“I ordered a bunch of appetizers,” Mr. Fisher told me.
“Thanks, Mr. Fisher,” I said, my mouth partly full.
He smiled. “Belly, we’re all adults here. I think you should call me Adam now. No more Mr. Fisher.”
Underneath the table, Jeremiah gave my thigh a squeeze. I almost laughed out loud. Then I had another thought—like, was I going to have to call Mr. Fisher “Dad” after we were married? I would have to talk to Jeremiah about that one.
“I’ll try,” I said. Mr. Fisher looked at me expectantly, and I added, “Adam.”
Steven asked Conrad, “So why don’t you ever leave California?”
“I’m here, aren’t I?”
“Yeah, for, like, the first time since you left, practically.” Steven nudged him and lowered his voice. “You got a girl out there?”
“No,” Conrad said. “No girl.”
The champagne arrived then, and when all our glasses were full, Mr. Fisher tapped his knife to his glass. “I’d like to make a toast,” he said.
My mother rolled her eyes just barely. Mr. Fisher was famous for making speeches, but today actually called for one.
“I want to thank everyone for coming together today to celebrate Susannah. It’s a special day, and I’m glad we can share it together.” Mr. Fisher lifted his glass. “To Suz.”
Nodding, my mother said, “To Beck.”
We all clinked glasses and drank, and before I could put mine down, Jeremiah gave me this look like, Get ready, it’s happening.
My stomach lurched. I took another gulp of my champagne and nodded.
“I have something to say,” Jeremiah announced.
While everyone was waiting to hear what it was, I snuck a look over at Conrad. He had his arm draped over the back of Steven’s chair, and they’d been laughing about something. His face was easy and relaxed.
I had this wild impulse to stop Jeremiah, to clap my hand over his mouth and keep him from saying it. Everybody was so happy. This was going to wreck it.
“I’ll just go ahead and warn you—it’s really good news.” Jeremiah flashed a smile at everyone, and I braced myself. He was being too glib, I thought. My mother wouldn’t like that. “I asked Belly to marry me, and she said yes. She said yes! We’re getting married this August!”
It was like the restaurant got really quiet all of a sudden, like all the noise and chatter got sucked out of the room. Everything just stopped. I looked across the table, at my mother. Her face was ashen. Steven choked on the water he was drinking. Coughing, he said, “What the?” And Conrad, his face was completely blank.
It was surreal.
The waiter came by then with the appetizers—calamari and cocktail shrimp and a tower of oysters. “Are you guysready to order your entrees?” he asked, rearranging the table so there was room for everything.
His voice tight, Mr. Fisher said, “I think we need a few more minutes,” and glanced at my mother.
She looked dazed. She opened, then closed her mouth. Then she looked right at me and asked, “Are you pregnant?”
I felt all the blood rush to my cheeks. Beside me, I could feel rather than hear Jeremiah choke.
My mother’s voice shook as she said shrilly, “I don’t believe this. How many times have we discussed contraception, Isabel?”
I could not have been more mortified. I looked at Mr. Fisher, who was beet red, and then I looked at the waiter, who was pouring water for the table next to ours. Our eyes met. I was pretty sure he’d been in my psychology class. “Mom, I’m not pregnant!”
Earnestly, Jeremiah said, “Laurel, I swear to you it’s nothing like that.”
My mother ignored him. She looked only at me. “Then what is happening here? Where is this coming from?”
My lips felt really dry all of a sudden. Fleetingly, I thought of what had led up to Jeremiah’s proposal, and just as quickly the thought flitted away. None of that mattered anymore. What mattered was that we were in love. I said, “We want to get married, Mom.”
