Page 56 of In a Pickle

Present day

James looked over at the woman who’d provided him solace on their high school graduation night. “So, are we finally going to break our rule and talk about that graduation night conversation?”

Liana thought for a second. “Well, the zombie apocalypse hasn’t come yet, but you and I are dating, and in teenage Liana’s mind the zombies were more likely. So yep, I think we can talk about it.”

“Did you know,” James said, “that after we talked, after you went inside with Tori, I stayed on the balcony for a while? I didn’t go back to the party. I just stayed there watching everyone, and then I texted Mary Grace that I was going to sleep in her room. I fell right asleep. I don’t even remember her getting into bed. And… I’m ashamed to admit this, but the next morning I saw you sleeping. I peeked my head into Tori’s room when I woke up early, just to check on Tori and see how hungover she was. I opened the door and saw both of you sleeping so peacefully in Tori’s bed. Then I shut the door and went downstairs and started cleaning up after our stupid friends who wrecked the house.”

“I remember sleeping over with Tori. But I don’t remember seeing you at their house in the morning.”

James shook his head. “I left before anyone else woke up. I scrubbed vomit off the living room floor and threw away trash for about an hour, and then I needed to go away and clear my head. I’m pretty sure Mary Grace was so wasted that she doesn’t remember anything from that night or even the next morning. She never asked me if I cleaned up the house, or even mentioned that it was surprisingly clean when she woke up. I think in her little Mary Grace bubble, shit just works itself out and other people do the cleaning, and you never wonder who’s doing the work for you.”

“I thought about you sometimes after that night,” Liana admitted. “I wondered over the years how you were doing at Stanford, if you stayed with Mary Grace. Sometimes, I hoped we would run into each other in Miami so I could see how you were doing.”

“I thought about you sometimes too,” James echoed. “When I was at college, I occasionally wanted to message you. But I didn’t want to come close to crossing any lines with Mary Grace and couldn’t quite figure out how to word things platonically. I told myself that our world was so small, we’d run into each other at some point. But we never crossed paths until a few months ago in my class.”

“Did you stop hanging out with your high school friends, like you said you were going to?”

“Actually, yeah. I kept hanging out with Mary Grace, obviously, and one or two of our high school friends, but we did end up kind of cutting the rest of them out, slowly. Mary Grace seemed happy to stop hanging out with them too. I think she’dthought there were better — I mean, more famous — people to be friends with.”

“Like Brock.”

James shook his head sadly. “I guess she got everything she wanted. But enough about Mary Grace. Liana, when I saw you again on the court in February, it was like those eight years never happened. I was back on that balcony, back in high school, with our mistakes and our regrets and our whole life ahead of us. As soon as I saw you, I knew you were meant to be in my life somehow. I know it’s crazy, and it was just one conversation, but you learned more about me in ten minutes than anybody else ever knew about me. Not my parents, not my friends. I felt like you knew me. I felt like I could be honest with you and you wouldn’t run in the other direction. It’s crazy, but as soon as I saw you a few months ago, it felt like fate that you were back in my life, right at the moment when I was ready to accept you.”

“I know the feeling. I wouldn’t have been in a place to be with you before a few months ago. And there was no way you would have given me the time of day in high school.” He started to protest, but she stuck her tongue out at him. “Come on; don’t pretend. We had one serendipitous conversation after we graduated, but there’s no universe in which you would have been friends with me in high school, much less more than friends. Don’t worry. It all worked out for the best.”

He smiled. “It did. So, does this mean you accept my apology?”

“Yeah.” Then her face lit up. “Wait, this is a milestone, isn’t it? Like, we survived our first fight!”

James groaned. “This isn’t a milestone I particularly want to remember or celebrate.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll screw up plenty of times in the future, I’m sure.”

“But you want there to be a future?” he asked hopefully.

She nodded seriously. “Hopefully a long one.”

He beamed, but his frown fell quickly as he saw his father approaching. “So, my dad wants to invite you to my grandpa’s Seder next week,” James murmured in Liana’s ear. “It’s, like, a really big deal to him, so if he acts like he’s inviting you to the king’s coronation, would you mind indulging him?”

She laughed. “Of course I wouldn’t mind. I want to get to know your family, James.”

He shook his head. “I don’t deserve you, but thanks.”

“Mr. Alonso,” Liana said as she stood. “Did you have a good time at the event today?”

As he watched his girlfriend and his dad converse, it felt like a final puzzle piece in his life clicked into place.

Chapter 34: Liana

Two months later

A hard knock at the bedroom door woke Liana. “Lames!” someone shouted from the other side of the door. “Lames! Open up!”

“Who’s that? Go away,” slurred James sleepily, drawing Liana closer to him under the covers.

“It’s too early,” Liana agreed, snuggling into James’ chest.

“Lames, I know you’re in there!” The banging continued. “Let me into your bathroom before I pee myself.”

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