16. Chapter 16
Chapter 16
T he afternoon was a blur. They had a quick lunch, got their nails done, and were back getting ready for real this time in what felt like no time. The rehearsal was first, at the venue on the beach, followed by dinner at a seafood restaurant that was a favorite of Blake’s family.
Jane was a little nervous about the night, but also a little excited, and a little wistful, and a little exhilarated. Maybe it was just the energy of the day—the final countdown, the day before Haley’s wedding. They had talked about it forever, so often in vague, “someday” terms. Jane still couldn’t believe it was actually here.
Everyone was going over to the venue in couples. She was driving over with Luke, the first time it was just going to be them together in the car heading somewhere. It felt like a date—which, she guessed, it was. Sort of.
She had been looking forward to seeing him. All day, it had been running in the background of her mind, behind everything else that was going on. Another part of the charged feelings of the day, she supposed, but it felt like more than that, too. It felt like something that was just for her, in the whole craziness of the weekend. Everyone else had claim to some different part of the weekend—some person, or some moment, or some tradition—but Luke Sanderson felt like he was just for her.
He was waiting for her downstairs. “Hey,” she said.
“Hi.” He smiled, and then pointed at her hand. “Your nails look good.”
Jane let out a short laugh and fanned out her fingers in front of her. She had gotten red, with the other girls, while Haley got the palest of pale—almost a pearly white—pink. “Thanks,” she said. “How was golf?”
“Terrible,” he said. Jane gave him a questioning look. “My play, not the golf itself. The golf itself was fine.”
“Did you hit anyone?”
The hint of a smile. “I didn’t.”
Jane shrugged. Then how bad could it have been , the shrug said, and he smiled back in a way that meant fair enough.
“You look really nice,” he said. “I like your dress.”
She was wearing a long dress, flowy and romantic, dressier than the one she had worn the night before. She’d found it online and it had been a little bit of a splurge, but if she was going to splurge on something, she figured, it was Haley’s wedding weekend. She did feel pretty in it. Ethereal , the item description had called it, which had sounded a little over the top as those things tend to be, but actually fit the dress rather well all things considered, she thought. Or at least how she felt in it.
“Thanks,” she said. You always look nice , she wanted to say, because it was true. He did look nice, though. He was wearing a white button-down shirt, unbuttoned at the top, and slacks. He had gotten some sun, and his skin looked tan against the white shirt. She had the fleeting thought that they would look good standing together in the pictures, like they went together, even though they hadn’t planned it.
She shook it off. “You look good, too,” she said instead.
“Thank you,” he said. “Although there’s not really much decision-making that goes into it for us guys.”
“Lucky you,” she said.
“Lucky me,” he said. “Ready to go?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” she joked.
He took her by the hand, his fingers wrapped around her palm, part like he was being a gentleman and part like it was just something they did, and they walked out to the car.
He held the door for her and then went around the other side. As he started the car, she looked down. “Ha,” she said, holding up a container of mints by his cupholder that said “Carter and Chloe” on the label. “You must go to a lot of weddings.”
He laughed. “Forgot about those,” he said. “Tis the season, I guess.”
“Did you go with the maid of honor to that one, too?” she said, her tone light.
“I did not,” he said, throwing her a grin. “Got my mints all to myself. You can obviously have one if you want.”
She could hear Auntie Miss’s age-old advice to her and Haley: Never say no when someone offers you a mint. And she could hear Haley’s tacked-on addendum, if there was one, in her head: Especially when you’re in a car with a cute guy.
She rolled her eyes a little at herself, but she did get herself a mint. “Thanks,” she said, then offered the open tin to him. “You want one?”
He took one from her and she closed the tin up and put it back. “I was thinking about something today,” he said.
“Oh, yeah?” she said. “What’s that?”
“I was thinking,” he said, making a left turn, “that you’re a really great friend.”
Surprised, she looked at him. “What do you mean?”
“I always thought that, back in college,” he said. “Usually, people kind of fade away from the people they grew up with. But you and Haley were tight as ever. And still are.” He paused. “It says a lot about what kind of a person you are.”
“That’s nice of you to say,” she said, then added: “You do know our moms are best friends, right?”
“I think I did know that, yeah.”
“So, it was sort of fated, I guess.”
“Even better,” he said.
“Luke, Luke, Luke,” she said, sinking back in her seat and smiling over at him. “You’re a little bit of a romantic, aren’t you.”
There was the smize back at her. “I told you I like the idea of things being meant to be.”
“What else is meant to be?” she said, and couldn’t believe herself. Am I trying to flirt with Luke Sanderson ? she thought. Not that she was opposed to the idea but …
“You tell me,” he said.
Is he trying to flirt back ? she thought.
“I think you’re supposed to turn there,” she said, pointing, even though the GPS was doing a perfectly capable job of directing them on its own.
He made the turn. “We all liked it when you visited her at school.” A faint expression, some blend of affection and nostalgia, crossed his face. “Haley’s cute friend Jane.”
She looked at his profile, those lines hugging his eyes. “I was Haley’s cute friend Jane?”
“Well, she didn’t have another cute friend Jane.” He glanced over at her. “Did she?”
“No,” Jane laughed. “I guess she didn’t.” She traced the stitching on his center console with her freshly painted finger. “I’m surprised you remember that, though.”
He gave her a look, like give me a break . “I’m not.”
“You’re not?”
He shook his head. “Nope.”
She had remembered plenty of things about Haley’s friend Luke. The (first) time he came to her rescue, the world-class, famous smize that all the girls talked about—obviously. But there were other things, too. How nice he seemed. How good-natured he was. How smart he was, and how cute he was, and how come there wasn’t a guy like Haley’s friend Luke at her school?
But that was different.
Wasn’t it?
“Sort of feels full circle in a way, this whole weekend,” he said.
“It feels like a lot of things,” Jane said, who had sort of been having the same thought.
He glanced over her. “What kind of things?”
Her mind ticked off a list: nostalgic things, surprising things …
“Good things,” she said out loud. “A lot of good things.” Meant-to-be things ? the thought came, and she pushed it to the side.
He pulled into a parking spot at the venue. He turned off the engine and shifted a little in his seat, toward her. Her gaze clicked into his as they sat there, facing each other. It was just a second, just a moment, but it felt like more than that, too. And then Maddie and Ian pulled up in the spot next to them. Maddie waved and opened her door.
“To be continued?” he said, his hand on the door handle, echoing his words from last night.
“Yeah,” she said. “To be continued.”
***
They walked into the venue and were greeted with a healthy dose of controlled chaos. Blake’s childhood friend and final groomsman Kyle had just gotten there with his wife Kristy. There was a flurry of hugs and greetings, and introducing and reacquainting. Luke and Bree settled in together in a row off to the side, a couple rows back from the front as they started lining everyone up.
“Where’s Ashley?” someone asked. She was supposed to be the first bridesmaid to walk down the aisle with Kyle, followed by Maddie and Ian and Jane and Tommy.
“Of course Ashley’s late,” Jane heard Auntie Miss not-so-quietly-whisper to Uncle Bob.
“She said she was leaving right after us,” Maddie said. “Hang on, I’ll call her.”
She tried dialing but ended the call a few seconds later. “Voice mail,” she said. “I’m sure she’ll be here in a second, though.”
Everyone started pairing off, which meant Jane was supposed to be with Tommy. He came over next to her toward the back of the group. It was both weird and not to be standing next to him. “Hey,” she said.
“Hey,” he said.
“How’s it going?” she asked, like he was someone she ran into at the store. Bread and milk. Breezy and casual.
“Good,” he said. “How about you?”
“Good.”
“We remembered the sunscreen today,” he said, trying to make a joke.
She gave him a smile, since he was making an effort. “I can see that. Good job.”
They stood there for a minute, waiting. Tommy shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “So is Haley nervous?” he asked.
“I don’t think so,” she said. “Is Blake?”
“A little?” he said. Then, probably worried he was veering too close to serious territory, tacked on: “But he’ll be fine.”
“Yeah,” she said. She probably wanted to avoid serious territory even more than he did. “Definitely.”
Ashley came through the door then, a little flustered, Cody right behind her. “Sorry we’re late,” he said, and immediately headed for the seat next to Luke and Bree.
They got started, and it was almost Jane and Tommy’s turn. He offered her his arm, and she linked her arm loosely through his. That was all right. It didn’t feel especially couple-y to her because she had never really stood like that with Tommy anyway. She swallowed hard and looked out in front of her. Her eyes found Luke’s, and he gave her an encouraging smile.
Next to him, Bree had a distinctive expression on her face, one that Jane hadn’t seen on her before. It wasn’t just any look. It was a rapt look, a look of someone caught up in a moment. A look that was unguarded, on someone who didn’t think anyone would be paying attention to her. A look—honestly, there was no other way to describe it—a look that came as close to pure heart eyes as anything Jane had seen in a while, and that was including the bride and groom.
Jane was almost confused for a second, her brain taking a second to catch up, and then it clicked. Bree wasn’t looking at her, or at them. She was looking at Tommy.
Oh, my gosh , Jane thought. She likes him.
Like … really liked him, by the looks of it.
Jane cast a quick sideways glance at Tommy then, who was taking his deliberate steps forward. He didn’t seem to be registering any of it—not even a glimpse Bree’s way. He seemed completely oblivious, which would have seemed weird, except that it was totally typical Tommy, who didn’t notice things like that.
Oh, my gosh , Jane thought again, the realizations piling up like cars at a stoplight. He has no idea.
And then: Does anyone have any idea? She didn’t think so. Did Bree even know? Maybe Bree didn’t even know. Maybe Bree was realizing it herself for the first time, right now. Maybe Bree was having this moment, this big, monumental, life-changing, head-spinning moment that somehow Jane had just accidentally stumbled into and—
It was too much to think about, so Jane tried not to. She shook her head, as though the movement would make the thoughts tumble out of her ears. It was just too much to think about right then.
Jane and Tommy got to the front and took their spots on their respective sides. Jane looked at Luke again, who gave her the full world-class smize this time, a beam of light that hit her from head to toe.
And then she glanced back at Bree, and the look on her face was gone. Everything was back to normal. She wasn’t even looking in Tommy’s direction. It was almost like Jane had imagined the whole thing, except that … she hadn’t.