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EPILOGUE
Dean
With Jillian’s hand firmly in mine, I pushed open the door to the restaurant. It had only been a week since we’d last been here, and although I wasn’t planning on making it a regular hangout of ours, considering the mixed history, I wanted to get my parents used to seeing us together. It would be an adjustment for sure, but it felt like a good first step. A way to ease into the new situation, so that we could eventually live as real husband and wife around everyone in our lives.
I’d told Jillian that I wanted to celebrate the one-week anniversary of our reunion, but in reality, I had warned my parents that we were coming, to make sure that they would be free, and that we could all talk, casually. And also, to make sure that Eric wouldn’t be around. He had clearly started to get his own shit figured out lately, but it would still be uncomfortable for a while.
The second I stepped inside, I understood how Jillian had felt last week. It was eerily dark and quiet inside. Creepy. It was a miracle that she’d walked in at all, considering.
“What the…?” I murmured, peering around. This definitely hadn’t been the plan.
“This is cute, but it’s getting predictable, Dean,” Jillian said at my side. I could barely see her, but I could hear the amusement in her voice.
“Babe…this wasn’t me. I swear.” I took a few more steps forward, feeling the wall for the light switch.
Maybe my parents had been more pissed than I had realized. This could be their passive aggressive way of showing their disapproval. I couldn’t figure out why else the place would be deserted.
A second before I found the switch, light flooded the room.
“Congratulations!”
Assorted unidentified voices assaulted us from everywhere. As my eyes adjusted, I saw that there were twenty or so people in the room I’d incorrectly assumed was empty. And then I saw the banner, and the cake. And the champagne.
In the middle of the room my parents stood in a small cluster with Zack and Alex and a few other friends, and oddly Paige and Fiona. There was another older couple that I had never met, that I was guessing were Jillian’s parents. They were all happily smiling our way.
“Oh my god, I think this is a surprise wedding reception,” Jillian mumbled, needlessly.
Moving robotically, we reached the center of the room, and took turns hugging everyone. Occasionally Jillian and I would catch each other’s eye, and exchange bewildered looks across the room. This had been the exact opposite of what we had been expecting. Our friends already knew about the marriage, of course, and we had both told our parents the truth in the last week. But that was it. We had planned to take things slowly as far as telling people was concerned.
Apparently, that would not be the case.
Once we had greeted everyone, and I had an extremely awkward meet the parents’ moments with my new in-laws, Jillian and I returned to our friends, who based on their expressions were to blame for this whole ordeal.
“Ok…what the hell?” Jillian asked Paige once we had some privacy.
“Cliché Vegas elopement or not, I deserve a party. I mean,youguys deserve a party. This is huge, we love you, you love each other, all things to celebrate!” Paige exclaimed.
It was possible she’d already had a few glasses of the champagne.
“Are we sure this is the right way to do it?” I said quietly, looking around as I did.
Eric was not present, obviously, but he had to know about this. Or he would very soon. My phone was already blowing up with social media notifications as pictures were posted.
Zack stepped forward and clapped me on my shoulder. “It’s like ripping off a band-aid. Get it over with. Let other people stress about their own feelings, it’s not on you guys. You should be enjoying this time in your lives, not hiding and worrying. Besides, I think almost everyone is truly happy for you two. And those that aren’t…will deal. And Paige is right, we need to celebrate this big step.”
I noticed Paige and Fiona beam at his smooth words. The charming bastard was on a roll.
Admittedly, I sort of agreed with him. And when Jillian smiled and nodded, I relaxed along with her.
“Seriously. We all want to support you. The second you told us we knew we had to do something. We’ve been working all week on this.” Fiona added.
She hugged Jillian again, and then sent me a warm smile. It looked like I had won her over too. Miracles were happening everywhere.
Alex was the last to step up. We shared a quick bro hug, which was just cover for him to get in a quick and knowing ‘I told ya.’ I remembered our conversation out on the boat and grinned back. I’d bet he hadn’t expected me to join him in marriage so quickly, but he seemed happy for me all the same.
With the surprise of the event wearing off, and everyone apparently oddly okay with our news, we both embraced the party. We ate, drank, and made the rounds. By now everyone knew the general scope of our drunken Vegas marriage, but we had to tell the story about twenty times. Or at least, the PG version. After hiding it for so long, it was so strange to talk about it openly.
An hour or so later, everyone had formed their own small circles, so Jillian and I took a break to sink into a booth with some cake. It was a chance to catch our breath and to enjoy a minute alone together. We were newlyweds after all. We literally couldn’t keep our hands off of each other.
As I prepared to jokingly feed my wife the cake, I saw an unfamiliar guy come through the door, and head over to hug Fiona. “Hey, who is that?”
Jillian looked over and squinted. “Oh. That’s Logan! Fiona’s older brother. He’s awesome. I remember her saying that he was moving back to the city. I didn’t realize he was here already. We all hung out a lot as kids, so it’s great to have him back around. I think you two will definitely get along.”
I followed Jillian over shortly after, and she introduced us. And she was right, Logan seemed like a good guy. Paige joked around with him like they’d known each other forever, and even Zack was already acting awfully chummy with him. So many changes to keep up with. But they were all good changes.
Sometime after ten, all of our friends ended up crowded around one of the biggest tables, catching up and swapping embarrassing stories about either me or Jillian. One by one the parents and co-workers drifted off, leaving us alone to our devices. With a sexy little wink, Jillian grabbed some glasses and quarters and got the drinking games going. It was a ton of fun, and I was both impressed and relieved that our two friend groups were merging so seamlessly. They all seemed to get along just fine so far, which was a great sign for the future.
As I watched everyone happily chat and joke around, I sat back and smiled.
