Bunches (20 page)

I shake my head. Guys and their
sports. Just ridiculous. Can’t they bond over anything else? JJ and Ellis
already sound like best friends, which is exactly what I don’t want!

“What about you, Nora? Have you
suddenly become a fan of football too?” Ellis asks over his shoulder. He’s
trying not to grin at me.

“I’ll watch it,” I say, since I
don’t even know the rules. Sometimes at the bar when my friends went to the
bathroom I’d just watch the TV. It was always sports.

JJ glances back at me and grins.
I’m caught in his smile.

“Oh, wow, there you are!” a
familiar female voice cries. I’m not prepared for it and I almost trip. Ellis
and JJ had distracted me so much that I didn’t realize we were walking right up
to Amelia and Sylvan.

Where the hell is Lizzy when I
need her?
I
wondered.

Amelia has curly brown hair that
falls to her waist, and her brown eyes are almond-shaped. She’s short, only a
couple of inches over five feet, but her bubbly personality makes up for it.

Or at least it used to.

Amelia, who has already greeted
JJ, gives Ellis a giant hug. She’s grinning from ear to ear.

I stand there panicking. My palms
are sweaty. What if she hates me? What if my presence is ruining her wedding?
What if she blames me just like her mom did for all these years, and her text
was just a cruel joke to get me here and make fun of me? I’m about to turn
around and run when JJ laces his fingers through mine. He looks at me, and his
eyes say, “You’re fine. You can do this. You are strong.” He mouths, “Breathe”
as I walk toward Amelia.

But what if I’m not strong? What
if I can’t take it? I’m pleading now.

I take a deep breath. I haven’t
needed to do that in a while, I realize, not since I started talking to JJ at
the beginning of the summer. It’s amazing how caring about the right person can
make your world open up and blossom.

It’s my turn next and Amelia’s
eyes fill with tears. I don’t even realize what’s happening until we’ve thrown
our arms around each other.

“I asked Mom,” Amelia whispers in
my ear. “I know it’s crazy to want to meet up at my wedding, but I just knew I
couldn’t get married without you. He would never have forgiven me.” Neither of
us needed to say who “he” was.

We hold onto each other tight. I
don’t even know what I’m saying, except that I’m so grateful to be there and
see her.

When we finally let each other go
we’re both crying. Amelia sniffles. “Look at me, I spent all this time doing my
makeup, and for what?” She gives a watery laugh.

Leaning back, she keeps a firm
hold on my hands.

“You’re stunning,” she says. “So
beautiful.”

I roll my eyes. “Yeah, right.”

Amelia laughs. “Still hate
compliments?”

“Yup,” I grin. “Congratulations,
by the way.” I wave my hand to take in the scene all around us.

“Thanks,” she gushes. “Did you
meet James? Isn’t he just yummy?”

I grin. “Yeah, yummy.”

“Look, I want to catch up,” she
says. “After the honeymoon, the next time we’re both in Boston . . . can we
spend some time together? I know I don’t deserve it, not after how we treated
you, but. . . .” I see tears forming in her eyes and rush forward to hug her
again.

“Of course,” I whisper. “There’s
nothing I’d like more.”

There will be a time and a place
for talking about what happened. We need to, and we both know it. I need to
talk to Amelia before I can heal fully. But today, this weekend, is not the
time.

She gives me a grateful look and
one more snuffle. “I need to go find my almost-husband,” she says. She smiles
and gives me a wave, then comes back and seizes my hand again.

“Thank you,” she says. “Thank you
so much. Michael really did pick the most amazing girl.” With one last smile
she disappears into the throng of well-wishers.

I don’t know whether to laugh or
cry. I decide neither reaction is appropriate here, but both, and a bucket of
ice cream, will definitely be appropriate later.

Ellis, Sylvan, and JJ have all
disappeared, but I see Lizzy coming from the house.

“There you are,” says Lizzy,
rolling her eyes at me. “I’ve been looking everywhere.”

Seeing the stricken look on my
face she claps a hand over her mouth and says, “Oh no. What happened. Did you
see him?”

“Steven?”

She rolls her eyes. “No, that’s
the look
I
would make if I’d seen Steven. JJ. Is he here? Is Sylvan with
him?” She can’t quite keep the excitement out of her voice.

I nod. “I saw him after we came
in. He went off somewhere with my brother.”

“Man, that guy wins fans fast,”
she says.

I laugh. “They gave me space so I
could talk to Amelia.”

Lizzy makes an “o” shape with her
mouth.

“Let’s go find Steven,” she says.
“That will get your mind off your stupid man.”

“I heard stupid man and I knew
you must be talking about me,” says Sylvan, coming up behind us. JJ and Ellis
are with him. I glare at my brother. Traitor!

He just shrugs. I’m not sure if
I’m mad at him for leaving me alone with Amelia (I mean, he probably should
have) or for going off with JJ as if they’re all buddy buddy.

Lizzy giggles. “No,” she says.
“We were talking about someone else.” She gives a meaningful look at JJ.

“You and Amelia have a chance to
talk?” Ellis asks.

“Yeah,” I say. “We did. It was
nice.”

I refuse to look at JJ. I don’t
care if he gave me the strength to face her in the first place.

“So, how’s this for fun? Steven,
his new girlfriend Jaia, and Kevin are our dinner partners.”

Oh, man.

Dinner is painful.

At one point Sylvan leans over to
me and says, “What the hell is going on here? I feel like we’re caught between
two armies doing battle.”

I chuckle. “You really think of
Lizzy and Jaia that way?”

Sylvan raises his eyebrow at me.
“You, my friend,” he says with deep accusation in his voice, “have never truly
pissed off a woman.”

On the way to the Rockwells’ that
night I hadn’t thought about seating arrangements. I was too busy daydreaming
about Nora in a short black dress, her legs striding confidently as her hips
swished.

I desperately wanted to be around
Nora, and Ellis is awesome, but she’s clearly angry with me - with good reason.

“What the hell is her ex doing
bringing his girlfriend to this event anyway?” Sylvan asks me out of the side
of his mouth.

“Steven should never have brought
Jaia,” I whisper back. She was nice enough, quiet, but she obviously didn’t
understand the history between her new boyfriend and his now ex-girlfriend.
Lizzy is furious, and she can be the queen of catty when necessary.

Kevin has no idea what’s going
on, so at one point Ellis takes him aside and explains it to him. He comes back
looking entirely enlightened. By the end of the meal I just want to go home,
but there are still toasts to be gotten through.

“It’s so pretty here,” says Jaia.

“Do you know anything about
gardening or flowers or plants?” Lizzy asks dangerously.

Jaia gives her a bewildered look.
“No,” she says.

“Does she need to in order to
appreciate beauty?” Steven asks, his eyes flashing.

“Nope,” says Lizzy. “Just trying
to understand exactly what I’m dealing with.”

“A bad attitude,” says Steven.

Kevin is his brother’s best man,
and when he stands up to read his speech, we all quiet down. He isn’t as
good-looking as James, his nose is a little large for his face and his eyes are
light brown instead of bright blue. But he has the same lovely smile.

He clears his throat, a little
nervous. “I overheard my brother talking to Amelia once,” he says. “My brother
isn’t romantic, so it shocked me when I heard him say, ‘In the heat of the
moment I saw you and knew that I would love you forever.’”

“If forever is a few years until
you’re bored, then sure,” Lizzy mutters. Steven gives her a sharp look.

“James continued talking. The
next thing they agreed to do was even more shocking. ‘We promise to love,
honor, and cherish each other.’”

“Or until you find someone
sluttier,” Lizzy mutters, just loud enough for Jaia to hear. Steven’s face is
as red as a cherry.

Now Kevin is turning to Amelia
and addressing her directly. “You’ve found a man who loves you
unconditionally,” he says.

“At least until he sees one of
your flaws. Low standards!” Lizzy cuts in.

Now everyone at the table is
looking at Lizzy. She’s so caught up in the heat of the moment, giving quiet
responses to Kevin’s speech, that she barely notices.

I reach over and take Nora’s
hand, and she doesn’t pull it away. “It’s okay,” I whisper to her. I can see
her flinching, and Sylvan is sitting there stony-faced. Nora hates it when her
friends are in pain.

Steven looks furious and Jaia
looks bewildered. I wonder what Steven told her to make her think coming here
was a good idea.

Finally, Steven pushes his chair
away and motions for Lizzy to follow him out. At first she refuses, but she
relents when she catches on to how angry Steven is.

Jaia tries to get him to sit, but
he refuses. As Lizzy walks past my chair I touch her wrist. “If you need me,
just yell,” I whisper to her.

She smiles at me. “And disrupt
the wonderful speech?”

Sylvan nods a thank you to me. I
glance at Nora to see how she’s taken my offer of help, but she’s still
refusing to look at me. The second Lizzy is out of view she releases my hand.

“She’ll come around,” whispers
Ellis, shaking his head. “Just give her time.”

“I don’t deserve her to come
around,” I say back. “And I don’t want to wait.”

“True love knows no bounds,
including minor screwups,” says Ellis sagely. He points to the stage. “I’m sure
they’re going to get out that little pearl of wisdom at some point.” He turns
back to Kevin, who is still speaking. We all settle in to finish listening to
the speeches.

Lizzy and Steven are gone for a
long time. I can see both Sylvan and Jaia start to fidget. Sylvan obviously
likes Lizzy and is probably having nightmares about Steven realizing what an
asshole he’s been and wanting Lizzy back and Lizzy accepting. Jaia doesn’t seem
concerned that her new boyfriend has disappeared with his ex-girlfriend. She
just looks bored and a little impatient.

Eventually, Nora pushes her chair
back. Her mouth in a resolute line.

Ellis motions for me to go with
her, so I follow her in the same direction that Steven and Lizzy took.

Once we’re safely inside and away
from the speeches she whirls around. “Are you following me?” she demands.

“No, I’m looking for Lizzy and
Steven,” I say casually stuffing my hands into my pockets.

“So am I,” she says, rolling her
eyes.

“Lucky me,” I say.

“Not yet,” she says, raising her
tiny fist menacingly. “But you could be.”

I take her fist in my hand and
hold it. She tries in vain to pull away. “Just let me say this,” I insist. I’m
not above begging for this girl. “I screwed up. You know it and I know it. I’m
sorry for it. Just tell me what I have to do to fix it.”

There’s a long pause, then her
brow smooths and for a second I think she’s softening. Then her resolve
strengthens again.

“You owe me BIG time,” she says.
“Come along.”

I follow her quickly. “Does that
mean I have a chance?”

She just shrugs. “Let’s find
Steven and Lizzy before Lizzy does something drastic.”

“Like what?” I ask curiously.

“The last time a guy broke up
with Lizzy was in fourth grade and she socked him in the eye,” she says.

“First of all,” I say, holding up
my index finger, “who says ‘sock’ anymore?”

“I do.” Snow piled on the ice.

“And second of all,” I hold up
another finger, “Steven definitely deserves to be socked, so walk more slowly.”
Nora throws back her head and laughs. My heart soars at the sound.

“He does, but I don’t want Lizzy
to ruin Amelia’s wedding,” she says, her eyes twinkling with happiness.

“Oh right,” I say. “Well, maybe
she can sock him Sunday.”

“Exactly,” she says. “I’m glad we
understand each other.”

“We always have,” I say, then
instantly regret moving to such a serious topic. But Nora doesn’t say anything,
she just keeps walking. I’m relieved. I’ve hurt her enough for a lifetime. Now
I want to spend the rest of my life making her the happiest girl in the world.