Page 105 of The One I Need
“I’m a teenager now. I’ve earned my place in this circle. Plus I don’t see you taking a turn as event coordinator.”
Simon holds his hands up in defeat. “I stand corrected. Sit with us.”
“Room for another?”
Everyone says hi to Izzy, which she returns before taking a seat on the arm of the patio chair I’ve chosen.
“Hey,” I whisper.
She smiles and gives me a playful shove. “Hey, back.”
“Well, since everyone’s here, there’s some news I want to share,” Amelia says. “Actually, it’s news Shane and I both want to share.”
No one even has a chance to process that before Betsy lets out a scream that stops the entire party.
“OH MY GODDDD!!!!!!!”
Everyone immediately looks at Betsy, who’s covering her mouth and pointing to Izzy’s hand.
“What?” Wes asks. Betsy doesn’t say anything, instead just doubles down on the pointing, her mouth now completely open.
“Dad, I love you. And you’re smart. I know this. But for a smart man, sometimes you are very dense,” Emerson says as she stands up, pointing over to Izzy. “Izzy’s wearing her wedding ring.”
Emerson walks away, which no one notices, because all eyes are on Izzy and me.
“So,” Simon begins. “When we asked earlier about Nebraska did you ever think to yourself that part of your answer should be that your wife is now wearing a fucking wedding ring?”
I shrug. “I was going to. I just wanted to wait for Izzy to be here.”
“Apologies, Simon. I was conducting very important business with my future flower girl. We were talking shades of pink, and she made sure she took your color complexion into account. What do you think of Barbie pink? The brighter the better.”
“No, no, no,” Simon says. “When you two do this right, and you will be doing this right, I’m going to be standing next to my best friend as his best man.”
“You’re not his best man,” Shane chimes in with a glare.
“You shut it,” Simon points to Shane before looking back at me and Izzy. “I’m at the very least a groomsman. I’m not doing flower man shit.”
“Who says you can’t do both?” I say. “I feel like you have that capacity.”
“I hate you both.”
Izzy smiles at him. “No, you don’t.”
Simon narrows his eyes at Izzy but then soon cracks a smile.
“Hello!” Betsy yells as she snaps her fingers in the air. “Before I have to go back on kid duty because it’s almost food time, can you two please tell me how we got here?”
“I wore her down,” I say, earning me a playful slap from Izzy.
“That’s not the story,” she says, as if she’s already tired of hearing my jokes.
The real joke’s on her. I havetonsmore where these came from. And she’s my captive audience.
“But is it kind of the story?” Wes says. “Because I feel like that’s part of the story.”
Izzy nods in agreement. “Yes, he did wear me down. But more so in the fact that he didn’t give up on me. He saw what I didn’t see yet and was the most patient man I’ve ever met. Then when I was back in Nebraska, I had what you’d call a revelation. Somewhere in between fighting with my mother and dodging looks from townspeople, and after he punched my douchebag ex-boyfriend, I realized I loved my husband.”
“Did he punch him good?” Simon asks. “Like did he really get back there?”
