One of the Guys (20 page)

           
“For me, it would be really nice to
hang out with a girl,” Kate admitted. “I mean, I have my friend Lucy and
everything, but she’s the one who’s getting married…”

           
Julia nodded. “Things are
different?”

           
“Not yet…” Kate said slowly. “But
I’m sure they will be. She’s my only girl friend. Everybody else that I hang
out with is a guy. And I love the guys… But it would be nice to have more girl
friends to spend time with.”

           
“Weren’t you dating one of these
guys or something?”

           
“Kind of.
But not anymore.
Just friends.”

           
“Friends and
dating.
That hardly ever works out.”
 

           
“Tell me about it,” Kate said.

*

           
Kate and Lucy sat on the floor,
looking up at the massive Christmas tree that now took up one corner of Lucy
and Jackson’s living room. Lucy and Jackson were all moved in, furniture had
been purchased and delivered, and all of their things had been unpacked and
combined to fill the house and make it into their home.

           
Lucy had decided to wait until New
Year’s Eve to have a party rather than try to have everyone over for Christmas.
People were too busy shopping, traveling, and visiting, and Lucy and Jackson
had been so busy getting moved in, that she decided that it would be better just
to wait. However, she couldn’t wait to decorate the house for the holidays, so
while Jackson tackled putting the lights up outside, she and Kate decorated the
tree.

           
Now that she’d had some time to get
used to the idea, Kate didn’t feel so bad about Lucy and Jackson’s engagement
anymore. She’d spent enough time with the two of them to know that their
friendship would remain the same.

           
“More wine?” Lucy asked, getting to
her feet.

“Yes,
please.”
 
Kate handed Lucy her glass and
adjusted an ornament that had twisted around backwards on one of the bottom
branches of the tree. Jackson came into the room and sank into the couch,
kicking off his shoes. “All done outside?” she asked him.

“Yeah.
I think Lucy will be pretty happy,” he said.

Lucy
rejoined them in the living room. She bent and gave Jackson a big kiss. “The
lights look great outside,” she said. She handed Kate her glass of wine, and sat
down cross-legged on the floor in front of the tree again.

“Should
I order dinner?” Jackson asked.

“Sure,
go ahead.”

“I
get dinner, too?” Kate asked. “Thanks.”

Lucy
smiled. “Get extra egg rolls,” she said to Jackson.

The
two girls sat admiring the tree and making adjustments to the ornaments that
were in reach while Jackson called and ordered Chinese food. “A honey garlic
chicken, an orange chicken, an order of Szechuan beef, chicken fried rice, a
couple orders of spring rolls… and egg rolls. Yes. Yes. Chicken fried rice
instead of white rice…”

Overhearing
Jackson’s order, Kate nudged Lucy. “Why is he ordering so much?
 
You know how Chinese food is. The three of us
could split an order of garlic chicken and we’d be fine.”

Lucy
took a sip of her wine. “I think he said the guys are coming over, too.
To watch some football game or something.”

“Oh.”
 
Kate groaned inwardly.

For
the past few weeks, she’d managed to avoid the guys. She’d been very busy at
work, she’d had several evening weddings, and last weekend, she’d even managed
to convince Julia to meet her for drinks again after they both finished the
weddings they were overseeing.
Anything to avoid seeing all
of the guys at poker.
Of course, she’d have to see them eventually.

With
the food order placed, Jackson got up to get the dishes and silverware. Lucy
got back to her feet and started adjusting a few ornaments higher up on the
tree. Kate thought about going to check her appearance in the bathroom, but it
was too late. The doorbell rang and in came Max, Chris, and Kevin. They all
hovered in the kitchen for awhile with Jackson, drinking beer and talking
loudly about whatever game they were going to watch on TV.

Lucy
went into the kitchen to greet everyone, but Kate remained on the floor with
her glass of wine.

“The
tree looks nice.”

Kate
looked up just as Chris crouched down next to her. “Hey,” she said.

“Hey,
yourself.
Where have you been lately?
 
I haven’t seen you at poker in forever.”

Kate
shrugged. “Busy, I guess.”

Chris
narrowed his eyes. “Busy, or did I piss you off?”

“I
don’t want to talk about it,” she said.

“Is
it because I wouldn’t spend the night at your house like you wanted?” he asked.

“Lower
your voice!” she said.

“Do
you know why I didn’t want to spend the night with you?”

Kate
glared up at him, not sure she wanted to hear what he was going to say.

“There
are several reasons.
One, because apparently you were dating
Max.
Two, because Max always said you didn’t want to get serious with
him because you were looking for a real relationship. So yeah, that makes
three, that I was afraid that we were going to get too serious, too fast, and
that it would ruin our friendship.”

Kate
sat staring at him, feeling like a little child being scolded.

“So
which is it?”

“Which…
What?”

“Who
are you dating?
 
Are you dating Max?
 
Are you dating me?
 
What’s going on?”

“I’m
not dating anybody. I thought Max and I had a deal. I thought you and I could
be a couple. That didn’t seem like it was working. So I’m not dating anybody.”

“That’s
it, then?
 
We’re done?
 
Just like that?”

“What’s
the point?
 
You just said you didn’t want
things to get too serious. So, there you go. You’re off the hook. You don’t
have to worry about it.”
 
With that, Kate
got to her feet, grabbed her wine glass, and headed for the kitchen. She
stopped in her tracks when her eyes met Max’s. He’d told Jackson. He’d told
Chris…

In
the kitchen, Jackson put his arm around her and gave her a squeeze. “Can I fill
up your glass?” he asked.

           
She shook her head.

           
“There she is!
 
Hey, Kate!
 
You haven’t been at poker lately. Jackson says you’ve been really busy
with work!” Kevin said
,
digging into a bowl of chips
as Lucy shook them out of the bag.

           
Kate nodded. “Everybody’s starting
to plan their summer weddings…”

           
“
Which reminds me!
”
Lucy shrieked. “I need to show you something. Come upstairs!”

           
Although she was relieved, Kate
raised her hands in a gesture as if to say, “See what I mean?” and allowed Lucy
to grab her by the wrist and pull her out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

           
“What’s this all about?” Kate asked,
sitting down on the edge of Lucy and Jackson’s bed.

           
“I found my wedding dress.”

           
Kate gasped. “What?
 
I thought we were going to go shopping
together after Christmas.”

           
Lucy held up her hands. “That’s the
thing. I didn’t go shopping.”

           
“What?”

           
“Hang on. I’ll be right back.”
 
Lucy disappeared into the bathroom with a
grin, closing the doors behind her.

           
Kate sat, fiddling with her wine
glass, wondering what Lucy was going to come out with. She had her answer a minute
later, when the bathroom doors were flung open, and Lucy emerged, wearing a
long, pale pink, satin sheath. Kate stared at the dress. It looked vaguely
familiar, with delicate rhinestone straps and a loose gathering of material at
the bust.

           
“Is that your
prom dress
?” Kate asked, getting to her feet.

           
Lucy did a little twirl, and when
Kate saw the low back and the little train, she realized that it was, indeed,
the dress Lucy had worn to their senior prom. “I found it when I was at my
parents’ house getting the last of my stuff. Can you believe it still fits?”

           
Kate cocked her head to the side and
grinned. “I actually think it looks better on you now than it did back then.”

           
Lucy beamed. “Good. Because this is
what I’m marrying Jackson in.”

           
Kate shook her head. “Wait a minute.
You’re going to get married in your… prom dress?
 
In your…
pink
prom dress?”

           
“
It’s
pale
pink,” Lucy said, smoothing it down
over her hips and turning to look at herself in the bathroom mirrors. “And I
figure, why not?
 
I loved this dress. It’s
a great dress. And I only got to wear it once.”

           
“What did your mom say?”

           
“She wasn’t thrilled. But I told her
that she could hang on to the money she was saving to buy my dress and put it
towards some other part of the wedding.
The flowers or the
food or something.
She actually seemed to like that idea.”

           
Kate shrugged. “It’s your wedding. You
have to do what you want.”

           
Lucy threw her arms around Kate and
gave her a big hug. “I’m so excited!”

After Lucy
changed back into her clothes and the dress was once again hanging carefully in
her closet, she and Kate made their way back downstairs. They sat at the dining
room table with wedding magazines spread out around them, looking through them
for ideas and inspiration.

“I
don’t want a wedding like my sister’s,” Lucy said, repeating what she’d said
several times already. “I just want it to be small. I don’t want a huge bridal
party – just you, my sister, and Bridget.
And the guys.”

Kate
looked up from the hairstyle article she had been skimming.
“The
guys?”

“Well,
yeah. I have three girls, and he needs three guys. He wanted Chris to be in the
wedding, but he’s going to be taking the pictures, so the groomsmen will be
Max, Kevin, and Jackson’s friend James, from New York.”

“Please
don’t make me walk down the aisle with Max,” Kate said.

Lucy
rolled her eyes. “You can walk down with whoever you want,” she said. “Did I
tell you that my parents’ friend is going to do the ceremony for us?
 
And I think we decided on a location!”

“I
didn’t even know you’d decided on a date yet. That should come first, so we can
see what places are available.”

“Sometime
in June, after school gets out,” Lucy said. “And I think we’re just going to
have the wedding here.”

Kate
looked around the dining room. “Here?”

“Outside
on the beach.”

“I
thought you said you didn’t want your wedding to be like your sister’s,” Kate
said, puzzled. Last year, Lucy’s sister, Maggie, had gotten married on the
beach.

“Well,
yeah, but that was at the Davenport, and it was this big fancy reception. I
want to get married right outside the house. Do you realize, that when we were
kids, it was somewhere on the beach out there, that Jackson first told me that
he loved me and wanted to marry me someday?” Lucy said, her eyes shining.

Kate
swallowed. There was no denying the fact that Lucy’s mind was made up. “Okay,
so you’ll get married outside. What about the reception?”

“Here
at the house,” Lucy said matter-of-factly. “We’ve got this big, beautiful
house; we might as well use it.”

Kate
closed her magazine and started ticking things off on her fingers.
“Dress – check.
Location – check.
Officiant
– check. Photographer – check. All we need to figure out is food, cake,
flowers, music, and what the bridal party is wearing.”