“She destroyed the sweater?” Kathleen said. “No one told me that.”
“I had to,” Lucy said. “It was a symbolic gesture.”
“I told you,” Kathleen said. “I told you not to knit a sweater for a boyfriend.”
“And I told
“Hey,” Kathleen said, flinging out her arms and posing like a catalogue model. “I think it looks pretty fucking fabulous on me.”
“I dare you to go in the water with it.”
“No way. As you just pointed out, I’m no idiot.” Kathleen relaxed back on the chair. “Anyway, the point is that I was right about the sweater.”
“Fine,” Lucy said. “You were right.”
“Which means you were wrong.”
“Whatever.”
“Say it. Say you were wrong. I just want to hear the words come out of your mouth. Have you ever admitted you were wrong? In your life?”
“Shut up.” Lucy kicked some sand in Kathleen's direction. “Don't you even want to know why I’m off the market again?”
“Of course,” Kathleen said. “What's going on?”
“I slept with David Lee last night,” Lucy said.
“With David Lee?” Kathleen repeated.
“My lab partner,” Lucy said. “The half-Jewish, half-Chinese guy you met at the walk.”
“I know who David Lee is,” Kathleen said. “That's why I’m confused.”
“Fuck you,” Lucy said. “I happen to like the way he looks.”
“Whoa, whoa,” Kathleen said. “I think he's adorable. I’m just having trouble processing it. Remember when you first started working together? You said he had a crush on you and you had to shut him down completely.”
“Things change,” Lucy said. “I changed.”
“I wasn't surprised,” Sari said. “I knew when he gave you that friggin’ cat that there was something going on between you two.”
“There wasn't, though,” Lucy said. “I was still with James then.”
“Maybe,” Sari said. “But the kitten definitely started something.”
“Yeah, I guess. It's weird, though.”
“What?” Kathleen said. She extended her right foot so she could admire her bright red toenail polish. She had gone out to get a manicure and pedicure that morning in preparation for the wedding and when she walked back in the house afterward, Lucy and Sari were there waiting for her. She was so surprised, she had screamed. Then they all screamed and hugged one another while Kevin beamed. “What's weird?”
“That someone can be right there and you don't think of him in any special way. And then suddenly you do think of him that way and it makes sense. Has that ever happened to either of you?”
“Does sixth grade count?” Sari asked. “Because I remember suddenly noticing Fidel Mateo in sixth grade, and we'd been in school together since kindergarten.”
“Before my time,” Lucy said. “So what happened with Fidel?”
“Coco Kronenberg was a big fat slut who stuffed her bra. That's what happened.” “His loss,” Lucy said.
Kathleen said suddenly, “Let's go to a hotel bar and get royally drunk. It's the night before my wedding, girls. I need to get wrecked.”
“What about Kevin?” Sari said.
Kathleen stood up. “He can stay home.” She picked up her beach chair and folded it. “Starting tomorrow, I’ll be stuck with him every night for the rest of my life.”
“That's so romantic,” Lucy said. “I may cry.”
Three hours and nine daiquiris later, they had achieved in triplicate Kathleen's goal of getting wrecked.
They had found the perfect hotel bar, one that was completely open to the beach so they could watch the sun set while they drank their first round of freezing-cold strawberry daiquiris. Then there were greasy appetizers and more strawberry daiquiris-tonight even Lucy was eating and drinking-while they watched the hotel staff blow conch shells and race around lighting gas torches all over the property in some ancient Polynesian torch-lighting ritual. Then there were hula dancers and more daiquiris.
They laughed and talked for hours, all three of them with their hair rough and wavy from the salty ocean wind, their faces glowing from the sun they'd soaked in that afternoon and from the torchlight that fell on them now. They were dressed similarly in sleeveless cotton summer dresses and their bare legs were smooth above flat jeweled sandals. It was no wonder various guys all night long tried sending them drinks and stopping by their table. They took the drinks, sent back the men, and every one of them knew that this was one of those nights you remember forever, when the drinks are as cold and sweet as a childhood Popsicle but leave you reeling from a bitter punch that makes you glad you're an adult.
“So tell us about Kevin,” Sari said to Kathleen when the night sky was dark everywhere except where the torches fought back. “Tell us what you love about him, why you want to marry him. So if we ever meet the right guy, we'll know it's him.”
“I may have met him already,” Lucy said.
“All the more reason for you to shut up and listen.”
Kathleen took the tiny umbrella out of her drink and held it open above her head. “Look, it's raining,” she said, which seemed to strike her as incredibly funny.
“Come on,” Sari said, with the determination of the seriously drunk. “I want to know. Why do you love Kevin?”
“I don't,” Kathleen said. Then she said, “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Of course I do. He's nice, don't you think? Have you ever met anyone nicer? Look how he flew you guys here just to surprise me. How nice was that?”
“He even paid for our tickets,” Lucy said. She let her head flop back against her chair. “He's a prince.”
“He's
“Was he mad you wanted to go out alone with us tonight?” Lucy said.
“Of course not,” Kathleen said. She twirled the toothpick part of the umbrella between the palms of her hand, and the brightly colored paper spun until the colors all merged. “He doesn't get mad. Kevin doesn't get mad, he doesn't get upset, he doesn't get excited, he doesn't get
“Except laid, I hope,” Sari said.
“Not if he doesn't get aroused,” said Lucy and they all laughed wildly at that-so wildly that a couple talking at a nearby table gave them annoyed looks.
“But you love him, right?” Sari said.
“Of course,” Kathleen said. “I love my Prince Charming. Would it matter, though, if I didn't? People get married all the time without being in love. Don't they?”
“I wouldn't want to,” Sari said.
“Doesn't matter,” Kathleen said. “Because we do. Love each other. He really really loves me. And I kind of really love him,” There was a beat. Then, “Did I tell you he wants to start a family?”
“Like right away?” Sari said.
“He says he can't wait to have kids.”
“Did you tell him you hate kids?” Lucy asked, raising her head.
“Of course not.”
“So you lied to him? Way to start a marriage, Kathleen.”
“It wasn't a lie.” She opened and shut the little umbrella rapidly. “Maybe I don't hate kids as much as I think I do. I could probably learn to like my own, don't you think?”
Before either girl could answer, a guy came up to their table. He was slightly younger than they were and a little on the plump side, but not bad-looking. He was wearing a brightly colored Hawaiian shirt over jeans. “Hey, guys,” he said with a nervous laugh. “My friends and I have been sitting over there-” He pointed to another table and three guys there raised their hands in greeting. The girls waved back. “-and we were wondering what you girls might be up to for the rest of the evening and whether you'd like some company.”
“That's so sweet,” Kathleen said. “Do you have a car with you?”
