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“Yep,” Allison said. “That’s him.”
“He’s the most wonderful man I have ever met,” I nearly gushed. “I just want to be married to him. The wedding will be wonderful no matter what since I get to be his wife.”
Allison’s eyes were glassy with tears, and she pulled one finger up to dab them, a wide smile on her face.
“You have no idea how happy that makes me to hear. Camden has been such a wonderful addition to my life. His friendship with Ryan, how he helped him… it’s just… he’s a special man. And I worried about him a lot that he was alone. And you are such a good woman.”
“You’re going to make me cry,” I said.
“Yeah, well, wine,” Allison said, motioning with her glass. “I get sappy. But seriously, you two are perfect together, and none of us could be any happier about you two getting married. Big wedding or not, none of it matters to us. We just all want you both to be happy.”
“We will,” I said. A car door slamming shut outside interrupted me, and we both stood. “But right now, I am going to be happy about Chinese food.”
“Damn, they were fast,” Allison said.
“Living up to the name Lightning Chinese,” I said.
Meeting the delivery driver at the door, I took the food inside and made a spread on the table. Allison and I filled giant plastic plates with all manner of high-sodium foods and curled up on the couch under a blanket we shared to watch silly movies for the evening. It was so nice to just hang out with her, and as the night wore on, we talked about the guys and the wedding and the plans we had made.
“You know,” Allison said, lying back on the couch with a pillow under her head, “as crazy as it is for us to see Camden not want a traditional wedding, I can’t say I didn’t see something like this coming.”
“How so?” I asked.
“Well, when he decided to go back to school, I told Ryan something was changing. There was just something different about him. He’s always been motivated, you know. Ever since I met him, he’s been a relentlessly hard worker, but this was another gear. He really wanted to do well in school, and it wasn’t for anything other than his own satisfaction.” She yawned and settled further into the couch. “I told Ryan right then that he might be married within the year.”
“You nailed it,” I said, chuckling and setting my glass down on the coffee table. She looked so comfortable that I wanted to join her. “Not even a full year yet.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think he was dead set on anything like that,” Allison said. “I just feel like the universe holds certain things until you are ready for them. You two are absolutely meant to be together. The universe just waited to put you together until he was ready.”
“I like that,” I said. “The universe working to get us together, I mean. Sometimes I feel like that. Like I was born with his name already stuffed inside my brain, just waiting until I met him.”
“He has changed a lot because of you,” Allison said, yawning again. “For the better, mind. He used to be so surly sometimes. And when he found out Carmela and Mark were together, he flipped his lid for a bit.”
“Yes, but that was his sister,” I said. “I can only imagine how any of the other guys would have reacted if they had a little sister in that situation.”
“I don’t need to imagine,” Allison said. “They all probably would have acted exactly like Camden. The only difference is Camden did everything he could to keep the group together, to keep them all in touch even when they didn’t want to be or felt like they could. Victor said if it weren’t for Camden keeping him in the loop with group chats, he wouldn’t have known what to do when his ex left him.”
“I didn’t know anything about that,” I said.
She smiled, her eyes slowly shutting.
“That’s gossip for another day,” she said. “For now, I think I need a little nap. What time is it?”
“Ten,” I said. “What time are the boys getting back tonight?”
“Who knows?” she said. “Mallory has the kids overnight unless we go get them. She had it all planned. Movies on the projector, popcorn, sleeping bags. Kids are having a blast. Can you set me an alarm on your phone? I left mine over on the coffee table, and I don’t feel like getting it.”
“Sure, what time?” I asked.
“Midnight,” she said. “If the boys aren’t back by then, I’ll head home and let you sleep.”
“No, it’s okay,” I said. “I don’t mind you staying until they get back.”
“Good,” she said, “because this couch is stupid comfortable.”
A few moments later, she was softly snoring, and I giggled.
The guys would be back soon, I was sure, but I was happy to ride the night out with a wine-drunk Allison and sleep on the couch while Sandra Bullock played in the background. I couldn’t imagine being in a better place than I was right then, except of course, physically being with Camden. It was so different from how I used to be, and I loved it.
