She inclines her head. “You could tell him… that.”
I rub my forehead. “I’d rather not.”
“You haven’t been in a hospital since then?”
“Nope. Haven’t had a need to, thankfully.”
“You could do it.” She holds my gaze. “I know you could.”
I’m not as certain, but I appreciate her faith in me. She drops the subject.
Mabel and Benny arrive around seven. Mabel greets me and Nikki with big hugs. “How was your trip?” Mabel asks us.
“It was good. How about yours?”
They start yakking about St. Lucia as we all move first to the kitchen to get drinks, then to the living room. Mabel makes herself at home and starts some music; she did live here for a few months when she left her asshole ex and moved to New Jersey.
“It was so beautiful,” she gushes. “The beaches were gorgeous. And we had our own butler!”
“A butler? Whoa.” I shake my head.
“It was trippy. He looked after us the whole time. Served us drinks on the beach and at the pool. He offered to unpack for us, but that seemed weird to me.”
“Hmm. I guess.” I’ve never had that service either.
“And we went scuba diving.”
“I’d love to try that!” Nikki says.
“There are amazing coral reefs,” Mabel goes on. “We saw seahorses! That was so cool! And so many fish, I can’t even remember all the names. And turtles!”
“Did you get pictures?” Nikki asks.
“Yes, I had an underwater camera. I’ll show you sometime.”
She and Benny talk more about the amazing food they ate, paddle boarding, the spa at the resort. Then she starts asking us questions about the Finger Lakes, and we tell her about our trip. This goes on for a while, until Mabel jumps to her feet and cries, “Oh my God! What is wrong with you?”
I freeze and look at her like she’s a mountain lion about to pounce. “Who? Me? What?”
She thrusts her left hand right in front of my face. An enormous diamond glitters on her third finger. “I’ve been waving my hand around all night hoping you’d notice!”
“Holy shit.” I look over at Benny, who’s grinning. “You’re engaged?”
“Yeah.” Benny beams. “I proposed at the resort.”
Nikki gives a little scream. “Oh my God! Congratulations! Let me see the ring.” She admires it while I give Benny a bro hug.
Then I turn back to my sister and meet her eyes. We both smile, and I pull her into a hug.
There was a time when I wasn’t too happy about Mabel and Benny being together. But after I got used to the idea and realized that my buddy is the best guy I could ever want for Mabel, I was okay with it. He really does make her happy. And she makes him happy, too, even though she’s kind of wacky and talkative and way too sociable for him.
“This is great,” I say. “I’m happy for you both.”
“Thanks, man,” Benny replies. “I was hoping you would be. You know I’ll take care of Mabel.”
“I know.” I turn. “Do Mom and Dad know?” I ask Mabel.
“Yes. Benny talked to Dad before we left on our trip and told him he was going to propose.”
