It was too much to even feign solemnity about our friend’s grief.
“Holyshit.”
Connor had said what we were all thinking. And the laughs were louder this time. Bailey threw up her hands and shook her head, causing us all to laugh even more.
Slowly, so slowly, our laughs died down. The bubble of tension had been burst by Bailey’s information. Even Marlo had to pull herself back together, though she’d kept the straightest face of us all through it.
Once the room was quiet, she said, “Thank you for sharing, Bailey. And I’m sorry it seemed like maybe we were laughing at your pain. It wasn’t—”
“Oh, it’s fine,” Bailey said. “How can you not?”
“Well, we certainly don’t want to make light of it. And I’m guessing the fact that he had… received the hickey from someone else adds an extra layer of complication.”
Bailey nodded, then turned toward Megan and me. “That’s what I’m saying. Yeah, I knew dropping that bomb would change the vibe. But I also think it applies. It’s nevernotcomplicated. You two getting together while going through all this? Very complicated, sure. But the whole ‘are we boyfriend/girlfriend?’ thing feels like middle school. We’re dealing with life and death here. Get over yourselves.”
Megan leaned away from Bailey, as if trying to duck her words. The movement put her closer to my chair, and I reached out and placed my fingers along her back.
She didn’t pull away.
“Harsh, but true,” Connor said. “You don’t throw something like what you two had away so easily. It’s gone too quickly. It’s all so…”
“Fragile,” Paige supplied, and Connor pointed to her.
“Exactly. Just suck it up and work it out. If you’re waiting for some grand gesture or whatever—”
“Grand gesture?” Dustin said.
“It’s a thing. I think,” Connor said. He looked to the three girls, who all nodded.
Indeed, I had been racking my brain for the past few days over what grand gesture would get Megan back into my life.
“Consider this meeting, Megan coming, tonight—thisis the grand gesture. From the group. To you,” Connor said.
I looked at Megan. There was hesitation.
“Guys,” Connor said, leaning toward our chairs, “remember ‘I would like to have seen Montana’?”
We both nodded.
“Thisis your Montana. The two of you.Seeit.”
I leaned closer to Megan and she put her hand in the middle of my chest, just like she had the first time I approached her at my house on the Friday before classes started.
“I love you,” I said.
“I love you too,” she said. She slid her hand from my chest up around my neck and pulled me closer. I didn’t think about all the people in the room as I rose from my chair and kissed Megan. My heart was pounding, but a weird calmness flooded through me.
I heard J’s voice in my head.You found her. The Girl.
Yeah, I had.
And I wasn’t going to let her go.
Epilogue
Megan
Stick and Janegot to their seats just as the puck dropped at center ice. They were using Gabe’s comp seats tonight, and they happened to be right next to Veeti’s, which Emily and I were occupying. Logan’s tickets were being used by his parents, who had come to Bribury for the weekend, since he wouldn’t be going home to Minnesota next week for Thanksgiving. The team was playing in a tournament over the holiday in Chicago.
