“Yeah, Stacey,” Bettsy points around the table at everyone in turn, “is off-limits, remember? And before any of you dicks try anything with Kelly, she’s too young. Anyway, what are you doing here?” he spins his head to look at Kelly.
“Am I not allowed to come into town to meet a friend?”
“Well, sure, but never mind. Do you want me to introduce you? Oh wait, you know Danny and Hutch—oh, and Johnny, of course. But this is Ryan and Liam and—”
“Oh, twins?” she says, almost pleased with herself for having worked it out. We do the whole routine where we pretend to not have noticed that we’re twins, and she giggles. Johnny stands up and interrupts our flow, his chair scraping across the floor tiles.
“Vicky’s standing across the street like she’s about to kick some ass,” he says. “Come on, guys. I think it’s Prez, Lee, myself, and Danny next.”
“I should go,” Kelly says. “But I’ll be watching your game this weekend. Mike has given me his tickets.”
Saying our goodbyes to Kelly, we make our way back to the tailor’s. As soon as we cross the road and come within six feet of Vicky, I notice the fury on her face.
“Johnny. A word, please?”
“What?” he says.
But Vicky ushers the rest of us into the store so we can’t eavesdrop. It’s a full five minutes before Johnny joins us near the rail of jackets.
“What was that about?” I ask him, slipping one on.
“Vicky being Vicky,” he shrugs, giving nothing away as he waits his turn.
Frustrating as Johnny is, I don’t want to press him in case it provokes the beast. And I definitely don’t want Johnny checking in on my situation with Vicky. We’re in a pretty good place right now, and I’m happy to leave things that way.
A few jackets later, I finally try on some pants before the tailor whips out his tape measure and gets to work. He takes a few minutes to measure me up before moving on to Ryan. Then I get myself dressed again and wait for my brother.
“So, what’s the plan, then?” I whisper to Ryan when he joins me to re-dress. “Are you going to propose?”
He jerks his head towards Danny and Johnny to check that they’re out of earshot.
“Yeah, I am. I mean, I know I said I didn’t want to get married and whatever, but it just feels right, you know?”
Sadly, I did know. I drift to the thought of my planned proposal for Vicky, and I can feel the tears prickling behind my eyes.
“You okay, bud?” Ryan says, putting his hand on my arm.
“Yeah. Yeah. I’m just stoked you’ve found the one, you know? I mean, for years you were lost or whatever. But, anyway, yeah. I’m happy for you.” Fuck, when did I get so sappy? But all this makes me think about Vicky and how I’m going to tell Ryan about whatever the hell it is we’re doing.
Typically, he knows what I’m thinking.
“Look, I know I’ve been tough on you about Vicky. I know you’re trying to move on or whatever. But if you work it out, I won’t stand in your way or anything—you know that, right?
I just want you to understand your worth, and I know how much it took for you to get over her, and I don’t want you to be in that state again.”
This is the ideal moment for me to confess, but all I can manage is a nod.
We bro-hug in the middle of the store just as Vicky tells us ourtime is up.
Vicky
I’m anxious. Matt Rodgers will arrive soon, and I’m afraid the sandwich I had for lunch might make a reappearance. I decided to leave his group until last, and now we’re almost at that point. I wish I’d gotten him in first to get the interaction over and done with.
I’m getting the hire paperwork finalised when my phone vibrates on the counter next to me. I’m so relieved to see Jen’s name.
“There’s a huge gift basket in the office for you,” she says as soon as I pick up.
I stare blankly at the wall behind the counter for a moment before responding. “A gift basket?”
