13. Chapter 13
Chapter 13
D inner was a small, casual barbecue on the beach down from Blake’s family’s house. Maddie made it back with Ian. She appeared to be fine, albeit a little subdued. Everyone else from mini-golf was there, and Haley and Blake’s parents, and Jane’s parents, and Blake’s beloved great-grandma Gumby, sitting in a white chair where she could see all the action.
Haley and Blake welcomed everyone before they started eating. “Thank you everyone for coming, and on such short notice,” Haley said. She got a little teary and started fanning her face. “Oh, gosh, not already! We’re just so happy you’re here and hope everyone has a great weekend.”
Tommy grabbed the first drink he got his hands on—a lemon-lime sparkling water, from the looks of it—and raised it in the air. “Here, here!” he said.
Blake’s dad was manning the grill. Blake and Tommy passed out drinks from a big metal tub while everyone started to mingle. Once Jane was sure her services weren’t needed for anything, she drifted off to the side with Luke for a few minutes.
“So run me through everyone,” he said. He gestured with his drink in Maddie’s direction. “The golf ball victim is Blake’s sister? She looks totally fine, by the way.”
She did look totally fine, but Jane still cringed a little when he said it. “Yes, and her boyfriend is Ian. They’ve been dating … I don’t know the exact number, but for a while.”
“And the one who was worried about the animals and invisible children on the mini-golf course—”
She laughed. “Ashley,” she said. “Also a sister. The youngest one. She’s kind of a wild card.” She turned toward him, so her face was a little bit hidden in his sleeve. “She brought this guy Cody kind of last minute.”
“More last minute than you bringing me?”
She scrunched her nose, deflecting his gentle teasing. “No,” she said. “Not more last minute than that, but last minute for someone who wasn’t already invited to the wedding.” Of course, the whole thing had been a little last minute, but … “Relatively speaking,” she added.
“That guy right there, right?” he said, discreetly motioning with his drink again. Jane followed where he was pointing and nodded. “Huh. I talked to him a little bit ago, and he made it sound like things were pretty serious between them.”
“Are you sure?” she said. “The one in the green shirt?” He nodded. “I don’t think they’re that serious,” she said. “As far as I know they just started dating.”
“And she brought him to the wedding, huh?”
Jane gave him a look: Don’t even get me started . “I know.”
He shrugged. “All right.”
“Got our first plate of burgers ready!” Blake’s dad called out, sliding a white platter on the table closet to the grill.
They all made their way over to the food, a bountiful spread of barbecue staples—grilled meat, juicy watermelon, tart blackberries and spicy salsa—and caught up as they ate. Uncle Bob told a rousing anecdote about Blake trying to help him install a ceiling fan that had the whole group in stitches, and Blake’s mom told a sweet story about the first time Haley came to their house for Thanksgiving.
After dinner, things started to break up into little side conversations. Haley described to Auntie Jess what she was going to do with her hair at the wedding, Jane’s dad talked to Blake’s dad about the Yankees and Red Sox, and Ashley tried to convince Tommy to try yoga.
Tommy and Bree had been sitting together, but Tommy got up and went over to Blake when Auntie Miss started asking Bree a bunch of questions about her family. It had been Jane’s first time seeing Tommy since the breakup, but it was the also the first time Tommy and Auntie Miss had been in the same space since then. Jane had to give Auntie Miss credit for her multitasking skills. She was doing an admirable job of managing all of the conversations while also giving Tommy her best, no-nonsense “I’m the Mother of the Bride and I’ve Got My Mom Eye on You” stare-slash-glare, which he was definitely doing his best to ignore.
Jane saw him nudge Blake in Auntie Miss’s direction. “That woman is terrifying,” he said, probably louder than he meant to. Blake laughed in response and they headed over to the drinks.
Jane made her way over to Haley. “How’s it going?”
“Great on my end.” Haley said. “But you tell me.”
Jane smirked. “I just overheard Tommy telling Blake that he’s terrified of your mom.”
“Good,” she said, shooting a look over at him. “I’m glad he’s terrified of her. I hope he’s terrified of me, too, right now.”
“Isn’t everyone terrified of the bride forty-eight hours before the wedding?” Jane said. “I’m sure he is.”
Haley raised an eyebrow. “I feel like I should take advantage of that.”
“You already did,” Jane said. “I’m on a three-day date with Luke Sanderson.”
“Fair point,” Haley said. “But you’re not terrified of me.”
Jane laughed. “That’s what you think.”
Haley gave her a sideways look, the corners of her mouth turned up in a sly smile as she motioned over at Blake’s sister. “I think Maddie is probably a little terrified of you right now.”
Jane brought her hands to her face. “I blame Tommy for that.”
“Well, that makes two of us,” Haley replied. “I blame Tommy for a lot of things.”
“He rattled me a little,” she said. “I thought it was fine but then I got rattled. He said something to me, and in my head, I was just like, don’t talk to me.” She paused. “Or do talk to me, but not like you know me.” She sighed. “I don’t know.”
“I know,” Haley said, and Jane knew she did, or did enough, anyway. That was the best thing about having a best friend like Haley—feeling understood even when she didn’t have the words to explain her way there. “What about now? Any better?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “TBD, I guess.”
“Take some notes from my mom,” Haley said. “Have you seen the way she’s been staring him down?”
“I mean, I don’t think you could miss it,” Jane said. “I think that’s what has him terrified.”
“We need to learn that look,” Haley said. “No one takes my intimidating looks seriously.”
Jane laughed. “Blake does.”
Haley pursed her lips, as though she was considering it, then gave a little shrug. “I guess that’s something at least.” She reached for her drink. “How’s it going with Luke?”
“Good,” Jane said honestly.
“Not weird?”
“Well,” she said, “definitely not as weird as it could or should be.”
Haley beamed, like she deserved some credit for that. “He’s the best,” she said. “Legitimately the best.”
Jane looked over him, deep in conversation with Uncle Bob about who knows what. “Definitely seems to be in the top five at the moment,” she agreed.
Haley followed her gaze. “Why don’t you go save him from my dad.”
Luke glanced at her then, like he could feel her looking over at him. She raised her eyebrows and tilted her head, in the direction of the dessert table, and he gave her a slight head nod back. Jane smiled. “All right.”
***
They got themselves little plates of cookies and mini-blueberry cheesecake bites. They walked down the beach a little ways, away from the crowd, and found a spot where the sand sloped to sit down. She gathered her dress around her legs, tucking the fabric under her knees, then propped her elbows on top, her plate on the sand next to her.
The sun was low in the sky, the last few minutes of sunlight bathing the sky in oranges and reds. The air felt heavy with moisture, but there was a breeze, too, coming along and lifting it up in pockets. All around them, it seemed like there was something there. It felt expectant.
“So,” Luke said as he settled in next to her, “how are you doing?”
“Well,” she said. “Besides almost taking out a bridesmaid …”
“Key word being almost .”
“Yes, thank you. Almost,” she said. “Besides that, I would say fine. All things considered.”
He took a bite of a chocolate chunk cookie. “Breakups are a bummer.”
“That, they are,” she said. She broke her cookie in half. “You know what’s more of a bummer?”
“What’s that?”
“A breakup followed by a walk down the aisle with the breaker-upper.”
He laughed at that. “I can see that.”
“I’m sorry Haley roped you into this,” she said.
“Don’t be,” he said. “I really was just hanging out, killing time before the wedding.”
“Yeah, but I’m sure you could think of better ways to kill time.”
He looked at her, his face warmed by the setting sun. “Jane?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m happy to do it.”
“Okay.”
“Okay,” he said, and it was decided.
She stretched out her legs in front of her and leaned back on her hands. “So what have you been up to for the last eight years, Luke?”
“Eight years?” he said. “Yikes. That sounds long.”
It was long, and it wasn’t. Sometimes it felt like it was eight minutes ago. Sometimes Jane worried that was how her whole life was going to feel and she would miss the whole thing.
“Well, let’s see,” he said. “I got a job in web development outside of Philly right out of college, so I worked there for a couple of years, and then I switched jobs and moved to north Jersey …” He looked at her. “What else do you want to know?”
She smiled at him. “You don’t have to give me your resume.”
He smiled back. “You’re not in the market?”
Something about the way he said it made her breath catch, like a thread on a hook, and she reached for her drink.
“I was dating a girl I met through a friend at work for a while last year but it didn’t work out,” he said.
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
He shrugged. “It happens.”
“Yeah,” she said, drawing out the word. “It does.”
He leaned back on his elbows, looking up at her. “They say when it’s the right person, you just know.”
“Do you think that’s true?”
“I think it could be true,” he said. “What about you?”
She had never known, not for sure, about Tommy. She thought that was part of it, you spent some time not knowing until somehow you didn’t anymore. But Haley had known. Her mom had known. “I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe.”
“I like to think so,” he said. “Feels like if you’re ever going to know about anything, it might as well be that.”
There was something calm and confident about the way he said it, and hopeful, and maybe even romantic, too. Like whatever was meant to work out, just would.
That was something she remembered about Luke Sanderson from way back when: He always seemed to have a handle on things. It seemed like he would always have the answer, or at least would be able to figure one out—whether it was helping a girl who was locked out of her best friend’s apartment or a keeping a girl from feeling left out at her best friend’s wedding. It was something she probably took for granted when she was twenty-one and thought she had the world in her back pocket. But now, when she felt like she didn’t have the answers to anything, she felt herself drawn to it. It felt safe, and it felt reassuring, and she found herself wanting him to share some of it with her, like the other half of a blanket.
Jane looked at him then, really looked at him. He really does have the nicest face , she thought. She thought of a bunch of different things to say to him, things that all felt like too much, not enough, too serious, not easy to put into words. In the end, she tried to keep it light. “Weddings really bring up a lot of stuff, don’t they,” she said.
His eyes turned up at the corners, that famous Luke smize. “They do seem to, yeah.”
Out of the corner of her eye, behind him, she saw Haley craning her neck, looking in their direction. Part of her wanted Haley to pull her out of the moment, and part of her wanted to avert her eyes and stay right where she was, with Luke and his good nature and kind expression all to herself.
She cleared her throat. “Speaking of weddings,” she said, “I think the bride might be looking for us.”
He turned and glanced over his shoulder. “Well, then,” he said, swinging his gaze back to hers one more time. “Let’s go see what the bride is up to.”