2. Chapter 2
Chapter 2
T ommy got to her place just after seven, instead of a little before, but Jane knew he would. He always built in a buffer. He said it was because her eyes were bigger than her stomach when it came to time, which was a convoluted way of saying she tried to pack in too much and ended up running a couple minutes late. Jane agreed that she was, one might say, optimistic when it came to time management, but thought he made a thing of it to deflect from the fact that he was always running late himself.
He texted her to let her know he was there, and she grabbed her purse and ran out to meet him. “Hi,” she said, breathless as she slid into the passenger seat.
He gave her a quick kiss. “Hi.”
She sat back in her seat as he pulled away from the curb. “I am still totally freaking out that Haley and Blake are engaged. Like, officially! Can you believe it?”
He laughed. “If I try really hard, I think I can believe it.”
“You know what I mean,” she said. “Did you know?"
“Did I know what?”
“That he was going to propose!”
“Last night?”
“Or any night.”
“I mean, we all pretty much knew he was going to propose at some point, right?”
Jane made a face. “Okay, did you know he was going to propose last night.”
“No clue.”
“Really?” she exclaimed. “No idea?”
He shook his head. “Really, no idea.”
“You didn’t know he got a ring?”
He shook his head. “Nope.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Wow,” she said. “I’m actually sort of shocked by that.”
He made a left-hand turn. “You’re supposed to turn right here,” she said.
“I was just going to circle around the park,” he said.
“ Why ?” she said. “You know they won’t seat us if everyone’s not there.”
“There’s something I wanted to—”
Her phone buzzed in her bag. “Hang on,” she said, looking at the display. “It’s Haley—hey! Yeah, we’re on our way.” She motioned with her free hand for Tommy to turn left. “We’ll be there in, like, three minutes … no way, she did not … what did you say? … okay, wait, tell us all the whole story at dinner … right … okay, we’re totally pulling in now, we’ll be there in two seconds … okay … uh-huh … okay, I see you … hanging up!” She turned back to Tommy. “Sorry. Wedding drama.”
He put the car in park. “Already?”
“I guess technically engagement drama,” she said, opening her door. “She said she would tell us the whole story at dinner.”
They went along the concrete walk up to the front of the restaurant. Right before they got to the door, she looked over at him. “Why did you want to drive around the park again?”
“Oh,” he said. “Nothing.”
She gave him a look, one that said okayyyyyy , but then they were inside and hugging Blake and Haley and looking at the ring and telling the news to the hostess, the other people waiting for a table, basically anyone in the vicinity who would listen. It was one of Haley and Jane’s favorite restaurants. They’d gone there when they’d both been single, telling each other funny stories and overanalyzing meaningless situations, and the guys who worked there would bring them extra chips for their guacamole. They kept going when they started dating Blake and Tommy, and the guys there still brought them extra chips because they’d been such loyal customers for so long.
They were seated at a table near the back, Jane and Tommy on one side and Haley and Blake on the other. Haley put her menu down and looked at them expectantly. “Okay, before we get started,” she said, “we have something to ask you guys.”
The same way Haley hadn’t known-known, but still knew, that Blake was going to propose, Jane knew what Haley was going to say. And, for a split-second, she could see it, the whole thing, unfolding in front of her like a banner. She would be the maid of honor, and Tommy would be the best man, and it would be one of those picture-perfect moments, the kind that played with music swelling in the highlight reel of her life. Maybe it would be the catalyst to her and Tommy talking seriously about their future, and maybe four months or six months or twelve months down the road, they would be having the same conversation with Blake and Haley, asking them to stand next to them at their own wedding. Years later, they would be sitting in Jane and Tommy’s kitchen or Haley and Blake’s backyard, reminiscing about when they were young and in love and jumping feet-first into the rest of their lives.
She could see it. She really could. It was all right there, in front of her.
And then Tommy cleared his throat.
“Blake, can I talk to you for a second?” he said. Jane looked at him, questioning, but his gaze was across the table.
“Right now ?” Haley said.
“Sorry,” Tommy said. “Just for a second.”
“Sure,” Blake said, getting to his feet and tossing his napkin on the table.
“Seriously, Blake?” Haley said, but they were already a few steps away. Jane and Haley shot each other a look and then watched as they walked across the restaurant, disappeared into the vestibule, and then reemerged on the sidewalk, framed by the big pane windows looking outside.
“What is that about?” Haley exclaimed.
“I have no idea,” Jane said. She felt sick, a little, as she said it, like she’d taken a bite of something bad but wasn’t sure what it was.
“We were just about to ask you guys to be our maid of honor and best man!” Haley said, her shock making way for indignation.
“I know,” Jane said, almost fully turned around in her chair now to watch them.
“You knew?” Haley said. She was momentarily deflated, then perked back up. “I guess it was sort of obvious, huh?” She leaned across the table to get a better look. “Can you see what they’re saying?”
“I have no idea,” Jane said again, the sick feeling starting to spread. Tommy was doing most of the talking. Blake had his hands in his pockets and was doing sort of a half-pace back and forth as he listened.
“I’m going to go out there in a second,” Haley said.
“Don’t.”
“Why not?” she replied. “We should both go out there. This is ridiculous.”
It was ridiculous. The whole thing—Tommy interrupting, the two of them trying to lip-read a conversation from thirty yards and a windowpane away, the fact that Jane had driven over with Tommy, walked inside with Tommy, had dated Tommy for nearly a year , and had no idea what was going on …
“Whatever they’re talking about, they should be able to say to both of us anyway,” Haley said, echoing Jane’s thoughts. “Let’s go.”
Just then, Blake and Tommy turned to head back inside, Blake clapping his hand on Tommy’s shoulder, like an atta boy . Jane didn’t like the look of it.
They came back to the table, but didn’t sit back down. “Haley, I need to talk to you for a sec,” Blake said.
“Jane, you want to get some air?” Tommy asked.
“Not really,” Jane said, shooting a look at Haley.
“Just come outside for a minute.”
“There’s plenty of air in here,” Haley said, gesturing with her arm. “Look at us all, breathing all this air. Plenty of air for everyone! Lots of extra air!”
“Jane, come on,” Tommy said. “Please.”
“Fine.” She got to her feet. “Haley, I’m leaving my purse. We’ll be back in a minute, I guess.”
She followed him along the same path he’d taken with Blake, around the big circular table in the middle, past the hostess station, out the door, except she stepped to the other side, the one away from the windows. She looked at him, her arms folded against her chest. “What is going on?”
He exhaled loudly. “You know what they were going to ask us.”
“Of course I know,” she said. “Which is why it is so completely weird that you had to choose that exact moment to have a little buddy chat with Blake outside.”
“Jane,” he said.
“Tommy.”
“How do you think things have been going between us?”
“How do I think things have been going?” she echoed. “I mean, fine.”
“Right,” he said. “ Fine .”
“Is there something wrong with fine?”
“There’s nothing wrong with it,” he said. “But it’s not great .”
“Isn’t that sort of relative?” she said. “Or, you know, subjective?”
He pushed his hands in his pockets and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “I just think I want more than fine,” he said.
Jane was incredulous. “You think?”
“I don’t think, I …” He trailed off, frustrated. “I just don’t think we should keep doing this.”
“Can you elaborate on what this is?” she said. She knew she was being difficult, but she didn’t care. She wanted to hear him say it.
He let out a sigh. “I think we should break up.”
“Because you have a problem with fine.”
He threw up his hands. “Because I guess I have a problem with fine.”
She took a step away from him, her arms folded tight against her body, and shook her head. “This is unbelievable,” she said. “ You’re unbelievable. Haley and Blake have barely been engaged twenty-four hours and this is when you want to do this?”
“I was going to see if Blake would wait to ask us, until …” He started again. “I was hoping that we could get through tonight, through this weekend, and then figure things out.”
“Get through ?” she cried. “So now this is just something to get through?”
“Not the relationship ,” he said. “Just … the timing.”
“The timing of our best friends’ wedding,” she said flatly.
He didn’t say anything for a minute. “Weddings are … they’re a lot, Jane. They’re emotional,” he finally said. “I don’t want us to go through the whole thing with them, being together, if—”
Five minutes. Five minutes ago she had been imagining a whole future together, a life full of potluck dinners and backyard barbecues and reminiscing about the good old days. She couldn’t believe how stupid she felt. “I’m going back inside,” she said, cutting him off.
“Jane, wait a second,” he said, but she was already to the door. He followed her back inside, Jane in front, Tommy four steps behind.
Haley had moved seats, into Tommy’s chair, so she was sitting to Jane. Her arms were crossed. “So you told her,” Tommy said to Blake.
“Oh, he told me all right,” Haley said. “It was really nice that you tried to get him to talk me into waiting to ask Jane to be my maid of honor, though.” She turned to Jane, her voice low. “Are you okay?”
“I have no idea what I am right now,” Jane muttered back.
“You and me both.”
Tommy eased tentatively into the seat next to Blake. “I’m really sorry to spring this on everyone,” he said. “It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while, and I didn’t feel like it would be right for us to agree to be the best man and maid of honor if you didn’t know we’d be brok—”
“You’ve been thinking about it for a while ?” Jane exclaimed.
“You didn’t think it would be right ?” Haley cried, one second behind.
“Okay,” Blake said. “Ladies. Haley. Everyone, let’s just take a breath.”
“ You take a breath,” Haley shot back.
“This is obviously my fault,” Tommy said.
“You think?” Jane said.
Tommy did his best to soldier on. “I know this is my fault, but I just think it creates an awkward situation for Blake and Haley to potentially have a maid of honor and best man who recently broke up. The wedding should be about the bride and groom, not about—”
“Oh, it will be ,” Haley interjected, at the same time Jane mumbled, “Don’t flatter yourself.”
Tommy kept going. “And since we all want their wedding to go well, I think we should talk about the best thing to do.”
“No offense,” Haley said, “but maybe you should have thought about that a little sooner.”
“To be fair,” Blake interjected, “he didn’t know I was going to propose.”
“He said himself on the way over here that everyone knew you were going to propose at some point,” Jane said.
“Accurate,” Haley said.
“Okay, but he didn’t have to say anything,” Blake said. “He didn’t have to let our wedding affect anything. He and Jane could have just broken up whenever.”
“Or not broken up,” Haley retorted.
Blake held up his hands. “I’m just saying.”
“Well, Jane is still going to be my maid of honor,” Haley said. “ Obviously . If you want to change, you can.”
Blake and Tommy exchanged looks. “He’s my cousin,” Blake said.
“She’s my best friend,” Haley countered. “Since birth.”
“He’s been my cousin since birth, too,” Blake said, but the expression on his face showed that he knew he wasn’t going to win anything with that one.
Haley turned her attention to Tommy. “You can always decline,” she said.
Tommy shot another look at Blake. “Why would I decline?”
“It would sort of be the gentlemanly thing to do,” Haley said.
“What does that even mean?” he said.
The waiter approached with chips and salsa but Blake waved him away. “Listen, we’re all adults here,” Blake said. “We’ve been friends forever. It doesn’t have to be an issue.”
“Seems like it’s an issue to me,” Haley said.
“Me too,” Jane said.
There was a pause. “Okay,” Blake said, clearly out of ideas for the moment.
They all sat there for a minute, looking at each other. Finally, Haley stood up. “Jane and I are going to get out of here for a little bit,” she said. “Blake, I love you, call me later. Tommy …” She shook her head. “I can’t with you right now, Tommy. I really can’t.”
And then she grabbed Jane’s hand and Jane followed her out the door, away from the restaurant, away from Tommy, and away from whatever she’d thought they’d had.