3. Chapter 3
Chapter 3
“ W hat just happened?”
Jane’s own voice sounded distant in her ears. She closed her eyes and tipped her head back against the seat. She was in the passenger seat again. Different car, different mood, same seat. It felt like there was an analogy there, but she wasn’t in the mood to come up with it.
“I know what almost happened,” Haley said, looking over her shoulder as she tried to back out of the spot. “Me dumping a basket of chips in Tommy’s lap and throwing a bowl of salsa at his head.”
Jane smiled a little in spite of herself. “I would have liked to have seen that.”
“Well, I have no problem going back and doing it,” Haley said. “Just say the word.”
Jane opened her eyes, her gaze still somewhere on the roof of the car. “It’s tempting.”
“Oh, I know it is.” Haley stopped at a light and turned to Jane. “I’m just going to drive for a minute, okay? But if you want to stop somewhere just tell me.”
“Okay.”
Haley glanced at the light and then back at Jane. “How are you doing?”
“Um … I think I’m in shock.”
“What is he thinking ?”
“I’m probably the last person who could say what Tommy is thinking right now.”
“I feel like Tommy doesn’t even know what Tommy is thinking,” Haley said.
Jane sighed. “Well, that makes all of us, then.”
Haley couldn’t stop shaking her head. “I am literally never going to speak to him again.”
Jane sighed again. One side of the car sighing, the other side headshaking. “You don’t have to do that for me.”
“First of all, you are my BEST FRIEND, basically my sister, it is not an exaggeration to say you are practically an extension of me—yes, I do,” Haley said, waving one arm in the air while the other steered. “Second of all, not to make this about me, but that guy did his best to ruin my entire engagement weekend.”
“I’m sorry,” Jane said.
“Why are you sorry? He’s the one who should be sorry,” Haley said. “I refuse to let him ruin anything for me, anyway. I am just saying he did his best to ruin it.”
A pause. “Your mom is going to kill him.”
“My mom is definitely going to kill him,” she said. “If one of us doesn’t do it first.”
Jane’s eyes filled with tears. “Ugh,” she said, reaching up to swipe her cheek.
“Oh, Janey,” Haley said, reaching over for her.
“It’s not like I knew for sure about him,” Jane said. “Because I didn’t. But I was willing to see.”
“Of course you were, because you’re a great girlfriend,” Haley said. “You’re a great person . He should be so lucky to end up with someone like you. Seriously.” She took a quick turn onto a side street and pulled over. “Honestly, Jane, you were probably too good for him anyway, but I was willing to look past it so we could spend every family holiday together.”
Jane laughed at that, even as a few more tears rolled down her left cheek. “It’s just …” she exhaled. “I don’t know. It’s bad timing, I guess.”
Now Haley apologized. “I’m sorry,” she said, biting her lip.
“It’s not your fault,” Jane said. It wasn’t, and it wasn’t just the wedding. It was turning thirty soon, it was the fact that she could still be so incredibly wrong about something when everyone else around her seemed to be so incredibly sure. It was the fact that, for the first time in a long time, she felt like she was back at square one, with no idea of what path she was on or where it would lead. And even though Haley would be on it with her, she wouldn’t be on it with her. Not the same way, anyway, not really.
“I feel like we need to go get some ice cream,” Haley said, breaking into her thoughts.
“Yeah.” Jane nodded and wiped her eyes. “Okay.”
***
They ended up at a hamburger and ice cream-type place near Haley’s apartment. It was actually pretty good, though there were certain days and times that neither of them could be paid to go there—long lines, screaming kids—but it was quieter now, the calm after the storm.
Haley surveyed her laminated menu. “I’m going to bypass the burger, but I’ll get some fries if you want some.”
They were both fans of the whole sweet/salty thing. “Okay,” Jane said.
Haley made a face. “That guy Tommy didn’t even wait until I got my chips.”
That guy Tommy. It was amazing to Jane how quickly he could go from top five most important people in my life Tommy to that guy Tommy . But that was how it went, didn’t it—one minute you were every recent call in someone’s log and half of their sent texts; the next you weren’t even sure if your number was saved in their phone anymore. It was like someone gushing about their favorite bakery and then nonchalantly announcing that they’d cut out sugar. Something mattered a lot until it didn’t anymore.
That, Jane wasn’t a fan of. At all.
The waitress appeared next to their table to get their order, and Haley took over. “Two Diet Cokes, two waters, an order of fries, a caramel praline sundae with extra caramel and sprinkles, and the special with cookies and cream—”
Jane looked up at her. She did often go with cookies and cream but the special was huge, three scoops nestled next to each other under a bed of whipped cream, hot fudge, sprinkles and cherries. “I don’t know if I want the special with cookies and cream.”
“You’re going to need the special with cookies and cream,” Haley said.
Something about the way Haley said it made Jane realize they weren’t just talking about her breaking up with her boyfriend. “I don’t know if I like the sound of that.”
Haley looked at the waitress. “The special with cookies and cream,” she said with authority.
Jane waited until she walked away. “Okay, what now?”
Haley scrunched her face up, her forehead wrinkled and her lips pursed in a duck bill under her nose. She’d been making that face her whole life, every time she was about to do something she didn’t want to do, like she had one little bit of courage or willpower that was going to escape from inside her at the last second if she didn’t. “I have to tell you something.”
Jane held up both palms. “I literally could go the entire rest of my life without hearing that sentence,” she said. “When is that ever something good? Is anyone ever like, hey, I have to tell you something—you’re amazing. I have to tell you something—you’re breathtaking. I—"
“Jane.”
“No,” Jane finished, “they don’t.”
“You’re amazing,” Haley said. “You’re breathtaking.”
Jane rolled her eyes. “Ha,” she said. “All right, what is it?”
“Maybe we should wait for the ice cream.”
“We probably should,” Jane said. “But tell me anyway.”
Haley took a breath. “We might have a small problem.”
“We didn’t already have a problem?”
“We have another problem.”
“Don’t say that,” Jane groaned. “Please.”
“Blake and I are getting married in two weeks.”
“I said, don’t—” Jane began, then cut herself short, Haley’s words finally making it from her ears to her brain. “You what ?”
“That was the second part of our surprise.”
“That’s not a surprise,” Jane said. “That’s insanity.”
Haley held up her hands. “Just hear me out.”
“My life is a nightmare. I am living in a nightmare,” Jane said, burying her head in her hands. She picked her head up. “I am happy for you. I am so happy for you. For the record. I just—”
“I know,” Haley said. “I know, I know, I know.”
“Why are you getting married in two weeks ?”
“Long story or short story?”
“Whichever.”
“Okay,” Haley said, ticking the reasons off on her fingers. “I always wanted to get married in the summer.”
“I thought the fall.”
“Well, either the fall or the summer,” she said. “Definitely not winter. Neutral on spring.”
“Okay,” Jane said.
“You know my grandma’s having her hip done this fall, so that’s out.”
That was always how she phrased it, because that was how her grandma phrased it. She makes it sound like she’s having a face lift , Jane would say, and Haley would raise her eyebrows in a knowing look: You never know.
Haley’s grandma was definitely having the hip done. But anything else was possible too.
“Plus, his Gumby is like a hundred years old. Literally, almost a hundred. She’s like ninety-eight years old. You know how obsessed he is with his Gumby. He has to have her there.”
His great-grandma on his dad’s side. She started out as Gammy, then became Gummy when he couldn’t quite get the a out as a toddler, then one of the m s got soft too and she became Gumby forevermore. “Is she sick?”
“Jane,” Haley exclaimed, “she’s almost one hundred years old .”
“Okay, okay, I got it.”
“I mean, thank goodness, she drinks a Dr Pepper every single day and seems to be doing just fine, but you never know.”
“Because she’s like almost a hundred years old.”
“Exactly.”
The waitress came by then with their food, and Haley waited until they got settled to finish. “As you know, I’ve thought about my wedding since kindergarten, so when it comes down to it there isn’t that much to figure out—”
“Exactly,” Jane said, seizing on the thought. “You’ve thought about this since kindergarten . You’re really going to be able to make it all happen in two weeks?”
“A lot of it,” Haley said. “Most of it. The big stuff. And the rest of it …” She shrugged. “I guess that’s love.”
Jane blew out some air in one big burst. “I guess so.”
“Or I’ll just save it for our big blowout twenty-fifth anniversary party,” Haley grinned.
Jane knew she wasn’t kidding. “Can Tommy not be invited to that one?”
“Definitely.”
“Okay,” Jane said. “Keep going.”
Haley took a bite of her sundae. “I’m going to be wearing my mom’s dress anyway, so all it needs is some alterations.”
That part had definitely been planned, for about forever. Haley’s mom had worn a classic, timeless dress that could make a wicked old troll look like a vision in white. Haley tried it on every few years and it always looked like it had been made just for her. Jane wasn’t sure it would need to be altered at all.
“His family always get together at the beach house the week of Fourth of July, so that makes that part easy,” Haley said, licking the back of her spoon before resting it back in the bowl. “But honestly the biggest reason is, we’ve always known we wanted to get married there at the beach, so we called the venue this afternoon just to get an idea of what we were looking at, you know, how far out dates were booked, and the lady on the phone, kind of joking, was like … well, we do have a last-minute opening on July 3, you don’t happen to want to get married in two weeks, do you? And we looked at each other and …” Haley put her hands on the table and looked at her earnestly. “I mean, Jane, it was perfect. It just seemed like it was meant to be. So we booked it.”
Jane sighed. “Of course you did.”
“Jane, I promise,” she said. “It was magical.”
“I believe you.” She actually did. That was just how things were for Haley. She was the only person Jane had ever known—had ever heard of —who actually met her future husband on New Year’s Day. That was the one “sit this one out” day universally acknowledged by humanity. It wasn’t the day you met someone who would change your life. Unless you were Haley, in which case, of course it was, because what better day to meet the person who would change your life than a day universally acknowledged by humanity as a fresh start? If that wasn’t magical, Jane had to admit, she wasn’t sure what was. “So what do you want to do about this whole thing?”
Haley was emphatic. “I want you to be my maid of honor.”
“Even if Tommy is the best man.”
“Ugh,” she said. “ Whyyyy does he have to be a family member?” Because that is how my life works , Jane thought. “But yes, even if Tommy is the best man. There is no one else in the world who could be my maid of honor but you.”
Jane felt herself getting teary again. “Oh, Haley.”
“We talked about going without a wedding party because of the short notice but I don’t want to,” she said, reaching across the table. “You’ve been with me through so many awful moments, you deserve to be there for one of the best ones.”
Jane brushed a tear off her cheek with the back of her hand. “Of course I would be there.”
“You know what I mean,” Haley said. “I want everyone else who’s there to know how much you deserve it, too.”
They’d talked about it, of course, over the years. They’d consoled themselves with the thought after a breakup or a series of bad dates. They’d entertained themselves with it at other people’s weddings. Jane joked about keeping a tally: We survived nine breakups together, fifty-three awkward first dates, one questionable foray into online dating, 132 bowls of ice cream topped with salty tears, and now it’s our moment of glory. WE EARNED THIS. They would be celebrating something together, but they would have survived something together, too.
“I would be honored to be your maid of honor,” Jane said, then laughed at the double honor and tried again. “It would be a privilege to be your maid of honor.”
Haley reached for her spoon again. “Now,” she said, taking another bite, “if we can just talk Tommy out of being the best man.”