11. Chapter 11
Chapter 11
J ane and Haley were up in Auntie Miss’s room, running through some details, when Haley got a text. “Blake’s sisters are almost here,” she said, reading it. Her thumb hovered over the screen. “I’m going to tell them we’ll meet them downstairs.”
“I’ll come down and say hello,” Auntie Miss said. “And then I want to run a couple of errands before dinner later.” She paused. “Is Tommy with them?”
“I don’t think so,” Haley said. “He’s probably with Blake at the house.”
Blake’s family had a beach house nearby, and the guys in the wedding party, for the most part, would be staying there until the wedding. Blake and Tommy would definitely be staying there. Another arrangement Haley and Auntie Miss had made behind the scenes, Jane was sure, and she was relieved about it. It would be enough to see Tommy everywhere else. She was glad she didn’t have to worry about running into him in the hallway or at the ice machine or in the line for a chocolate croissant at the continental breakfast.
Auntie Miss narrowed her eyes. “Is Tommy ready for this weekend?”
Jane knew she wasn’t referring to whether he remembered to bring his suit, and Haley knew it too. “I think he should be ready, yes, Mom.”
Auntie Miss made a sound of disapproval that Jane couldn’t quite place. It could mean anything or nothing—an automatic response to the mere mention of Tommy right now. Before Jane could ask, Auntie Miss turned to her, the edges sandpapered off her tone. “Janey. How are you feeling about everything, hon?”
Her feelings changed by the second; her definition of everything shifted with the hour. “Okay,” Jane said carefully.
“Haley told me you and Luke are going to hang out together this weekend,” Auntie Miss said. “She said he’s as nice as ever.” Her mouth ticked up at the edges, the look of someone who was in on something. “She also told me he’s as cute as ever.”
Haley’s face was deliberately neutral. “Did I say cute?”
Auntie Miss’s mouth went full-blown grin. “Cute, handsome, extremely good-looking, possibly even devastatingly gorgeous … I don’t know, I think it was one of those.”
Jane groaned and held a pillow up to her face. “Stop,” she said, her voice muffled.
“What?” Haley said innocently. “Do you not think Luke Sanderson and his smize are devastatingly gorgeous, Jane?”
Jane dropped the pillow next to her and shook her head. “No comment,” she said. “I have zero comment on Luke Sanderson and his smize. I just hope the whole thing isn’t too weird.”
“It’ll be fine,” Auntie Miss said. “I remember him being very gorgeous and very sweet, so I actually think it will be better than fine.” A pause. “Something tells me Ashley’s going to steal the show when it comes to surprise mystery wedding guests this weekend anyway.” She turned to Haley. “No one’s met this boyfriend of hers yet, huh? Are we officially calling him a boyfriend?”
“I certainly hope so if she’s bringing him to my wedding,” Haley said. “And no. I mean, not before today, at least. I found him on Instagram but he only had like one post.”
“You did?” Auntie Miss said. “Let me see.”
Haley glanced down at the notification on her phone and got to her feet. “Even better. Come see him in person right now.”
Jane perked up at that. “Oooh,” she said. She always liked when the attention was on someone else and she could watch and make witty-to-her observations to keep herself entertained.
They went downstairs, and a few minutes later Blake’s sisters pulled up outside the hotel. The roundabout in front of the main entrance was backed up, so they went straight for a parking spot. Jane and Haley had been watching from the window and went out to the parking lot with Auntie Miss to meet them.
Maddie, the middle sister, was in a billowy pale blue sundress, her brown hair up in a clip. She was standing next to the open trunk of her car when she glanced up and spotted them heading her way. “Ahhhh!” she exclaimed, rushing over to give Haley a hug.
Ashley, the younger one, tumbled out of the backseat, and came up right behind her. “Ahhhh!” she said, adding to the chorus. The next five minutes was a cacophony of shrieks, squeals and whoo-hoos in the middle of the parking lot.
“I can’t believe you’re getting married!” Ashley said.
“I can’t believe this is your wedding weekend!” Maddie said.
“I can’t believe you only gave us, like, two weeks’ notice!” Ashley said, lightly punching Haley’s arm. “Thank goodness they were able to get me in for highlights in time. I had to beg.”
“She did,” Maddie said. “She had to beg.”
“I literally was like, I will pay it forward. The next time someone else has to get in on short notice, I will literally give up my appointment for them.” Ashley paused, an extra beat. “Unless I have something else going on and I really need my hair done. But probably I will.”
“Have you seen Blake yet?” Maddie said. “We haven’t even seen Blake yet. We came straight here. We didn’t even stop at the house first. We haven’t even seen my parents yet.”
“What’s the plan for today?” Ashley said. “We’re definitely getting our nails done tomorrow, right?”
“Should we have the guys hang out here?” Maddie said. “Or should we have them go meet up with Blake?”
It was like watching an extremely chaotic, buoyant and hand-talking ping-pong match. Jane looked back and forth, back and forth, a little dizzier and a little more bemused with each serve. Blake’s sisters were like a five turned up to a ten right now. Or maybe a five turned up to a million.
Almost on cue, Maddie turned toward her and Auntie Miss. “Look at us all distracted with the bride! Oh, my gosh, hiiiiiii, you two!”
“Mother of the bride!” Ashley crowed. She leaned in to give Auntie Miss a hug. “Your hair looks fabulous. Yours too, Jane.”
Jane’s hair was in a topknot and she hadn’t done a thing to it yet, but she took the compliment. “Thanks, Ash. You look great too.”
“Thanks!” she beamed. She tossed her golden-dipped hair over her shoulders. “Seriously, I am so glad I was able to get my hair done in time. Can you imagine the pictures?”
“You and me both,” Auntie Miss said. “Luckily, there were some cancellations.” She shot a look over at Haley, who pretended not to see it.
“Here,” Haley said instead, “let us help you with your bags.”
“Oh, Cody and Ian will get them!” Ashley said, heading back toward the car, where her boyfriend—or was it “boyfriend”? Jane wasn’t sure—and Maddie’s boyfriend had gotten out and were shuffling from side to side, engaging in small talk and awaiting further instructions.
The rest of them trailed behind, with Maddie falling into step next to Jane. “I heard about you and Tommy,” she said. “I’m so sorry.”
“Thanks,” Jane said. “It’s okay.” Pick one , she told herself, suddenly feeling awkward.
“She’s fine,” Haley said, her tone chipper. “She has a super hot date to the wedding.”
“Really?” Maddie said, looking over with interest.
“Yeah,” Haley answered for her. “He’ll be at the dinner later.”
Oh, brother , Jane thought. She wasn’t sure how much attention she wanted to call to the whole thing. She was thinking more like a small, non-descript sign on the corner and less of a neon sign with one of the inflatable guys with waving arms next to it. Although, of course, people did tend to miss the non-descript signs, which she didn’t want either. She imagined someone at the wedding asking her and Tommy if they were next, and shuddered a little inside. Inflatable waving tube guy it was, then.
They came up on the car and started trading introductions. Cody’s expression was open, his wavy light brown hair tucked under a baseball hat. He seemed remarkably at ease for a guy who was showing up to a wedding involving a family he had just met. With only a handful days’ prior notice, to boot, although Jane had to admit that part wasn’t really his fault.
“Hi,” she said to him. “I’m Jane.”
“Cody,” he said, shaking her hand.
“She’s the maid of honor ,” Haley said, in a way that sounded like Jane was either a little kid who just tied her shoes for the first time or the president of the free world.
“Well, I’m honored to meet you, then,” he said, taking off his hat and bowing grandly. Ashley giggled, and Jane laughed in spite of herself. Haley just shook her head.
Ian started unloading the bags out of the back and Auntie Miss turned back to Maddie and Ashley. “I’m meeting up with your mom this afternoon before the dinner with everyone,” she said. “How’s she holding up?”
“Good, I think,” Maddie said. “Once she got over the shock.”
“Mm-hmm,” Auntie Miss said, looking at Haley, who looked at Jane instead.
“Excited,” Maddie added. She was always worried about how things sounded. “Definitely excited for Haley and Blake.”
“Well, of course, we’re all excited for Haley and Blake,” Auntie Miss said. Ian and Cody had gotten the bags unloaded out of the back, and Ashley reached into the backseat and took out a garment bag, laying it on top.
“Oh, is this what you’re wearing to the wedding?” Auntie Miss said. “Can I see?”
Jane and Haley exchanged a meaningful look. Jane had to bite her lip to keep from bursting out laughing. “You’ll see it later, Mom,” Haley said.
“Oh, just a peek,” she said, reaching for the zipper.
Haley rolled her eyes for Jane’s benefit and snatched the garment bag out of her reach. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s get everything inside.”
***
Jane and Haley stopped up in their room for a few minutes, but not before Ashley also offered her condolences to Jane about Tommy. Which was nice, and saved her the trouble of bringing it up herself, but was also starting to give her a little bit of a complex.
“Is there a group text I’m not on where everyone knows I broke up with Tommy?” Jane said to Haley once they were alone again in their room.
Haley was pulling her hair into a ponytail. “Isn’t easier if you don’t have to tell people a thousand times?”
“So there was a group text.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t say no, either.” She half-wanted to see it, to know what everyone had said. Hopefully more Tommy’s loss messages than Poor Jane ones, although, actually, maybe it was better not to know.
“It wasn’t a group text,” Haley said, pulling the door shut behind them as they went outside.
“So just a text then. To multiple people.”
“Jane,” she said.
Jane sighed as they walked down the hallway. Let it go , she told herself. “All right.”
Ian and Cody had headed out to meet the other guys for “maybe” a few buckets at the driving range, and Jane and Haley’s parents had gone off together to run some errands and meet up with Blake’s parents.
“Do you want us to come?” Haley asked her mom before she left. “Do you need us to help with anything?”
“No, no,” she said. “We’re just tying up some loose ends. Catch up with Blake’s sisters and be here when the others get here and help them get settled in.”
“Okay,” Haley said. “We’re meeting everyone for mini-golf at around four-thirty, and then we’ll head over after that.”
“Everyone” included everyone in the wedding party and their guests, except for Blake’s childhood best friend Kyle and his wife Kristy, who were getting in the next day right before the rehearsal dinner. Jane ran through the list again in her head—Blake and Haley, Tommy and Bree, Ian and Maddie, Ashley and Cody, her and Luke—and exhaled that, despite whatever else would be awkward about it, she now had an and after her name, too.
Bree had arrived and gotten checked into her parents’ room, where she was staying, and the girls were all meeting up on the patio outside the on-site restaurant. Jane and Haley got there first and settled in at a big, round white table with a blue-and-white striped umbrella facing the direction of the water.
A minute or two later, Bree walked out. She was cute, short, with a messy low bun and a dimple in her left cheek when she smiled. Jane hadn’t been totally sure about how she would feel having her there, but it turned out, she felt fine about it. As fine as she could feel under the circumstances. Bree had been friends with Blake and Tommy’s family forever, she had always been nice, and Jane and Haley had always liked having her around.
“Heyyyy girl!” Haley exclaimed, getting to her feet.
“You got bangs!” Jane said, standing up to give her a hug. “They look good.”
“Oh, yeah,” she said, reaching up to feel them, like she was reminding herself they were there. “Thanks.”
“How was the drive?” Haley said.
“Oh, it was fine. A little traffic but fine.” The expression on her face turned earnest as she focused on Jane. “I know he told you, but Tommy asked me if I wanted to come. I wasn’t—I mean, I was already coming to the wedding, obviously—but then Tommy told me there was the other stuff going on and asked if I wanted to come.” She took a breath. “I mean the rehearsal dinner, of course, but today and everything—”
“It’s okay,” Jane said, putting a hand on her arm. “I’m happy you could make it.”
She looked from Jane to Haley, back to Jane again. “Really?”
Jane nodded. “Really.”
“It’s not your fault Tommy tried to make things weird,” Haley said.
Bree smiled a little at that. “Okay.” She let out a breath that sounded like she’d been holding it in all week. She sat down. “Thanks.”
“So the drive was good? Are you starving? I’m starving,” Haley said, sitting down and picking up the menu. “I’m going to order some apps to hold us over until dinner.”
She ordered chips, pita triangles and a variety of dips—hummus, salsa and guacamole—which got to the table about the same time Maddie and Ashley did.
“Sorry it took us a little longer to get down here,” Maddie said. “We ran over to the house real quick.”
“I wanted to introduce Cody to Blake,” Ashley said, pulling out a chair.
“Oh, yeah?” Haley said with interest. “What’d he think?”
“Loved him, of course,” she replied.
Maddie laughed at her sister. “Well, they did just meet. But yeah, they seemed to like each other. Ian liked him, too.”
“Who’s Cody?” Bree said, looking between them.
“My date,” Ashley said, in a matter-of-fact tone.
Haley scooped some guacamole on a chip. “So he’s like … your boyfriend?”
Ashley was a little indignant. “Of course he’s my boyfriend,” she said. Of COURSE , Jane thought, stifling a laugh.
“I mean, just checking,” Haley said, crunching on her chip. “So what’s the deal with him? How did you guys meet?”
“At yoga,” Ashley said.
“Really?” Jane said, reaching for some hummus. “Yoga?”
“I didn’t even know you did yoga,” Haley said. Jane could see her trying to connect the dots in her head.
Ashley shrugged. “I started.”
“When?”
She waved her hand, as if to say it doesn’t matter. “Anyway, his physical therapist recommended it. He has a bad back from playing baseball. You know, all the twisting.”
Jane nodded like she understood, even though she had about a hundred more questions, and was pretty sure Haley had about a thousand. “He seems really nice,” she said.
“Right?” she beamed. “What about your guy, Jane? Is he coming tonight?”
Bree looked at her, more than a little relief on her face. “You’re here with someone?”
“He’s super hot,” Ashley chimed in with authority, echoing Haley’s comment from earlier.
“Really?” Bree said. “That’s great. How do you know him?”
Jane tried to suppress her smile. “Through Haley, of course.”
“What can I say,” Haley said. “He was my neighbor in college. He and Jane knew each other then and they … reconnected.”
“Oooh,” Maddie said, wiggling her eyebrows up and down.
“Just wait till you see them together,” Haley said with a wink.
Cue the inflatable man with the waving arms and about sixteen billion neon signs. What are you doing ? Jane said to her with her eyes.
Don’t worry about it, Haley’s arched eyebrows said in response.
Oh, she was worried all right.