Page 86 of The One I Love
Simon holds his hands up in defeat. “I stand corrected. Sit with us.”
“Room for another?”
We all greet Izzy as she takes a seat on the arm of Oliver’s chair. The two of them whisper hellos as I feel a pat on my hand. I turn to Amelia, who’s giving me the nod. I nod back, knowing that this is just as good of a time as any. Except before Amelia can say anything, Betsy lets out a scream that stops the whole party.
“OH MY GODDDD!!!!!!!”
We all turn to Betsy, who’s pointing at Izzy.
“What?” Wes asks.
Emerson stands up and pats Wes on the back. “Dad, I love you. And you’re smart. I know this. But for a smart man, sometimes you are very dense. Izzy’s wearing her wedding ring.”
Everyone’s attention turns to them. Everyone except Amelia.
“I tried,” she mouths.
I nod and give her hand a quick squeeze. “Soon.”
We both nod and return to the conversation, not wanting to steal the thunder from Oliver and Izzy. Especially Oliver. The man has waited for this moment his entire life. I’m not about to ruin it.
Later. We can do this later.
“When did they leave?”I ask.
Wes laughs. “About the same time Mariah and Luke left to go pack for their trip with daddy dearest.”
Amelia’s eyes go wide. “Izzy and Oliver left an hour ago, and we’re just noticing?”
“They pulled an Irish goodbye,” Simon says. “Respect to them. They did it well.”
“Can you blame them?” Betsy says. “They’re in their honeymoon phase. I’d have left too.”
The five of us settle around the fire pit on Wes’s back patio as we take in the warm summer night. Amelia tries to take her own seat, but I grab her and sit her on my lap. Everyone here knows. I’m not taking that situation for granted.
“Is this what I’m going to have to put up with now?” Simon asks as he nods toward Wes. “Him I could deal with.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Wes asks.
“It means you’ve always been the relationship guy. You and Oliver. So I was used to you guys. But Shane? Shane was my man. My brother in single arms, even though he’d never be my wingman. Now look at him. All in love and shit.”
Amelia laughs as she leans into me a little more. I take her hand and kiss her for longer than necessary, making sure I stare at Simon the whole time.
“I fucking hate you,” he says.
“No, you don’t.”
“So what now?” Wes asks, changing the subject. “When are we going to tell him?”
“I don’t know,” Amelia says. “I want to tell him soon so he doesn’t feel like we’re purposefully not telling him. But on the other hand, I don’t want to steal his thunder.”
“Makes sense,” Betsy says. “You don’t have to worry about us slipping. We leave for vacation at the end of the week. I doubt we’ll see Oliver before then.”
“Same,” Amelia says, turning and smiling at me.
“What do you mean, ‘same?’” Simon demands.
“We decided since the kids are going to be with Paul, and because we both have PTO we haven’t used, that we’d take a little vacation ourselves.”
