He stood framed by the tall, elegant windows, his hands in his pockets ruining the line of his pants. He arched one eyebrow, an affectation I’d tried to copy (unsuccessfully, alas) for years. “I was invited. Along with half the island.”
Right. He’d been years ahead of Daanis and me in school. But there were only six hundred people living year-round on Mackinac. Now that Daanis wasstuck here forevermaking her home here, she could hardly leave him off the guest list.
“I meant”—I flapped my hand—“out here. Outside.”
He shrugged. “I saw you leave. You looked upset.”
There was a certain relief in not having to pretend. Joe had already seen me at my worst. It’s not like anything I said was going to lower his opinion.
“Of course I’m upset. My best friend just got married. How am I supposed to feel?”
“You could try being happy for her.”
“I am. It’s just…”
He waited, that aggravating eyebrow curved like a fishhook, and everything I hadn’t said all day came boiling out. “I always dreamed we’d be doing things together, going to school, traveling to Europe, living our best lives. And instead, she’s settling for Zack.”
“Everybody settles,” Joe said. “It’s called growing up.”
“Giving up, you mean. She’s only twenty-one.” My age. “The only reason to settle is if you believe you don’t deserve any better. Daanis was going to be an artist. She was supposed to move to New York with me and sell her paintings on the sidewalk, not get a stupid associate’s degree in accounting and work in her parents’ gift shop for the rest of her life.”
My words hung hot in the air and were blown away on the breeze. I gulped.
Joe watched me, a surprisingly sympathetic gleam in his eyes. “Feel better?”
“Maybe. A little,” I admitted reluctantly. “You’re like a counterirritant. Like, stubbing your toe and forgetting about your broken leg.”
The gleam turned into a full-on knee-weakening grin. “Nice talking to you, too.”
“Such a jerk,” I said.
Which didn’t explain why I was smiling as I slipped back inside.
“Anne!” Daanis grabbed me as I skirted the dance floor. “I’ve been looking for you all over!”
I hugged her back hard, closing my eyes against sudden tears.
She drew back to arm’s length. “Have you met Zack’s friend Kyle?” she asked. “They were plebes together.”
My heart sank. “Another one?”
“I thought…” Her dark, liquid eyes searched mine. “You said you weren’t seeing anybody since Brandon.”
The hipster English major who’d ghosted me after I slept with him. I shrugged. “I’ve been kind of focused on classes.”
We’d be college roommates, I’d declared, once upon a time. When I got into Northwestern and Daanis went to North Central, I’d told her—I told myself—that her credits would transfer. But then Zack got out of the merchant marine and went to work for the ferry line, and Daanis moved home and started taking night classes in Cheboygan so she could be with him.
“You’re so smart,” she said.
“Ha. I used to think so.”
“I just want you to be happy.”
You could try being happy for her, Joe said in my head.
“I am happy.” I squeezed her hands. “You look so beautiful. It’s a beautiful wedding.”
She beamed. “Isn’t today the best day? I can’t wait until it’s your turn. I just know you’ll find true love one day, too.”
