His parents had given up on trying to convince them to slow down and give it some more time, and Josh’s mom seemed especially resigned to the fact that her baby was getting married when he was still just a baby himself, at least in her eyes. Josh and Kimmy had planned to go to City Hall, but in the end his parents convinced them to get married in the backyard with a casual reception for friends and family afterward. Josh liked that because it felt like maybe his parents were at least warming to the idea, and Kimmy liked it because she wanted her mother to be there.
He’d let Kimmy take the car and he’d gotten a ride to work with a coworker so that Kimmy could move some of their things into the house they’d rented. It was a total shithole, but they’d discovered the hard way that no one wanted to rent a nice property to a couple of eighteen-year-old kids with nonexistent credit and not a lot of money for rent. They were also crushed when they’d discovered just how little disposable income they’d have after they paid that rent each month. They were lucky that Josh’s car had been a gift from his parents, but some back-of-the-napkin math made it clear that after they paid the rent, utilities and gas and food would swallow up most of what was left of their paychecks.
Though Josh’s parents were not in favor of them marrying so young, it didn’t stop his mom from offering her wedding gown to Kimmy. She had only sons, no daughters, and when she’d offered it, Kimmy had burst into tears and accepted immediately.
Kimmy loved Josh’s mom. She told Josh that the last thing she wanted was for either of his parents to be angry with her, to blame her for Josh not going to school. “They don’t think I’m pregnant, do they?” Kimmy asked after Josh told her he’d broken the news to them.
“No, because I told them you weren’t the minute they asked me, which was about thirty seconds after I told them we were getting married. I’ve never seen my mom look so relieved.”
“Do they think I talked you into it?”
“No.”
Kimmy’s mom hadn’t seemed to care when Kimmy told her she and Josh were getting married and moving in together. “Guess I can’t stop you now that you’re eighteen,” she’d said.
“I thought maybe she’d have more to say about it,” Kimmy said when Josh came to pick her up. She’d stared out the passenger-side window of his car as she told him that the only other thing her mom had said was “When do you think you’ll have your stuff out? I might want to move into an apartment or something now that I won’t need so much room.”
He’d reached over and squeezed her shoulder. “You’re my family now,” he said, and Kimmy had cried so hard in his arms that it was fifteen minutes before he’d been able to pull out of the driveway.
Kimmy’s mother had snorted when Kimmy brought the white dress home, assuming correctly that her daughter’s virginity was no longer intact. But later that night Kimmy went to the kitchen for a drink of water and when she passed by the dining room where she’d hung the dress, she saw her mother inspecting it, running her hand lightly over the sleeves as if wishing she’d had the chance to wear one herself. She’d been holding a lit cigarette at the time, and Kimmy held her breath until her mother left the room.
Then Kimmy took the dress back to Josh’s house and asked his mother to keep it there until the wedding. She told Josh’s mom it was because she didn’t want it to smell like smoke, but she told Josh she was terrified it might go up in flames, which seemed like a really bad omen and a horrific way to start a marriage that no one besides her and Josh really seemed to believe in in the first place.
* * *
On Tuesday, the last day of school before Thanksgiving break, Josh stopped to talk to Layla after he walked Sasha into the building. It was freezing and he felt bad that she had to stand outside and endure the winter temperatures, but she was wearing a different coat—royal blue—and that made it easier for his eyes to lock on her now. Maybe the coat was warmer than her old one.
“Sasha is still talking about the music program,” Josh said. “I made a Beatles playlist and she loves it when ‘Let It Be’ comes on.”
“You’re starting her early,” Layla said. “Good. I like that.”
“She also said she’s asking Santa for a guitar.” He hoped mentioning the guitar did not make Layla think about the day he saw her playing at home, but it probably did. Awesome, Josh. Remind her of that time you creeped on her like some weird Peeping Tom.
“Let me know if you want me to teach her how to play it.”
“I will,” he said. “Big plans for Thanksgiving?”
“My folks live here in town, so I’ll be spending the day with them. How about you?”
“Little trickier for me this year. Trying to split the day so that Sasha’s mom and I can both celebrate with her, but I think we figured it out.” His parents had decided to move Thanksgiving dinner to six o’clock because two of his brothers had a conflict with the regular time, so the problem had solved itself.
The week after Thanksgiving, Josh and Kimmy were both planning to take Sasha to see The Grinch—Kimmy on opening night and Josh two days later for the Sunday matinee. They would each buy her some sort of movie tie-in merchandise. Sasha would get popcorn at both showings and she would begin to realize that being a child of divorced parents meant two of everything.
He was already dreading what he and Kimmy might encounter for the Christmas holidays. Santa was a very big deal to Sasha, and he knew she was going to have questions. They still had some time to come up with a story about why Santa was visiting both houses.
“I’d be happy to watch Norton again if you’ve got any travel plans during the holiday season,” Layla said. “I’ve got a long stretch off from school for winter break, and my parents live here, so I’ll be around.”
“That would be great, actually, if you’re sure you don’t mind. I’m planning on being gone for a week.”