One of the Guys (26 page)

           
Happy that she had gotten so much
accomplished, Kate shut down her computer, turned all the lights off in the
office, and made sure to double check that the door was locked. She started
walking to her car and was surprised to see Kevin walking down the sidewalk
towards her, carrying a pizza box. “Hey there!” he said, his face breaking into
a wide smile.

           
Kate immediately felt bad. It had
been a few weeks since she’d seen or spoken to Kevin. This was partly because
she’d gotten so busy with work, and partly because she was afraid that maybe
she’d given him the wrong impression by hanging out with him. Yeah, it was cute
when his mom and sister teased them about going out, but there was no way that
could happen. Like Jackson had said,
three
strikes and you’re out.

           
“Hi,” she said.
“Dinner?”

           
“Yeah.
You
see, I’m a guy. And I don’t really cook.”
 

           
“I better let you get home so you
can eat,” Kate said.

           
“Actually, why don’t you join me?”
he suggested. “It’s an extra-large.
Extra pepperoni.
No
mushrooms.”

           
Kate thought it over for a second. “How
can I say no to that?” she asked, stuffing her keys in her purse. She turned
around and started walking with Kevin towards his apartment.

           
“Why don’t we eat outside?” Kevin
asked
,
unlocking the door and holding it open for Kate
to walk inside.

           
“Sure. It’s nice out,” she said. Kevin
turned on the lights and handed the pizza to Kate. She hadn’t been to his
apartment in ages, but it looked exactly the same as she remembered.
Poker table in the dining room.
Couch with the blanket
tossed over the back. Kate dropped her purse on the coffee table. She turned on
the light outside and went out on the balcony while Kevin went into the kitchen
to get plates, napkins, and drinks. He handed her a can of Coke, opened the
pizza box, and offered her the first slice.

“So
how have you been?” Kevin asked. “Busy at work?”

“Very!”
 
Kate explained the post-Valentine’s Day spike
in business to him.

“Chris
said that you guys worked together and that he tried to get you to the poker
game last week.”

“He
tried,” she said, leaving it at that.

They
sat at the little table eating off the plates in their laps. Kevin asked how
things were going with her parents, and she in turn asked about his family.

“They’re
good. Mom keeps asking when I’m going to bring you over for dinner.”

Kate
giggled. “Tell her I said hi,” she said, hoping to deflect his suggestion.

When
they had polished off half the pizza and neither one of them could eat another
bite, Kevin cleaned up and took everything inside. Kate stood up and leaned
over the railing. She remembered hanging out with Kevin and Jackson after a
poker game once. It seemed so long ago.

Kevin
rejoined her and rested his arms against the railing. “So, when do you want to
go to dinner?”
 
She turned to face him,
and he could tell by the look on her face that maybe that wasn’t such a good
idea. “I mean, just casual.
Just friends.
Mom knows
that.”

Kate
chewed the inside of her cheek. “I don’t know. It’s just hard to make any plans
because I’m so busy all of a sudden,” she said, knowing that it was a lame
excuse.

“Okay.
Well, you’re invited any time. Mom really liked you.”

This
made Kate smile. “My mom likes you, too,” she said. “She calls you ‘the nice
guy from karaoke.’”
 

It
was Kevin’s turn to smile. “We should do karaoke again sometime. Maybe I’ll
actually sing for once. ”

Kate
chuckled and looked down at the street below them, but she had the feeling that
Kevin continued to smile at her. She looked at her watch. “I really should get
going,” she said. She turned to look at him again. “Thanks for dinner.”

“I’m
glad we ran into each other,” he said. “Call me when you’re not so busy with
work and maybe we can hang out again.”
 
She nodded. “Want me to walk you back to your car?”

“No,
you don’t have to do that!” she said.

“It’s
no problem.”

“No,
really.
It’s okay,” she insisted.

“Are
you sure?”

“I’ll
be fine. It’s like two minutes away.
Really.”

Kevin
gestured to the door and Kate walked inside. She grabbed her purse off the
coffee table. “Remember, poker is still on Saturday. There’s always a seat at
the table for you,” he said, following her.

She
smiled over her shoulder at him.
“Maybe when I’m not so
busy.”

“Right,”
he said, reaching around her and opening the front door.

Kate
said goodnight and headed down the stairs. She pulled her cell phone out of her
purse, wanting to call Lucy, but she wasn’t sure what she wanted to say. She
was worried that Kevin was starting to get the impression that maybe they should
go out on a date. She was also worried that maybe Kevin was just a really nice
guy who was becoming a really good friend. She didn’t want to piss him off by
brushing him off, but she didn’t want to give him any ideas, either.

She
put her phone back in her purse, deciding to keep her feelings to herself for
awhile until she figured things out.

*

           
Telling Kevin that she was busy with
work wasn’t just an excuse. Throughout most of April and all of May, Kate found
herself working later and later at the office. She and Julia were up to their
eyeballs in appointments and weddings, and they were both ecstatic.
And exhausted.

           
She didn’t have to worry about being
stuck at home with her parents because she felt like she was rarely there to
see them. Eventually, she wanted to start looking for an apartment, but right
now, she just didn’t have the time.

           
One of the good things about being
so busy was that Kate had completely forgotten about the mess with Max, Chris,
and Kevin. She hadn’t seen Max in forever, but she’d heard from Jackson that he
was very happy with his girlfriend. She worked with Chris from time to time,
but they rarely spoke, and when they did, it was only about business. As for
Kevin, they checked in with each other from time to time, but hadn’t spent any
time together since dinner at his place.

           
Now it was June, and her best friends
were getting married.

           
Kate sat on the edge of the bed with
Lucy’s sister Maggie, now hugely pregnant and due any day now. They watched as
Lucy slipped into her prom/wedding dress. Lucy’s friend, Bridget, who had
traveled up from Miami for the wedding, zipped up the dress and clapped.

           
“I’m so jealous,” Maggie moaned,
rubbing her big belly. “I’m basically wearing a tent for a dress and you still
fit into a dress that you wore in high school.”

           
Lucy smoothed the satin down over
her waist and hips and then rushed across the room to give her sister a big hug
and a kiss. She, too, rubbed Maggie’s belly.
“Any day now,
Magpie.
You’re almost there. Just please, please, please, wait until
after the wedding to have this baby.”

           
Kate giggled and went into the
bathroom. She grabbed the can of hairspray and a few bobby pins. “Come here,”
she ordered. Lucy plopped down on the corner of the bed and allowed Kate and
Bridget to tuck a few loose tendrils of hair up into the pile of curls on the
back of her head. Kate finished the job with a heavy dose of hairspray. The
three girls coughed and giggled and waved their arms to disperse the big cloud.

           
The door opened and Mrs. Wheeler
stuck her head in. “Girls, Chris would like to take some photos of you all
getting ready.”

           
Lucy groaned. “Mom, I’m already dressed.”

           
“It’s for your album. You need some
pictures of you girls before the wedding.”

           
Lucy looked at Kate and rolled her
eyes. “Fine,” she said.

“Great,”
Maggie groaned, slowly getting to her feet and smoothing her dress over her
stomach. “I’m so glad you insisted on us wearing something floral,” she said,
indicating the various flowery sundresses all of the girls were wearing. “If I
stand next to the window, I’ll blend in with the drapes.”

           
“Oh, stop!” Lucy said. “I didn’t
pick the dress out. I just said to wear something with flowers on it. You
bought it. Besides, you look beautiful.
All three of you.”
She stood and gave her sister a big hug, being careful around her belly. “Tell
Chris he can come in, but he needs to make it quick.”

           
The door opened all the way and
Chris followed Mrs. Wheeler into the room. She stood aside while Chris posed
the women: Lucy and Maggie together, then Lucy, Maggie, and their mother, then
some shots of Lucy by herself, and then finally some pictures of Lucy and all
of the bridesmaids. “Thanks for your time,” Chris said when he finished. “I’ll
be downstairs waiting for you ladies to come down the stairs to take some
pictures as you walk out. Then I’ll be moving around during the ceremony. I’ll get
some pictures of the girls and guys together right after the ceremony, and then
I’ll just circulate around the house during the party afterwards.”

           
“Thank you, Chris,” Lucy said. She
gave him a hug and daintily kissed him on his cheek.

           
“You look beautiful,” he said. “Congratulations.”

           
Lucy beamed at him and then turned
to face her mother, her sister, and her friends. “Let’s do this!” she said with
a smile. Lucy hugged each of them and then wrung her hands nervously.
 
Kate felt a rush of love for her best friend
and her eyes brimmed with tears. “Don’t you
start!
”
Lucy warned, squeezing her hand.

           
Kate nodded and blinked rapidly,
fanning at her eyes.

           
“We should head downstairs,” Mrs.
Wheeler said. The girls headed out into the loft where they stopped and picked
up their bouquets. Mrs. Wheeler descended the stairs first.
As
Kate bent her head to inhale the fragrance of her gardenia bouquet, a smaller
version of Lucy’s, she could hear Canon in D playing outside.
She heard
it all the time at weddings, but when she looked at Lucy and Maggie squeezing
each other’s hands, she felt her eyes starting to fill with tears again. The
girls giggled and sniffled, trying not to smudge eyeliner and mascara. Bridget
headed down the stairs next, and Kate followed. She smiled at Chris as he
snapped pictures, and she paused to give Lucy’s dad a quick hug. Then she
headed through the dining room and out onto the deck. The sun was just
beginning to set, and the sky was a dazzling rainbow of orange, pink, and
purple clouds.

           
The throng of guests was split down
the middle, forming an aisle. The Justice of the Peace was waiting to perform
the ceremony and Jackson, his friend James, Kevin, and Max were standing
alongside her, grinning. Each of the guys was wearing charcoal gray pants and
pale pink shirts the color of Lucy’s dress. She and Jackson smiled widely at
each other and Kevin winked at her. She hadn’t seen Max in ages, and he smiled
warmly at her. As Kate descended the stairs onto the beach, she couldn’t help
thinking how handsome they all looked. She walked down the aisle and took her
place next to Bridget. Maggie followed behind her, also now trying her hardest
not to cry.

           
The music faded into silence for a
moment and the bridal chorus began. Everyone standing on the beach turned back
towards the house and watched as Lucy and her father made their way carefully
down the porch steps and down the aisle. Lucy looked amazing.

           
Mr. Wheeler bent and gave Lucy a
kiss before turning to Jackson and giving him a big hug. Maggie took the
bouquet from Lucy. Lucy and Jackson clasped each other’s hands and stood
beaming at each other. Mr. Wheeler stepped away stood next to Lucy’s mom, and
the ceremony began.

           
As Lucy and Jackson said their vows,
Kate had to fight not to start crying. It was silly, really. These two had
loved each other all through high school and were meant to be together. It was
obvious that they would end up together someday, but Kate couldn’t help feeling
emotional.
This is what love looks like
,
she thought.
This is what
‘
meant to be
’
looks
like
. Feeling her eyes threatening to spill over yet again, Kate quickly
looked down at the sand. She looked at Maggie’s short, fluffy bob haircut
floating off of the back of her neck in the breeze. She looked anywhere she
could besides at Jackson and Lucy, professing their love for each other in
front of everyone. Her eyes came to rest on Kevin’s face, and he, too, actually
looked a little emotional. He visibly let out a deep breath, and they smiled at
each other.