“Thank God we already bought all the decorations,” Maggie noted, moving in at Laurie’s side. “No way we’d have time to get to the mall and back again.” She grinned up at me. “You can find practically anything in Carnal but, gotta admit, the party supplies leave something to be desired.”
“This is, unfortunately, true. Carnal needs less biker shops and more party stores,” Laurie agreed then looked back at me. “Anyway, this means it’s fried chicken and the fixin’s from the grocery store but they do it really good. Jonas loves it. He can eat a family pack all by himself. And I gave Shambles an emergency cake order and he got it ready just in time.”
Shambles? I didn’t think I’d met a Shambles.
I wondered if that was someone there’s nickname but I didn’t get to ask because Maggie again spoke.
“We were going to get the bakery in town to make you a real wedding cake but that was if we had more than two hours, which we obviously didn’t, but we tried anyway and they said they couldn’t do it,” Maggie told me. “But they had a cake top so it looks kinda stupid but, stupid or not, it says what it needs to say.”
“Betty went to Holly and did the flowers,” Laurie added.
“Stella took charge of the kids and did the decorating,” Maggie went on.
Then suddenly I felt my left hand taken in a tight grip and lifted. I looked down to see the flaming-haired Krystal thumbing my wedding bands.
Then she jerked my hand up high in front of me, stating, “Pure Ty. Look at these fuckin’ rings.” She shook my hand at the two other women. “He hasn’t changed. No half-measures for that boy. Jesus. You could buy a house with these rings.”
That wasn’t exactly true (though they certainly would be a hefty down payment) but I didn’t get to inform her of this, again because of Maggie.
“Ohmigod!” Maggie shrieked and I struggled against taking a step back in reaction to the noise but couldn’t do it because she snatched my hand out of Krystal’s and dragged it close to her face. Then her head tipped back to look at me. “Those are gorgeous!” Still holding my hand, she twisted her torso and shouted across the island, “Ty! These rings are gorgeous!”
Before I could look to Ty to see his reaction to Maggie’s shout, Krystal spoke again.
“I bet you didn’t have to say a word. I bet those rings were all Ty. Which makes you the only female on the planet who didn’t have to give her man some instruction when it came to an engagement ring,” Krystal noted correctly and I looked down at her. “He may drink beer but that boy is pure champagne.”
Then before I could comment on this, another voice came.
“Laurie,” it was Jonas calling from the side of the island, “now that they’re here, can we eat? I was starved an hour ago and I’ve been sniffin’ chicken for forever. Can we break the seal or what?”
And before Laurie could answer, yet another voice came.
“Mommy!” Addison shouted from the other side and she was jumping up and pointing at a bunch of boxes extravagantly wrapped in wedding paper resting on a side counter. “Is it time for presents?” she asked.
“No, honey, not just yet. After we have cake,” Maggie answered but I was staring at the presents.
Presents.
Presents, cake, fried chicken and decorations.
I pulled my hand from Maggie’s and took a step back as my eyesight grew fuzzy but through the haze I heard the cheerful buzz all around. Smelled the chicken. Felt the vibe of friendship that had a hint of relief but more happiness and even love.
Good. Clean. Right.
Ronnie’s best friend was Shift. Shift did not arrange for Ronnie to have a welcome home party when he got let out of prison in Indiana and came home to Dallas. None of Ronnie’s friends did, neither did his family. This was because he’d fucked up and although we were happy he was home, his future was in the toilet, he’d flushed it down his damned self and that wasn’t anything to celebrate.
But also, outside of Shift, all of Ronnie’s decent friends (who turned out to be not so decent) deserted him after he got home and the crew he found wasn’t the cake, banners, decorations, fried chicken and gift giving kind. They took. They didn’t give.
“Lexie, you okay?” I heard Laurie ask and I took another step back, my eyes moving in the direction of Ty but I didn’t see him.
I didn’t see him because it hit me that Ronnie had never had this but I didn’t either. I had good friends but there was nothing to celebrate for me with Ronnie in my life. He hated it, I knew, but he knew it as I did. He was a shadow blocking out the sun of my world. He wasn’t about happy chatter and good friends rushing around in a two hour window to do something beautiful. If he’d lived and I’d given in one of the gazillion times he tried to talk me into marrying him, our people would have gone through the motions but the chatter wouldn’t be happy, the buzz not filled with love but instead obligation and maybe even doom.