but without some of the cringe, how will people know they’re at a wedding?
Natalie paused and looked up from her phone. Were weddings cringe now? She was about to type out her half-serious question when Candice answered it without even knowing.
From Candice: And like, not that ALL weddings are cringe.
But she’s worried about it being too…she calls it sentimental, but what she’s actually worried about is their guests might think the romantic stuff is gross.
It only kind of is. I did vote against the love heart-shaped everything.
If everything is on sale, then nothing is on sale.
Laughing out loud, Natalie began to type her reply and noticed Ian looking at her curiously from across the table.
They had gathered in her hotel room to collaborate while the summer sun was at its peak and the archive at its hottest. She had found a comfortable rhythm in their work sessions.
He didn’t distract her with trivial matters or insist on playing music out loud but offered her coffee whenever he refreshed his own cup, often returning with a selection of snacks from the café or supermarket during his breaks.
Momentarily worried that she was being the bad work buddy, she covered her mouth with her free hand. “Sorry, it’s just Candice’s commentary.” She locked her phone and turned it face down. “She’s really funny.”
He hummed in question, closing the notebook he had been taking notes in. That normally meant he wanted to talk something over, but he didn’t care about this sort of thing usually.
“Well, it’s sort of context. Maddy is being amusingly stereotypical about her wedding planning—everything is kind of stressful—and Candice is being remarkably cutting but accurate about it all.”
She stopped talking, knowing he wouldn’t find the exact exchange amusing, and it would be awkward if she related the actual texts to him.
“Huh, okay,” he said. “Why is she stressed? It’s just a party.”
This again. Natalie rolled her eyes—deliberately not hiding it so he would see. “It’s not just a party. It’s a celebration of two people in love and wanting to spend their lives together.”
“How can they possibly know that? They barely know each other.” His tone hadn’t changed, but his words landed like blows, and Natalie winced.
“They do know each other. They’ve been together for nearly a year.” Even as she said it, she realized how weak her argument sounded.
“A year?” he repeated, his eyebrows raised. “And that’s enough time to know for sure?”
“I trust Maddy’s judgment. And I’ve known Jack forever—this isn’t something he would’ve done lightly.”
Ian rose from his seat, shaking his head. “Marriage is just betting someone half your stuff that you won’t break up. Seems more like a way to make it economically unviable for them to leave you.”
“Excuse me?” Natalie exclaimed. “That’s wild. You believe one of the oldest social traditions in the world spontaneously erupted from the desire to prevent the other person from leaving?”
“People have generally been quite similar everywhere,” he said. “A good idea in one location is typically a good idea in another.”
“A good idea? You think economically trapping someone in a relationship is a good idea?”
He held up his hands. “No, that was poorly worded on my part. I fully believe that controlling behavior is totally unacceptable—even in a historical context.”
“I should hope so.”
He looked at her guiltily. “All I meant was that if someone in ancient Mesopotamia realized that making someone completely dependent on them was an effective way to ensure they couldn’t leave, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone in medieval England devised the same tactic.”
“I just think it’s wild that you genuinely believe that all the billions of people who have spent their lives together throughout human history—whether they got married or not—were only doing it to control each other. Never once because they liked each other and wanted to be together.”
With a shrug, Ian grabbed his phone and his sunglasses. “I’m going to grab a coffee. Did you want anything?”
“No, I’m fine,” she replied, feeling defeated and confused.
It wasn’t the first time they had discussed this, so she wasn’t exactly surprised by his feelings about marriage—but the manner in which he approached it still poked and prodded her mind in an uncomfortable way.
When they had discussed it before, he had dismissed the entire concept of romantic love as farcical.
However, he appeared more upset about it now.
She opened her mouth to ask him something, but he spoke before she could.
“Your phone is ringing,” he said, pointing to the cell phone on the table. “I’m assuming you’ll be a while, so I’ll take my coffee there and give you some space.”
She followed his gesture with her eyes and saw that her phone was indeed vibrating in double bursts, indicating a phone call. “Oh, thanks,” she said, but by the time she had picked it up and turned back to face where he was standing, he had already left.