“I was in a movie with that scenario once. I played the best friend.”
“That’s probably where I got the idea. The fantasy of it all.”
“I take it he wasn’t waiting there with a ring.”
“Oh, he was there, all right.” Chloe sat back, taking a bite of her dinner, motioning for Jesse to continue.
“I found a plastic ring in a gumball machine at the local convenience store. Spent about five bucks trying to get it, but I did. It was hideous. I thought,This is going to be so funny. Giving her a fake engagement ring.” I figured she’d get mad, tell me to grow up, and maybe, hopefully, decide I was a tasteless cad and break up with me. Have the old ‘You’re so immature’ argument.”
Chloe set her plate on the table and took up her Diet Coke. “As my girlfriend and I walked to our table—she was going on and on about a new role she’d auditioned for—then bam! There he was. Haden.”
“So he was there?”
“All golden and gorgeous. Perfect. I ran over to him just as he bent forward to kiss the woman sitting next to him. Marilyn West.”
“Marilyn West? He threw you over for Marilyn? Wow... Way to trade a million-dollar-girl for one who’s a dime a dozen. The man has no taste.”
“Maybe, but that moment was a knife to my heart.” Her eyes glistened.
“I’m so sorry, babe.” The intimate nickname slipped from his lips without warning, without premeditation. “That had to hurt.”
“Oh, the story gets worse. Your turn.”
Jesse set his plate aside and slumped down against the cushions, bracing for the painful edge of his memories.
“We’d gone down to the beach for a game of football and a final dip in the waves. The music was playing, the guys were running for fake touchdowns, and the girls were strutting in their bikinis. That’s when I get the wild idea to fake-propose in front of everyone. The joke would be onme.”
“Turns out the jokewason me,” Chloe said. “I was so shocked, I walked right up to them. ‘Haden, what are you doing?’” She winced, mirroring Jesse’s move to duck into the sofa cushions. “‘Is this a scene? Are you shooting up here?’ I even glanced around for the cameras and crew. They were filming a romcom together, but I wasn’t aware of any rooftop scenes.”
“Oh, he was inSlap Happywith Marilyn, wasn’t he? But there were no cameras there that night?”
“Oh, there were cameras, all right.” Chloe swigged from her Diet Coke. “Your turn.”
“We’d finished the football game, brought out all the leftovers, built a fire in the fire pit, watched the sunset. That’s when I pulled my stunt. With a glance at my brother, like,Watch this, I bent to one knee in front of Loxley. Dan went crazy, shaking his head. ‘Jess,’ he said. But I ignored him, took the ring from my pocket, and said, ‘Loxley, will you marry me?’”
“When Haden saw me, he jumped up like he’d been touched with fire. ‘Chloe?’ he said. ‘What are you doing here?’ I smartly replied, ‘I was going to ask you the same thing.’ Marilyn turned red as the sunset and said, ‘You told me you two broke up.’ She started to leave, and he chased after her. That’s when it went down. I lost my mind. I went berserk, whacko, cuckoo. ‘You’re on a date with Marilyn? You’re cheating on me?’ Didn’t help I had dated Clark Davis, who perpetually cheated on me. So I stepped on Haden’s foot and socked him in the face. I screamed. Cussed him up one side and down the other. Then Marilyn got involved. ‘No wonder he’s donewith you.’ Then, oh, it was on! A cat fight like you’ve never seen. So irate and hurt, I didn’t see the cell phones coming out.”
“So the cameraswerethere.”
“About fifty of them.”
“Man.” Jesse shook his head, stretching his legs long. “I washorribleto Loxley. When I got down on one knee, she gasped, started crying, looking around at her also-gasping girlfriends, and reached for the ring. She stared at it for a moment, frowning. I’m allHee, hee, hee, this is so funny, waiting for her to get it.” He mocked himself, the anger in his tone real. “Then she gave me a look that could’ve killed. ‘What’s this?’ I snickered, ‘Your ring, m’lady.’ She shot me blue daggers. ‘Jesse Gates, what’s going on? Are you proposing or not? Where’s the ring I picked out?’ Right then and there, I knew my error. Big mistake. She freaked. ‘Do you seriously mean to propose to me with this cheap, hideousbleep,bleep,bleepring?’ And suddenly I’m not smiling anymore.”
“Haden broke up the fight with Marilyn and unleashed on me. Called me all sorts of wicked names.” Her tears bubbled up again. “I wish he’d struck me instead. Even now, two years later, I can still hear each nasty name and the tone of his voice.”
“Lox slapped me silly and stormed off, steam coming out of her ears. I caught up to her, tried to apologize, but she was livid. ‘Do you mean to marry me or not?’ In light of everything, I had to be honest. ‘No, well, not right now. I’m only twenty. Dan and I are starting a business.’ She spit in my face and demanded to know if I loved her. ‘Not like that,’ I said. ‘I wish I did, Lox, but I don’t. I think there’s someone else for me.’” He huffed. “To this day I don’t know why I said that.”
“You had to be honest.”
“Yeah, but I never imagined there’d be someone else for me. The words just came out.” He sat up to bear the burden of his past.
“I went off on Haden, striking him over and over. Four-letter words flying.” She batted her hands in the air, demonstrating. “Finally he pinned my arm to my side and said, ‘Chloe, it’s over.You’re so fixated on the stupid idea of true love you can’t see we’re not right. I don’t love you. You’re not a girlfriend, you’re a leech.’”
“A leech?” He couldn’t see it. Never. She was so giving and gentle. Beautiful. The perfect remedy to any man’s bachelor life. “Chloe, trust me, you are no leech.”
“Be grateful you’ve never been my boyfriend.” She laughed, but he knew it wasn’t real. “But it wasn’t enough for me that he told me it was over in front of fifty smart phones. Nooo. I had to start crying, wailing, pleading with him to stay with me. Work it out.” Chloe pressed a throw pillow to her face. “Ack, it makes me sick to think about it.”
“Loxley ran off. Down the beach. Hollering for me to leave her alone. I knew she needed to process, so I went back to the house and our stunned friends. But I was convinced if she thought about it, she’d realize she didn’t love me either. Not enough for marriage. She just wanted to check off her list. Her dad was a cop, her mom a nurse, her brother a professor, her sister an international financier.”
