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As I’m still constructing my back door, Hannah says, “I wonder how long it’ll take Kat to let us know she’s engaged? Five minutes? Ten? What’s the over-under?” But she’s no sooner said the words than a text from Kat lands in our group chat with Kat, Josh, Jonas, and Sarah.
Kat: JOSH ASKED ME TO MARRY HIM AND I SAID HELL YES! WAHOOOO!!!!! I’M GOING TO BE MRS. FARADAY, BITCHES!!!!!
I breathe a sigh of relief from the depths of my toes. Phee-to-the-fucking-yoo I told Hannah about my part in Josh’s proposal before Kat’s text landed on Hannah’s phone. Otherwise, Hannah would have received this text and instantly realized Kat’s with Josh, getting engaged, at the exact time I’m sitting on her couch doing “online research” for Josh. Jesus. In that scenario, I’d have been well and truly fucked.
Before anyone in the group has replied to Kat’s exuberant text, we get a photo of the happy couple, huddled up and smiling in the back of a limo. In the shot, Kat’s holding up her hand to show off a gigantic rock on her third finger, with both faces exuding pure joy.
“Holy fuckburgers!” Hannah blurts. “Look at that rock!”
“Oooh, lemme see,” Maddy says. She takes Hannah’s phone, and immediately gasps. “That’s not a rock. That’s a mother-trucking beach ball.”
Both women crack up, and then return to the happy business of gushing over the photo, the ring, the joy on Josh’s and Kat’s faces. As they chatter away, a surprising emotion grips me. Extreme embarrassment. Now that I’m seeing Hannah’s reaction to Kat’s good news, I can’t believe I was ever stupid enough to even think of proposing to Hannah, spur-of-the-moment at Jonas and Sarah’s wedding. Drunk or not, no matter how much I’d been missing Hannah, no matter how much I couldn’t bear the fact that I had to immediately hop a flight back to DC, I should have known better than to kneel before her on a fucking whim without a ring. Reed was exactly right. Whenever the time comes, and it will, Hannah deserves a well-planned, thoughtful proposal with a fat diamond ring—a proposal that’s every bit as perfect for Hannah as the one Josh pulled off for Kat today.
I know Hannah said she’s not positive she believes in marriage. But even drunk, I knew she was reacting to the trauma of her parents’ messy divorce. Probably, the trauma of that scammer taking advantage of her, too. Even drunk, I knew that photo on Hannah’s dream board was a depiction of our future selves, married with a baby—and witnessing Hannah’s gushing reaction to Josh and Kat’s engagement only solidifies that belief, all the more.
Kat’s all-caps text is met with a flurry of congratulatory replies and gifs in our group chat, until, after a while, Josh and Kat sign off to celebrate privately. With an audible sigh, Hannah puts down her phone and smiles. “Just goes to show, you can never say never. I’m sure Josh thought he’d never get married, and yet here he is.”
I smile. “There’s no doubt in my mind, if Josh hadn’t met Kat, he never would have gotten married to anyone. I’m convinced she’s literally the only person in the world who could have changed his mind about marriage.”
Hannah clutches her heart. “How romantic.”
“I love that so much,” Maddy says softly.
Aw. Am I imagining sadness in Maddy’s tone? Is sweet little Maddy Milliken thinking about her deceased boyfriend, Justin, and wondering if he was her only shot at the fairytale? God, I hope not. She’s only twenty-two, and a total cutie. Surely, there’s someone out there who’ll pull her out of her shyness the same way Justin apparently did.
“Oh, the boxes in your car,” I say, rising from the couch. “Where are your keys, babe?”
“On the kitchen counter. I’ll come with you. There’s a lot.”
As I grab the keys, Maddy says she’ll stay behind to start constructing the boxes the girls brought up earlier, and a moment later, Hannah and I are striding down the hallway toward the elevator. As we walk, Hannah suddenly grabs my arm, stopping my motion, and then wordlessly takes my face in her palms, and kisses me passionately.
“What was that for?” I sputter. “Not that I’m complaining.”
Hannah’s blue eyes are blazing. “That was to thank you for helping your best friend make my best friend’s dream come true.” Her smile widens. “And even more so, for trusting me enough to tell me all about it.”
30
HENN
I lay down my cards with a yawn. “Bedtime for Henny. Today was a long day of driving.”
Hannah and I are staying with my mom in Fresno on the last night of our leisurely, four-day drive from Seattle to LA. Tomorrow, after we’ve finally made it to Hannah’s new apartment, we’ll meet the moving truck and begin the exciting, probably exhausting, process of moving my girlfriend into her new digs in my city. Hallelujah.
