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“Um...” I was probably the last person anyone should turn to for relationship advice.
What was it Jenna said? Nicole needed to know I was hurting, too, so she didn’t feel alone. Maybe instead of guidance my sister needed me to admit I was just as clueless as she was.
I sighed. “Jenna actually broke up with me after the cruise.”
More silence. Then, from Nicole, “What! Why?”
“At first, I thought she was too embarrassed to take me to her sister’s wedding. Like maybe I’d mortify her in front of her family.”
Nicole snorted. “That’s ridiculous. She saw how awkward you can be on the cruise, and she was still all over you.”
Mom agreed. “The cruise line could have filmed a commercial about two people in love using only footage of you guys.”
“Two people in the deepest state of affection.” Nicole used her documentary film voice. “Adam doesn’t believe in love.”
“No, you’re right.” I took a deep breath and prepared to make myself vulnerable. “I’ve considered the matter, and... I love Jenna.”
A loud crash sounded through the phone. “Sorry, I fell off my chair,” Mom announced. “I’m okay.”
“Did you tell Jenna that?” Nicole demanded.
“No,” I admitted. “I’m wondering if that’s the reason she broke up with me.”
“Of course!” Mom scoffed. “Every woman wants to be wooed, Adam. I mean, I don’t know what theliteraturesays, Nicole, but ...”
“We get it, Mom.” Nicole’s interruption was pointed. “In my opinion, Jenna seems like a person who would value your emotional honesty.”
“Let’s hope so. I’m planning to tell her how I feel when I get to Asheville.” I drummed my fingers against the steering wheel and decided to keep the conversation going. “So... is that also true about this epidemiology guy? Would he value your emotional honesty?”
“Hm.” Nicole considered my question. “We’ve had some pretty personal conversations, so maybe he’d be comfortable discussing our feelings for each other.”
“And his response to the conversation could be valuable criteria for your own evaluation in determining if you want to be in a relationship with him,” I offered. “Or perhaps you should conduct a field experiment and ask him if he’d like to get ice cream.”
Nicole chuckled. “Thanks, Adam. That’s actually good advice.”
Me, giving good relationship advice? Too bad Jenna wasn’t around to hear it. She might be impressed. And it was too bad she wasn’t here because I desperately missed her.
“So wait, you’re driving all the way to North Carolina so you can tell her how you feel? Adam! That’s romantic!” Mom sounded amazed. “Oh, another call! Hold on!”
“Uh—” I started to say, wondering who Mom planned to add next.
“Hello?” Grandma joined in.
“You’re on the line with me, Nicole and Adam,” Mom announced. “Adam is driving to be at Jenna’s side so he can tell her how much he loves her and win her back!”
Why would Mom blurt that out to an elderly woman with a heart condition? I tried to think of how to smooth things over.
Fortunately, Grandma didn’t ask why I had to win Jenna back. “That’s just marvelous, and so like Adam!”
“Has he done this before?” Nicole’s tone was as incredulous as my own might have been if I had managed to think of a response.
“He’s always had a loving heart. You remember when he skipped a school trip so he could make you breakfast in bed on your birthday, Bev?”
“Oh, yes!” Mom cooed. “With the little eggshells in the pancakes. I was so happy I thought my heart would burst. It was right after Ron left, and I didn’t expect anyone to do anything. I think I still have the card you made me, Adam.”
“Now that I think of it, he flew across the country to move me into my dorm.” Nicole sniffed in mock hurt. “I didn’t get a card, though. Or eggshell pancakes.”
“Sorry.” I shifted in my seat, touched that they both remembered those things but also a little uncomfortable. I wasn’t used to being called caring, thoughtful, or loving. But maybe those things were just as much a part of me as my rigorous mind and analytical observations. Microscopic dormant endospores of my good qualities, waiting to germinate until the conditions were right.
