“I didn’t say Ilovedyou guys, I said I’d miss you,” Jack countered.
“Same difference,” she said, sticking her tongue out at him.
Tired of the back-and-forth, Mike declared himself tired and we walked out into the hallway. I felt a knot in my throat. I guess Naya wasn’t the only cornball in our group. This really was it—the end of something. And I was ready for what was going to come next, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t a part of me that longed to stay behind with my second family. For better or for worse, we had all chosen each other, and looking back, I don’t think I could have found better people to spend my college years with.
Grinning, I said, “You guys behave, all right?”
A tear rolled down Naya’s cheek, Will smiled, and Sue stood there with her arms crossed.
“You, too,” Will said.
Jack grabbed my hand. Sue finally managed to show a human emotion, asking, “We are going to hang out again, right? You guys said so. I’m taking that as a promise.”
Impulsively, I threw myself at her and squeezed her until she screamed for me to let her go. “Group hug!” Naya called out, and everyone wrapped around us. We swayed together a few minutes longer, then Mike, Jack, and I walked down to the car.
As I watched the highway roll past us in the nighttime, everything was silent except for Mike snoring in the back seat. I looked over at Jack, who seemed pensive. His hand was on the gearshift. I reached over and grabbed it.
“I’m remembering something my therapist told me about stages in life,” I told him. “How every time a door closes behind you, a new one opens.”
He smiled. “Does it lead to a better place or a worse one?”
I laughed. “What we’ve experienced together has been incredible, Jack. But something tells me the future is going to be even better.”
“I think so, too.”
I pulled his hand into my lap and felt his thumb tracing out the edge of my engagement ring. When he reached the diamond in the center, he looked over at me and asked, “Are you ready for the next stage, Jen?”
I didn’t have to think twice. I just smiled and nodded.
“I sure am.”
Epilogue
April Sixteenth
I took a deep breath and stared into the mirror.
“You look great,” Shannon told me. “Stop being such a worrywart.”
“It’s fine,” my mother chided her. “If she feels nervous, that’s natural. But honey, youaregorgeous. I can’t tell you how proud it makes me that one of my children is finally getting married.”
She wiped away a tear, and to distract her from the tension, I said, “Yeah. I wouldn’t keep my fingers crossed for the rest of them.”
“I still have hope for Shannon,” she admitted. “The other three…well, we’ll just have to see.”
Shannon said we should go outside, and I reminded her Dad was supposed to come up first. She nodded and said they’d give me a little time to myself. Then she squeezed my arm and said, “Good luck out there.”
As the seconds passed slowly, I reexamined myself. My makeup was nothing fancy—I hadn’t wanted it to be. My hair was tied back in a bun with a few loose strands framing my face. That was a last-minute change, against my stylist’s wishes, but it was a humid day and my curls wouldn’t play nice. I ran my fingers down the edge of the dress. I had thought it was perfect when I bought it, and even though I was anxious now, I had to admit, it looked amazing. Simple but elegant, strapless,form-fitting, with a flounced skirt… Even Dad liked it, and he groused about everything.
I was going out barefoot. Everyone was. I wished I could have seen the look on Mom’s face when Shannon told her that was the dress code. I grinned at the thought and smoothed out a slight wrinkle as I heard a knock on the door. It was Naya, who peeked in and said, “Can I? We’ve got a slight emergency.”
“What is it?”
“I think he needs his mommy.”
Naya pushed her way in, holding Jay in her arms. He was screaming like a banshee and pulling Naya’s hair as she tried and failed to keep his little arms at bay.
“I’m sorry,” she said, “I just suck with kids. I tried with Jane, but I could never calm her down the way Will could, not to mention Mike.”
