Page 31 of Shake the Habit

“Did you give your aunt and uncle the list of instructions that you made the other night?”

“They’re more of helpful hints,” I hedged, but when I thought about what I’d written, I realized that maybe the bullet-pointed items would have read more like “commands” rather than “suggestions.” “I’ll text both of them to apologize for that. It’s so nice that they’re taking Sir.”

“I would have, too.”

“I know, but you work all the time.” Now that I was dropping by to check on the barn more frequently, I’d realized exactly how much of his life was devoted to computer stuff, online meetings, and calls. He was at it constantly, and mostly without a break except when he went running. He’d started to do that on a regular basis and was already going farther than Sir and I could—well, than I could.

“Uncle Harry is semi-retired and Aunt Peggy gets done with school pretty early. Anyway, it’s good for Sir to meet new people, and I think he would get in the way of the construction.” I looked back over my shoulder again, but the house and barn were well out of sight.

He glanced back, too, at where my suitcase now rode in the bed of his truck. “What do you have in that bag?” he asked me. “It’s huge. Is it all wedding related?”

“I have a lot of different products and a lot of different wardrobe options. Cassidy wanted me and Aria to bring all kinds of stuff for her, too.” Aria and I were supposed to have gone shopping to pick out our bridesmaid gowns together, but at the last minute, something had come up with one of her kids so I had gone with both our moms. In the end, they’d had fun together and I hadliked it too, but—anyway, I’d found a dress and I had bought it for myself. All by myself, which I made clear to Aunt Amber so that she could spread it around to the rest of the family.

“I’m taking care of things,” I’d said. I’d cleared my throat and pointed at my credit card so she would be sure to see me paying.

She still might not have noticed because she was so upset at not getting to attend the wedding herself, which she had voiced frequently that day. My mom and I had exchanged glances and explained the situation again and again, but it didn’t satisfy Aunt Amber—probably nothing would have, but she was also very happy for Cassidy and Jack…and also mad. She’d feel better once she realized that a baby was on the way, though, because she was crazy for them. In the meantime, I’d told her pretty sternly that Cass’s wedding was hers, and nobody else’s.

“We didn’t say a word about your plans when you married Uncle Jed,” I reminded her. “We only said it looked perfect, because it did.” It wasn’t like her to admit when she was wrong, but she had smiled and hugged me. Then she’d smoothed my hair and remarked that she could help me figure out a way to wear it for Cassidy’s big day, because I couldn’t let it go as I had been lately.

It didn’t take that long to get to the airport in Chattanooga, and Caleb pulled to the curb to let me out. “Maybe I should park to help you with this,” he mentioned, frowning at my suitcase.

“No, I have it. And I know my aunt and uncle will take good care of Sir, and you’re here. You wouldn’t let anything happen to him.”

“No, I wouldn’t. Kayleigh, are—uh, ok,” he broke off, because I’d hugged him. “I was going to ask if you were all right, but I think you’re upset? Remember that I’m not good at this kind of thing. Uh…” He patted my back with one hand.

“This is a time when an affirmation would be great,” I told him. “For example, ‘New experiences can be amazing, so even if you’re pretty worried, keep your chin up.’ Or, ‘This trip is going to be long and will give me a lot of time to come to terms with everything.’My hair is going to look bad at the end of it, though.”

“Are you worried about your hair? It always looks pretty. Or, is it about flying? Statistically, it’s a very safe mode of travel.” He patted me more. “I don’t want you to worry about anything.”

I pulled away and tried to smile at him. “I’m really fine,” I answered. “Bye.” And I was on my way.

It did take just about forever to get from Tennessee to Hawaii, and it wasn’t exactly like I thought it would be when we finally arrived. For some reason, I’d pictured landing in the ocean, like a sea plane—although I knew that I wasn’t riding in one, so it hadn’t made sense. In my mind, I’d also pictured that everyone here would be on vacation, but of course regular people lived and worked on this island, too. My previous knowledge of Hawaii had come from a four-part series that Sir and I had watched together on the archipelago’s history (Caleb had seen parts one and three, also). In addition to that, my cousin Cassidy had worn an island-inspired outfit in a pageant. She had won Junior Miss Rhythm “She Can Shake It!” Southeast Region title at the age of eleven by dancing in a coconut bra and askirt that circled out around her, with a flowered bikini bottom underneath.

That had not been an accurate representation of this place and I felt ignorant. “Sorry,” I told Hawaii through the window of the car that was taking us to the resort. I rode with Cassidy’s parents, Aria, Cain, and their two kids, and we had all been on the flights together, too. I really loved those babies but they did not feel the same way about flying, and there had been a lot of tears. We were all a little stressed but especially my cousin and her husband, even in this beautiful place.

“What time is it here?” Cain grouched, and muttered something about having a drink. Then he shot a glance at me.

“No, thank you,” I said. That, right there, was a big problem. Yes, drinking was a temptation, but the harder part now was how people thought that I wouldn’t be able to resist. They thought that the presence of alcohol would lead me to totally lose control…well, in the past? I had lost control. I shouldn’t have blamed them for their concern but I wished that they didn’t feel the need to monitor me so closely.

We had pulled up to the hotel by this time, which looked like it had to be from someone’s imagination rather than a real place where I was standing, feeling a warm breeze and the sun beaming down, with beautiful flowers waving in the breeze.

“Aria! KayKay!” a voice called, and Cassidy came running across the resort lobby.

It really was like imagination, except I couldn’t have come up with any of it. We changed and went to the beach to lie on chairsset on white sand overlooking an ocean of all shades of blue and turquoise.

“This is real,” I remarked to Jack, my cousin’s fiancé.

His eyes were on Cass, where she was playing in the sand with Aria’s kids. “I can’t believe it either,” he told me. “I can’t believe the turn my life has taken, and I’m so glad for it.”

We spent the next two days much the same way: being together, eating delicious food, and relaxing. Everyone was extremely excited about the baby, and we talked about that topic a lot. A real lot. Cassidy and Jack wanted to know a ton and of course, her parents and Aria and Cain had practical, legit knowledge to share. I listened and nodded, and kept my mouth shut until my aunt looked over at me once.

“You must be bored by this, KayKay,” she said.

“No, not at all,” I answered, but I realized what she thought. All the discussion about babies didn’t apply to me at the moment, of course, but she didn’t really think that it ever would. She might have been right.

But the beach was beautiful, the ocean was clear, and the resort was just about perfect. I would have liked to see more of the island, but the wedding was fast approaching. There were some details to be ironed out, because—shock!—it was hard to plan a wedding in two weeks, even if you had minimum guests and were loose with everything except that you wanted those guests to have fun, which was all the bride and groom cared about.

Soon enough, the actual day came. Aria, Cass’s mom, and I flitted around her suite, helping her get into the dress that she’dfound when they’d stopped in Chicago on Jack’s tour. It was lovely and she was absolutely breathtaking. It was hard to get our makeup done when we kept crying from happiness.

---