8. Chapter 8
Chapter 8
T hey were driving up a day ahead of everyone else, Jane and Haley and Auntie Miss and Haley’s dad and Jane’s mom and dad. They were going up early and they were all going to have dinner together, just like they had in the days when Jane and Haley colored on paper placemats while their parents talked about neighborhood drama or clueless bosses or nosy relatives or whatever else parents talk about.
Jane’s parents were coming up after her dad got done with work, so she was riding up with Auntie Miss and Haley’s dad Bob. Blake and his family would be there by around lunchtime on Thursday, including—Jane assumed—Tommy and Bree.
Jane was in the backseat next to Haley. She opened the bag of kettle corn they’d brought for the ride and passed it over to Haley. “So Tommy texted me last night,” she said, popping a few kernels in her mouth.
Auntie Miss whirled around in her seat. “No!” she said. “What did he say?”
“That he was bringing Bree.”
“Well, duh,” she said.
“I know,” Jane said. “I think he wanted it on the record.”
“That’s fine,” Auntie Miss said. “Let the record reflect that cousin Tommy is still a traitor.”
“What else did he say?” Haley said, motioning for Jane to get out her phone.
“Not much,” Jane said. “He wants us to have a good week.”
Haley rolled her eyes. “Oh, we will , Tommy, don’t worry.”
Haley’s dad looked into the rearview mirror, so he could see them in the backseat. “Am I allowed to say that you guys are being a little hard on this Tommy guy?”
“No,” Auntie Miss and Haley said in unison.
“Listen,” Uncle Bob said, “I think he’s a dope for passing on our Janey too. But, you know, sometimes it’s not meant to be.”
“ Passing on her?” Haley shrieked. “She’s not an hors d’oeuvre , Dad!”
He waved his hand back and forth in the air, like he was flicking away a piece of fuzz: you know what I mean . “I’m just saying,” he said. “He’s just not the guy. Sometimes it’s not the guy. That’s all right.”
“Good pep talk, Dad,” Haley said.
“You’re right,” Jane said. She loved Uncle Bob. She was always taking his side. “He’s right. Sometimes it’s not the guy. Better to know now.”
“Exactly!” he said, tapping the steering wheel for emphasis. “See, Janey gets it.” He looked back up at the rearview mirror. “Hey! Maybe you’ll even meet someone at this wedding.”
They all went to look at him. “Who are you?” Haley said.
“Unlikely,” Jane replied. Her allegiance to Uncle Bob only went so far. “But thank you.”
“Well, you never know,” he said. His tone did a downshift from jovial to more serious. “You two, both of you, you have your whole lives ahead of you. I know it feels like you’ve done a lot of things and figured a lot of things out, and you have, but you’ve got a whole big life in front of you, you know. You have a lot to look forward to.”
Jane and Haley looked at each other. “That’s pretty sweet, Dad,” Haley said.
He repositioned his hands at the ten and two spot. “Well, I’m a pretty sweet guy,” he said. “That’s why your mom married me.”
“Is that why I married you?” Auntie Miss teased.
“That and my good looks and sparkling personality,” he said, and gave one last look into the rearview mirror. “Don’t forget the sparkling personality.”
Haley groaned. “We never could,” Jane laughed.
***
They checked into the hotel, then they went over to the venue for a quick check-in, then Jane’s parents eventually arrived, centerpieces in tow. That night, they went to dinner at a pizza place near the water, the kind with complimentary crusty garlic bread and twinkling white lights strung around the edges of the dining room. They talked about the plans for the rest of the week and they talked about the most sentimental and funny moments from the past and they talked about how the pepperoni pie was really, truly the best-tasting pizza they’d had in a long time.
When they were done, they headed back to the hotel. Jane and Haley were sharing a room, with Haley’s parents across the hall and Jane’s two doors down. They lingered in the hallway for a couple of minutes, going over the logistics for the next day, and then went to their rooms for the night. “How about my dad saying you would meet someone at the wedding?” Haley said from the bathroom sink, where she was taking out her contacts.
Jane had put on her pajamas and was pulling on the fuzzy green socks she liked to wear in hotel rooms. “That was crazy.”
“You never know.”
“I do,” Jane said. “But it was still funny that he said it.”
Haley came out of the bathroom and plopped on her bed, across from Jane. “I’m still working on it, you know.”
“Working on what?”
“Figuring this whole thing out. The Tommy thing,” she said. “Just so you know. The wheels are turning.”
“Tell them they can stop,” Jane said.
“No way,” Haley said. “I promised I would figure something out, and I will.”
“What if I tell you I’m fine?”
“You can say it,” Haley said, “but I’m still going to figure something out anyway.”
Jane reached for the bottle of water on the nightstand. “I’m fine,” she said. “All right?”
Haley paused. “Remember when we used to pretend to be brides?” she said instead.
“Of course,” Jane said. “We’d use toilet paper for our veils and then your dad would get mad when he went into the bathroom and there was nothing left on the roll.”
Haley laughed. “That was great.” She put her legs in front of her, feet on the bed, her arms wrapped around her shins, and rested her chin on her knees. “I can’t believe I’m actually going to be one,” she said. “A bride .”
“Me neither,” Jane said. “It’s crazy. We always used to wonder what it would be like when we got married.”
“Did you think I would marry someone like Blake?”
Jane laughed. “Did I think you would marry someone like Blake? When we were younger, no, probably not, but it makes sense now.”
“Yeah,” Haley smiled. “That’s what I think, too.”
Jane took a sip of her water, then screwed the top back on the bottle. “I did love what your dad said about our whole lives still being in front of us,” she said. “It’s a nice thought.”
“It is, isn’t it,” Haley said. She picked up her chin and dropped her legs so they were crossed in front of her instead. “I’m happy you’ll be in it,” she said. “Whatever happens, I know you’ll be in it.”
“Me too.”
“I’ll always be here for you, Jane,” she said.
Jane felt her throat get tight. She was happy for Haley—of course she was, she couldn’t be happier for her—but she would be lying if she said there wasn’t a part of her that worried, just a little, that their friendship would change in some way, too. “I know you will,” she said.
“Honestly,” Haley said. She sat up totally straight and gestured grandly with her right arm. “These are my vows to Jane Ramsay, my best friend.”
“Oh, brother,” Jane laughed.
Haley kept going. “I promise to always pick up your calls in the middle in the night,” she said. “I will always do dumb New Year’s resolutions with you even if we both know we’re going to stop them by Valentine’s Day. I will always tell you if you have something in your teeth, and I will always give you my honest but loving opinion when we go shopping together, and I will always be there with bail money if you—”
“All right, all right,” Jane laughed. “We have to go to bed. You have to get your beauty sleep and I have to rest up for the emotional rollercoaster that awaits.”
“No rollercoasters!” Haley exclaimed. “I told you I’m working on it.”
A little while later, the lights were out and they were each tucked into their beds. Jane looked up at the ceiling. They’d pulled the privacy shades, but some light from the moon and the parking lot still got through, casting unfinished shadows on the ceiling and walls.
“I know you already know this,” Jane whispered across the room, “but I promise to always do those things too.”
Haley’s voice came back to her, sleepy in the dark. “I know.”