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That was an easy one. “It’s girls only. Or women only, since we’re all adults now.”
I know Jason wanted to refer to the previous year when everyone was home and the guys had crashed, bringing brownies and pastries with them. I prayed he said nothing. My parents had met Hilton of course. And some of my other friends, but other than Jason and Grace none of my hometown friends had met him. It just never felt right. And of course, there was a certain person I wanted to keep him as far away as possible from.
Ryder smiled and darted his eyes between Jason and Hilton. “What do you say? Road trip? Jason you know how this pancake gatecrashing thing works, we can definitely do that as well.”
Hilton was the first to answer. “Sure, why not. Sky has been to several of these in the last year. And she’s done one via video call. I’ll admit I’m curious.”
Wait. What? That was literally my worst nightmare. “What?”
I turned to Jason hoping he was the only one who could see my panic. Without Grace around, he needed to be able to read my mind.
“Fine.” Jason lets out a long exhale. “We’ll stay at The Haven because I’m not dividing my time between my parents. But we’ll leave later. We are not crashing anything until those women have had some time to themselves. That's the point of them doing it, not for our entertainment.”
Both Hilton and Ryder nodded in agreement, but it was Ryder who spoke. “Understood.”
I knew Jason would come through for me. Yeah, he would crash, because that was the guy's tradition. If they were in town for the pancake club, they crashed it. But my friend would give me enough time to warn my friends that my boyfriend who I had been somewhat hiding for a year would be attending.
I wasn’t worried. My girls would support me. And I didn’t need to worry about how the guys would treat Hilton. Jason already met him and had told me, on numerous occasions, how we were not right for one another.
As for the rest of my guy friends? They were all deployed. It wasn’t unusual for them to all be away at the same time. We all worried about them. Katerina, Grace’s foster sister was also deployed, and it worried the hell out of her foster parents. She also wouldn’t be in attendance at the pancake club. We were all hoping she’d be able to video call, though.
Before I could get too lost in my thoughts, and worry about Kat, a voice boomed through the auditorium and announced Gracie H on stage.
My best friend beamed with confidence from the stage. With her blonde hair, bright smile, and statuesque frame, she was born to walk the ramps at fashion week.
“Good evening, everyone. Here are the nominees for The People’s Favorite Kiss.”
She rattled off the five couples including Liz Blakely and another actor for their role in her long-running show about a single mom and her daughter. Liz played the daughter who in the latest season had just graduated from college. In the show she started dating a guy who was nominated alongside her.
“And the winner is.” Grace’s smooth voice kept the audience in suspense. “Liz Blakely and Jesse McGregor, as Maxi and Jack, in the Lomans.”
Our table erupted and we all hugged Liz as she stood and made her way to the stage. Grace hugged her as well.
It was as Liz and Jesse delivered their speech that it occurred to me that we were adults. I was in a good space career wise and yet I couldn’t seem to get a handle on my personal life. Then I remembered my parents and their friends and how they all went through trials before finally settling down with each other in their thirties. I looked over at Hilton. He was hot, and good on paper, and we could be good together. We may not be madly in love. But sometimes love was not enough.
