“Yes.”
“Do you believeinme?”
“Jesus.Yes.” He wrenched her wrist away from his sleeve with his other hand. “Is that what you want to hear?”
Shiloh nodded.
Cary let go of her wrist.
She settled back into her seat and turned up the car radio.
He was still breathing kind of loud, like he was frustrated. Like—breathing as commentary.
“I like this song,” Shiloh said after a while. It was “Babe” by Styx. “Even though Styx is lame.”
“Styx isn’t lame,” Cary said. “Aren’t.”
He turned on the car engine, but Shiloh knew he was just giving the battery a boost so they could keep listening to the radio. He wasn’t going anywhere.
Cary had probably had the full senior prom experience with his girlfriend. They probably had sex in the back seat. The girl probably cried.Angie.Maybe Cary cried, too. Because it was all coming to an end. Because he was going away. Because the two of them were going to drift apart, like people do.
Eleven
The bride and groom danced to a Cowboy Junkies song. Shiloh had forgotten about the Cowboy Junkies.
Shiloh wished she knew their story—Mike and Janine’s. It had to be romantic. First love, reconnection...
The wedding party dance came next. Cary danced with a bridesmaid. The bridesmaids wore long column dresses—sage green, halter neck. They were all in their thirties. Women with children. Cary’s dance partner looked like she’d been tanning a lot recently. He was holding her in two places. The standard places. The song was “You’ve Got a Friend” by James Taylor—it wasn’t very danceable, even for a slow dance.
Shiloh had never understood the point of wedding party dances. She hadn’t had one at her own wedding. She’d barely had a wedding party.
When the song was over, something fast started. Whitney Houston. Cary looked up in Shiloh’s direction, catching her staring at him. She looked away.
“Cary!” Becky called out a few seconds later.
He was walking up to their table. Ronny pushed out a chair. “Have a seat, homes!”
“I can’t,” Cary said. “I’d love to—but Janine wants us to get everyone dancing. It’s a snowball dance, so I have to drag someone back with me.”
Shiloh was trying not to look at him, but it was too hard; she was only going to get so many opportunities before this night was over.
Cary glanced over at her. His eyebrow twitched.
“I’ll go.” Tina jumped up and took his hand.
Shiloh watched them walk away.
“I thought Tina was a lesbian now,” somebody said.
“That was just a one-time thing.”
“It was at least a two-time thing. Ask her ex-husband, ha ha.”
“You can be both, you know.”
“Both what?”
“A lesbian and, like, regular.”
