Chapter Five
Chapter Four
JESSA
I t was the perfect early August evening for an outdoor party. The sky was clear, the temperature was mild with a slight breeze, and the bugs weren’t bad. The back yard at Ellie’s house was set up with an inflatable movie screen, camp chairs, lawn furniture, bean bags, blankets, and pillows. It looked cozy, but after seeing Cody, all I could think about was how I didn’t have anyone to snuggle up with for a movie night under the stars.
“Did you get everything?” Ellie asked as she started going through the bags we set on the kitchen counter.
“Of course, we did,” I replied. “But why Good & Plenty? Gross.”
Ellie giggled. “I chose it just for you. I know they’re your favorite.”
I gave her a look. “Do you want me to make the fake puking sound Chunk made in The Goonies ? Because that’s the reaction I get when you say that.”
“Oh, Jessa.” She waved me off as we unloaded everything and arranged the basket she’d set out to put all the candy into.
I hated that we ran into Cody at the store, and while that would probably bother me for a while, I was feeling more bothered by how sweet Ethan had been. The way his hand had slid against my back when he put his arm around my waist. His lips against my cheek. My skin was still tingling an hour later. What was wrong with me? Was I that hard up for affection?
I shook it off and focused on helping Ellie. Everyone would be arriving soon, and I wanted to keep my mind off all that had happened this afternoon.
Ethan came bounding down the stairs in different clothes—a white linen shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, khaki cargo shorts, and brown leather flip-flops—and gave me a smile. I tried to ignore the bit of chest peeking out where the top few buttons of his shirt were left open.
“You doin’ okay?” he asked.
I nodded.
“Why wouldn’t she be doing okay?” Ellie quirked her brow.
“We saw Cody and his fiancée at the store,” he answered.
I shot lasers from my eyeballs straight through his head to disintegrate him where he stood. Only, it didn’t work because he was still standing there, looking deliciously handsome, and I hated myself for noticing.
“Cody’s engaged? That must’ve been uncomfortable.” Ellie searched my eyes.
“I don’t know what you both want me to say. Did it suck seeing Cody? Yes. Am I going to go hide in the bathroom and cry about it? No. We broke up a century ago. I’m over it.”
They looked at each other, then back at me.
“Sorry,” they said simultaneously.
“Can we just forget this afternoon happened already?”
Ethan’s eyebrows scrunched up for an instant, and then he turned his attention to his sister. “Do you need me to do anything? I’m good at carrying things.”
She pushed the basket of candies against his chest. “Put this on the table next to the popcorn machine. Then can you get that big metal bucket out of the garage that Mom used for ice and drinks at parties? It needs to go by the popcorn table. The ice and water are all out in the garage too.”
“I’m on it.”
Cooper came into the house then and walked up behind Ellie, wrapping his arms around her waist and pressing a kiss to her cheek. She turned in his arms and laid one on him.
“That’s my cue.” I headed toward the door.
Ellie giggled as she looked up at Cooper. She had such a loving expression on her face. And after all the years she had liked him when we were growing up, it was wonderful to see things work out for her.
I went to the garage to give Ethan a piece of my mind for telling Ellie what happened at the store, but I found him staring up at the storage shelves, looking a million miles away. There was a sadness in his eyes, and I noticed his gaze was fixed on an old model airplane.
“Cool airplane,” I commented.
He looked my way then turned to the plane again. “Yeah, it was my dad’s. We used to fly it together.” His voice sounded so sad, it broke my heart.
“Oh, I thought it was a model.”
“No, it’s remote control. I don’t even know if it still works. I haven’t flown it since …” He didn’t need to finish his sentence for me to know what he wasn’t saying.
I moved around him and reached for the bucket Ellie had asked for just as Ethan reached for the same. Our fingers brushed, and we both jerked our hands back.
“Sorry,” he said.
“Sorry. I was only trying to help.”
He gave me a weak smile and motioned for me to take the bucket.
I pulled it down and headed for the freezer to get the ice. My fingers were tingling, but not from the bags of ice I was handling.
I looked across the garage again and saw Ethan glance up at the airplane once more before turning his head sadly and walking toward me.
My heart went out to him and Ellie. It was going to be incredibly hard for them to get through such a huge milestone without their parents to share it with. I only wished I knew what to say in these situations. My instinct was to find a way to lighten the mood, but I stayed quiet.
Ethan helped carry the ice outside and went back for the cases of water while I dumped the ice in the bucket. Once the drinks were in place, I helped Ellie with a few more things in the kitchen then went outside and scanned the guests.
Cooper’s parents had walked over from next door and were visiting with Grandma June and her “special friend” Hal Mills. Penny and Tally were sitting on the beanbag chairs talking. Cooper’s bandmates had all arrived, and my eyes locked on Cash, the Paul Walker doppelg?nger and drummer extraordinaire. We made eye contact, and I wondered if he remembered me from the concert we attended last year in Grand Rapids during their tour. But he looked away just as quickly as our eyes had met, so he probably didn’t. Cooper’s Best Man, Bentley, and groomsman, Lloyd, were standing with their wives. They played guitar and bass in the band. Kassie, the fiddle player, was there, as well as Roy, the pianist, and his wife.
Ethan stood next to the snack table with Penny’s husband, Luke, and Tally’s husband, Jake. They were joking around and laughing as he scooped popcorn into a bucket so big I wasn’t sure one person could actually consume it all by themself. I was glad to see him out of his doldrums and back to his usual self. That was the Ethan I could deal with.
“You have a big mouth.” I marched up to Ethan, thinking this might be a better time to give him a piece of my mind for telling his sister what happened at the store.
He tossed a piece of popcorn in the air and missed his mouth completely. “Not big enough, it seems.” He opened his mouth wide and tried again, but it bounced off his nose, and he groaned.
I rolled my eyes as I stole a kernel of popped corn and proceeded to toss it up and catch it perfectly on my tongue.
“Wow,” he said.
“Impressive.” Luke grabbed a piece and did the same. And then, he did it again, and so did I.
Jake joined in and caught one in his mouth too.
“You guys make it look so easy.” Ethan gave it another valiant attempt but still failed. “Come on!”
The frustration in his tone amused me.
I patted him on the shoulder. “Better luck next time.”
“I can do this.” He tried a few more times, never catching one.
“How long are you going to do that?”
“Until I catch one or until the movie starts.”
Luke and Jake went to find their girls, and Ethan and I stood there longer. People came and went at the snack table, and Ethan wasted at least a quarter of the gigantic popcorn bucket trying to catch one. The table had popcorn all over it, and the ground around us looked as if we’d been hit by a freak summer snowfall.
“I can’t watch this anymore.” I snatched the bucket from him and set it on the table. “This is getting in your way. You need your entire body to focus. Watch what I do.”
His eyebrows raised a little as I took a piece of popcorn, inhaled a deep breath, let it out, steadied my body, tilted my head back, and opened my mouth. Then I gently tossed the popcorn in the air above my head so it would fall right onto my tongue, which it totally did.
“Is this some kind of witchcraft?” he asked.
My eyes were going to roll right out of my head if I kept rolling them. “Try it.”
He took a deep breath then started coughing, and I couldn’t keep from laughing.
“Are you okay?” I said through my laughter.
“My spit went down the wrong tube.” He coughed, and I patted his back until he straightened and abruptly shook his head then his whole body like he was ridding himself of bad luck or something.
I watched as he took another deep breath and straightened his body.
I shook my head. “Okay, I have to stop you there. You’re standing as straight as a Nutcracker statue. Relax.” I laid my hands on his shoulders and gave them a couple hard squeezes.
His eyes met mine just before his eyelids slid shut. “That felt really good.”
Strange flutters overtook my stomach. “Ethan, the popcorn.”
“Forget the popcorn.” He pointed at his shoulders. “Do that again.”
I smacked his arm. “Focus.”
His eyes snapped open. “Right.” He stomped his feet and clapped his hands, psyching himself up for this, and leaned his head back. “I can do this.”
I chuckled. He was so serious about catching popcorn in his mouth.
“Now, toss it up, straight above your head, and let it fall right in.”
His eyes turned my way, but his head remained in the same tilted back position. “Easy for you to say. You caught it every time.”
“What can I say? I have the gift.” I smiled at him, and his eyes remained on mine. “Now, throw it.”
He looked up and tossed the popcorn, and it hit his chin this time.
“Closer,” I said.
“Ugh!” He grabbed the popcorn bucket from the table in defeat. “Whatever.”
I held in another laugh as he picked up one of the bottles of seasoning we’d bought earlier and held it up to me. “Which one should I try? I’m leaning toward the classic movie theater butter.”
“Boring.” I lifted the salt and vinegar seasoning and handed it to him.
“Are you trying to tell me something with this?”
My brow furrowed. “Like what?”
“That you’re sour with me.” He chuckled to himself.
“I am, but that’s not why I picked that. It just tastes good.”
“Why are you sour?”
“You didn’t have to tell Ellie about Cody so she’d get all sympathetic. She’s waited her whole life for this. And that is the last thing she needs to be thinking about.”
“I didn’t think of that. I’m sorry.”
Wow, it was easy to get him to apologize, and it kind of threw me off.
“That’s your problem. You don’t think,” I said.
His eyes widened. “Maybe your problem is you think too much.”
“It’s Ellie’s wedding. She doesn’t need to be worrying about me.”
“Maybe somebody does.”
“I can take care of myself just fine,” I snapped.
“So fine you pretended I was your boyfriend, right?”
My cheeks burned. “It worked, didn’t it?”
“You used me rather than doing what you should.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “What are you implying?”
“You avoid your issues. You don’t face them.”
“Excuse me?” My volume level raised as my anger bubbled up.
“Take going to the store. You’d rather pay extra for grocery pickup than risk running into your ex.”
“So.” My hand balled up in a fist.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think Cody was right.”
“What did you just say?” I took a step closer.
“You heard me.” He took a step toward me. “You’re still bitter about the breakup.”
Everything inside me wanted to punch something. Instead, I yanked the popcorn bucket out of his hands and dumped it over his head.
Ellie marched up to us then. “Seriously? It’s day one and you’re already back to your old ways.”
“Old habits die hard.” Guilt overcame me as I noticed several of the guests looking our way.
“Try harder.” Ellie huffed as she turned on her heel and headed in Cooper’s direction.
“I’m sorry, Ell,” Ethan called after her.
I felt awful for causing a scene and upsetting Ellie. “I’m a horrible friend.”
“It’s my fault. I’m the one who got you all riled up.”
My eyes met his. “Normally, I would agree, but I think we’re equally to blame.” I looked over at Ellie. “She deserves to have the best wedding weekend possible, so we need to do better.”
Ethan nodded. “I propose we call an armistice.”
I snorted. “An armistice?”
“Yeah, you know, a ceasefire, a time-out, a truce.”
“I know what armistice means. Have you been playing WWII video games again?”
“That’s a possibility.”
“A probability, you mean.”
His lips tilted up to one side, and my stomach ached like it had earlier that day.
“So, what do you say? A truce?” he asked.
“And what are the terms of said truce?” I could play along.
“We agree to refrain from squabbling for the duration of Ellie and Cooper’s wedding weekend,” Ethan stated. “Our behavior toward each other will be none other than that of the best of friends until all guests have departed on Sunday after brunch.”
He was so serious and proper that I almost laughed, but I kept a straight face and nodded. “I can agree to those terms.”
“Truce?” He extended his hand between us.
I looked into his eyes as I reached out and shook it. “Truce.”
He held my hand longer than was necessary then lifted it toward his mouth, and I yanked it from his grasp, feeling a little flushed.
“Too much?” He gave me his flirtiest grin.
I grabbed a handful of popcorn from the table and tossed it at his face then walked away.
“It was nice while it lasted,” I heard him say.
A smile crossed my face for a moment before I forced it away so nobody would see.
I looked around for a place to sit for the movie. Sometimes, I felt like such an outsider. My girls were all paired up now, and they were all snuggled up with their guys with no seats left near them for me to sit. Plus, I hated inserting myself into their little couples group. I knew they didn’t mean to exclude me, it just happened. I knew someday it would, and I wasn’t sure what life was going to be like now that they were all going to be married.
I sat on one side of the picnic table and leaned back against the tabletop. It wasn’t comfy like the beanbags or camp chairs, but it fit with how uncomfortable I felt tonight.
Ethan walked over as the movie began, set the giant popcorn bucket on the table, and plopped down beside me.
“Did you refill that?” I asked.
He nodded. “I’d like to actually eat some while I watch the movie.”
I turned my attention to the screen.
“Hey, I shouldn’t have said what I said.” Ethan’s tone was soft and apologetic, which made me look his way. “I went too far bringing up what Cody said, and I’m really sorry.”
My heart wrenched in my chest. As angry as I’d gotten at him, he wasn’t entirely wrong. Cody had crushed me after two years together. He said he loved me, but constantly tried to change me. He didn’t like the way I dressed or wore my hair. Every argument we had was my fault. And he insisted we’d get married someday and have babies, who I would stay home and take care of while supporting him in his real estate career. He didn’t care that I had no interest in that, and when I finally tried to tell him and discuss our future, he dumped me, without much thought or care, it seemed. So, Ethan wasn’t wrong. And neither was Cody for that matter. I was bitter. I think I deserved to be.
“Forget about it,” I said.
“It won’t happen again.” Ethan shifted and rested his arm along the surface of the table behind my back.
I leaned forward with my elbows on my knees and watched the movie. I knew Ellie loved Father of the Bride , but I questioned her choice.
“What’s that frown?” Ethan asked. “Don’t you like this movie?”
I sat back and spoke quietly. “Why would Ellie pick this one?”
“Because it’s a movie about a bride, and … duh, she’s a bride.”
“Don’t you think it will make her sad that your dad isn’t here for the wedding?”
“Maybe.”
“That doesn’t bother you?”
“She’s seen the movie. She knows what it’s about. Maybe she wants to be reminded. Maybe she wants to think about them right now.”
“Yeah, maybe.” A wave of sadness washed over me. “I wish they were still here. I miss them.”
“Me too.” He shifted his arm against my back, his hand gripping my upper arm, and brought me in to his side.
I fought the overwhelming instinct to elbow him in the ribs and let him side-hug me instead. And I didn’t hate it.