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The head of the school was beginning to get passed diplomas to her by some assistant on her righthand side. She lowered a mic to her height and started to read out names.
She rolled through the As, Bs, Cs, and Ds, finally hitting the Es. It was Jo-Beth’s and Phoebe’s turns. They would graduate one after another. As I’d learned early on, that had been one of the original bonding points of their friendship — they always got partnered for things based on their surnames.
“Jo-Beth Eckelmann.”
Jo-Beth strode forward, waved to her family in the audience, and happily accepted the diploma. I could see Phoebe standing, calm and collected, not far behind her, beaming with excitement.
“Phoebe Eckhart.”
Phoebe surged to life and moved forward, readily accepting the diploma from her hand and whooping with excitement.
I stood up and cheered, lifting Henry onto my shoulders and bouncing him up and down with glee. Phoebe spotted us and rolled her eyes but beamed all the same.
At long last, the ceremony ended and the graduates spilled off the stage to go find their families. Phoebe, even in her high heels, raced up to Henry and her parents.
She ran first into her mom’s and dad’s arms, eyes teary as she thanked them for the wonderful education.
Next, she scooped Henry up into a hug and planted a lipstick kiss on his cheek, which he quickly smeared with a giggle.
Finally, Phoebe got to me.
“How’d I do?” she asked.
“You were phenomenal.”
She breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh thank God, I thought I might’ve looked a little possessed up there. I was just so excited.”
I pulled her into a hug and whispered, “You did great.”
She hugged me back with both arms and we held each other for a long moment before I broke away.
“I’ve got something for you,” I said, staring into her sparkling eyes.
Said eyes widened. “I told you, no gifts!”
I shrugged. “I’m a no-good scamp. You’ll just have to make an exception.”
With that, I pulled the velvet box out of my suit pocket.
Phoebe’s mouth dropped, and her parents, who were standing nearby, went red.
She barely managed to say, “But we agreed, at least a year—”
“Just open it,” I insisted.
She took the box, hands shaking.
On the third try, she was able to snap it open.
Her brow creased. “Oh, it’s uh… pretty. Is it a… necklace?”
I took the key out of the box and held it up so that the sun caught its brass edge.
“No, Phoebe. Though I suppose I could make you a necklace out of it if you liked. But it is a key to our new apartment.”
Her face went slack. The only word she could get out was, “What?!”
“I’ve rented a small two-bedroom for us in Brooklyn. You can be close to your new job, working with your dad. I’m going be closer to the auto repair shop, and maybe if that goes okay, I’ll go back to college. Henry’s going to be transferring to a new school especially for gifted students.”
Phoebe was absolutely speechless, her mouth hanging open as though her jaw had dislocated.
“You set up everything?” she said, stunned.
“Yup,” I confirmed. “All you have to do is say yes. So? Are you in, Phoebe?”
Tears burst forth from her eyes and she nodded readily.
“God, are you kidding? Of course I am. This is — it’s — it’s… this is the best thing. Yes, yes, I’m so totally in.”
I smiled and took her hand in mine, the key locked in our grasp.
“Then let’s do this,” I laughed.
I wrapped my hands around her waist, pulled her close in to me, and kissed Phoebe as though my life depended on it.
