“How did you know I needed to get out of there?” Jennifer asked.
“I remembered how I felt back at my wedding. I wanted to do a simple ceremony but we got roped into the whole formal affair. You did a great job, by the way.”
“It wasn’t too long?”
“Just right,” Liz said. “Perfect, really. At my reception, I kept trying to catch the eye of my old friend, Heather. I wanted her to rescue me from all my new in-laws. All that perfume and those old women leaning in close to tell me how pretty I was.”
Liz shook her head and rolled her eyes.
“It felt like they were saying that being easy on the eyes was my only job, you know? And they all had such rotten breath. There was a particular smell to those old dentures, or maybe it was the glue they used to keep them in.”
“Heather didn’t rescue you?”
“No,” Liz said with a laugh. “Every time I caught her eye, she would ting her spoon on her champagne glass, like she thought my job was to kiss Alan. That was almost worse than the in-laws. Thank god things have changed.”
Jennifer nodded and looked down at her shoes. One of them was scuffed. Her father had nearly fallen on top of her during their dance.
“I mean, you look beautiful,” Liz said. “I’m not saying that you don’t, but it doesn’t seem like the whole point, you know?”
Jennifer nodded and let out another slow breath. It was almost a sigh.
After a moment, Jennifer finally thought about something other than her wedding. Having something new to talk about was a huge relief.
“Oh, how is your house?”
The tension slipped from Jennifer’s shoulders and took residence in Liz’s.
“It’s… It’s not bad. I mean, it’s a transition whenever we go back there. We’re settling back in just fine. Alan and I actually had a conversation about whether or not to let Joe stay there alone tonight. Before we had to make that decision, he came to us and asked if he could spend the weekend with his friend down in Harpswell. That was the perfect solution.”
“I think that’s such a fun tradition—renting a house for October. It must be beautiful to wake up to those views every morning and Alan’s photos are amazing,” Jennifer said.
A troubled look passed over Liz’s features and then she smiled.
“Aside from the commute, yes, it’s a rare gift. It’s one last burst of beauty before we settle into the gray winter.”
Liz gestured at the glass and Jennifer turned to see the first flakes of snow falling outside. They weren’t supposed to get much—just a dusting—but the snow would make the “People from Away” nervous. Fortunately, most of them were staying the night at the hotel.
“Did I ever tell you about my rehearsal dinner?” Liz asked.
Jennifer shook her head. She wrapped her arms around herself. Simply looking at the snow outside had made her cold.
“You’re gonna love this. At the time, Alan was terrified of my father. Alan and his best man were supposed to follow dad from the house over to the restaurant. Alan had to use the bathroom pretty bad, but I guess he thought he could wait until he got to the restaurant. Mind you, this is before navigation systems and all that. His friend was following Dad’s car with only inches to spare. They were petrified that they would lose sight of Dad and then they wouldn’t be able to find the restaurant. I’m not sure I even thought to tell Alan the name of the place. Anyway, halfway there, Alan decides that he’s not going to make it and he tells Jeff to pull over. When Jeff starts to slow, Dad keeps going. He probably forgot that anyone was even following him.”
“Oh no,” Jennifer said.
“Exactly. Jeff says he can pull over but he’s going to lose Dad. Alan tells him to keep following. In the back seat, he found one of those plastic cups they have at parties.”
“Solo cup?”
“Sure, exactly. Alan swallows his pride and fills that cup right to the top.”
Jennifer shook her head. “Ugh.”
“Right? So, then my genius fiancée figures that he needs to dump it out. While they’re doing thirty, he rolls down the window.”
“No,” Jennifer said.
“And the wind blew half the pee back out of the cup and…”
“No,” Jennifer said, doubling over with laughter.
Liz was laughing so hard that she could barely finish the story.
“And the whole night, everyone is, like, turning their head and lifting their nose to the air when he’s around. They can smell something, but it was kinda vague, you know? It probably wouldn’t have been too bad, except we had asparagus for lunch and…”
“Stop,” Jennifer said.
The door from the dining room opened and Liz did stop. They both turned to see Aaron poke his head out.
“There you are.”
# # #
A slow smile began to spread across Aaron’s face. Jennifer straightened up and dabbed the corner of her eye with the back of her hand. She blinked, laughed again, and checked to see if her makeup was smearing with the tears.
“What is it? What did I miss?” Aaron asked.
“I was telling an amusing story at the expense of my husband. I wasn’t allowed to tell the story for the first ten or fifteen years that we were married, so now I’m getting the most out of it that I can,” Liz said.
“I’d love to hear it sometime. Jenn, a few people are talking about heading out and they wanted to say goodbye first.”
“Of course,” Jennifer said. She reached out and touched Liz’s arm. “Are you guys staying the night or driving back?”
“We’re staying upstairs and leaving first thing in the morning,” Liz said. “Thank you again. See you soon.”
“Thank you,” Jennifer said. She gave Liz’s arm a squeeze and then turned to take the arm of her new husband. They moved awkwardly through the door and then into the warmth of the dining room. The air
