“Okay,” Kate said. The phone went dead. “Bye.”
Amber pasted a smile on. “See? Happy for you in their weird way.”
“I guess.”
Amber patted her shoulder. “By the time they get here, it’ll have sunk in and they’ll be ready with congratulations.”
“Woo-hoo,” she said, twirling her finger in the air in a big show of fake cheer.
Amber laughed and grabbed her arm. “Look at you with the sarcasm! I’ll corrupt you yet!”
Kate laughed.
“I’m already corrupting her,” Ian said, returning to the living room with her wheeled suitcase and his duffel bag. “This one is queen of the Skype.”
Kate’s cheeks burned. “Ian! Our weekly phone sex is private!”
Ian winked. “I didn’t say phone sex. You did.”
“Hey, hey, hey,” Barry said, gesturing to Violet. “Little ears.”
Violet sipped her juice, oblivious.
“Awww,” Amber said. “I’m so happy for you guys. I remember our engagement was such a fun, exciting time.”
Ian grunted and headed upstairs with their bags.
Kate wrung her hands together, positive something was off with Ian because, so far, the only fun, exciting engagement time she’d had was with her sister.
Chapter Four
Kate spent the next hour helping Amber while Barry and Ian played with Violet in the backyard. She was secretly relieved for a little space from Ian. He was so tense and weird, it was really weighing on her. They needed to talk privately. For now, she kept busy wrapping presents, getting favor bags ready, and preparing food for the party. Amber had invited their parents, Barry and Ian’s mom, and six children from Violet’s mommy and me playgroup.
“You and Ian want kids?” Amber asked as they pulled a plastic pink tablecloth over a small kids table.
“Definitely,” Kate said, though they hadn’t talked about it. They both adored Violet, so she figured they wanted the same thing. “The sooner the better. I’m twenty-five, so I’d like to have them while my eggs are still viable.”
“Uh-huh,” Amber said. “Talk to me again after the party.”
Two hours later, Kate was in shock. The children were maniacs. Violet alone always seemed so sweet and reasonable. Seven two-year-olds together fed off each other in a frenzy of energy. Barry came out in his Dancing Cow costume from his fro-yo shop, and they went nuts with earsplitting shrieks. Bubbles made them wild and run into each other, wailing as heads collided. And, worst of all, after eating chocolate cake and ice cream, they made the living room furniture their playground, climbing and jumping on everything. Amber and Barry herded them outside, and the children ran in circles in the backyard, screaming at the top of their lungs for no good reason.
Ian appeared at her side and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
She sagged heavily against him. “No rush for kids.”
“Nope.”
Ian’s mom, Susan, joined them. She was a friendly, affectionate woman with short light brown hair and bright brown eyes. Basically the mom Kate wished she had. She brightened. Maybe now that she was marrying Ian, she would get a second chance at the warm and friendly mom thing.
Susan hugged them both and then beamed. “Finally get a minute alone with you two! Congratulations! My boys sure have good taste!”
“Thank you,” Kate said.
Susan smiled warmly at Kate. “Anything I can do to help with wedding planning, just say the word. I helped Amber plan her wedding, and I think it went very well.”
“It was very nice,” Kate said. “I’d love for you to help.”
Susan turned to Ian. “You’re awfully quiet.”
Ian sipped his bottled water. “Just taking it all in.”
Susan studied Ian for a moment. “Well, I guess there’s a lot to take in for such a momentous occasion, isn’t there?”
“I fwying!” Violet hollered before standing up on the swing of her swing set.
“Sit down!” Susan barked and rushed over to prevent the birthday girl from taking a trip to the emergency room.
Kate caught the slow, deliberate stride of her parents out of the corner of her eye. They walked side by side, their strides nearly identical, a strange phenomenon given her dad’s legs were much longer. “My parents are coming over,” she said to Ian under her breath.
Ian straightened and turned to greet them. “Hello, Drs. Lewis.”
Her mom flashed a rare smile, seeming pleased that Ian addressed them so formally. “Congratulations, Ian and Kate.”
Her dad shook Ian’s hand. “Congratulations. Please let us know when the wedding is so we can put it on our calendar.”
Which was the happiest they would get.
“Of course we’ll let you know,” Kate said. “As soon as we know.”
“There’s too many children here,” her mom said, wincing over the noise level. “We only allowed Kate to have one friend over at a time.”
Ian pulled Kate close and kissed the top of her head. He knew she’d been lonely as a kid. Her parents were serious academics and pushed her to excel. She’d graduated both high school and college a year ahead of schedule. Most of her childhood had been spent studying.
The children started leaving with their parents, blowing slide whistles from their favor bags in exuberant off-key chaos.
“Oh, thank goodness,” her mom said. “Now I can hear myself think.”
Kate felt the same way, but it irked her to hear her mom say it. Like she was talking about Kate as a kid. She’d always felt outside of her parents’ universe. She wasn’t coddled, that was for sure.
“I guess that’s our cue,” her dad said. “We’d better get on the road.”
They turned and left. No hugs. No goodbye.
Ian hugged her as if he knew the lack of affection bothered her. It never had before, but now she’d gotten used to Ian’s hugs and I love yous and realized her childhood wasn’t as normal as she’d once thought. She squeezed him tight.
After all the guests left, she and Ian helped Barry and Amber clean up their house, which was totally trashed—wrapping paper shreds everywhere, chocolate stained the walls (at least she hoped it was chocolate), there was a wet spot on the sofa that she told herself was juice, and someone had emptied both the tissue box and the paper towel roll.
Violet conked out on the sofa, slide whistle clutched in her little hand.
“It’ll just be the four of us tonight for your celebration dinner,” Amber told them. “Violet’s going to have dinner at my friend Steph’s house. Her son is three and Violet adores him.”
“I hear wedding bells!” Barry said with a laugh.
Ian stiffened.
“Oh, Bare!” Amber exclaimed, tossing an empty paper cup at him. “You’re ridiculous. They’re preschoolers!”
“Never know,” Barry said.
Amber looked to Ian and then to Kate. “You never know. That’s the truth.”
After they finished cleaning, Kate and Ian went up to the guest room to freshen up before their dinner out. Once she got in the room, she flopped down on the bed, exhausted.
Ian nudged her leg. “When were you going to tell me about Geneva?”
She propped up on her elbows. “When it was definite. It’s highly competitive to get time over there.”
He sat next to her on the bed. “When will you know?”
“End of May.”
“And when do you leave?”
She sat up, crisscrossing her legs. “We could leave together in September. It’s for the school year until the following May.”
He propped up the pillows and sat, leaning against the headboard. “So another year long distance.”
She stared at him, confused. “No, I said together. If we get married this summer, you can live in married housing with me and get health insurance.”
“I have health insurance.”
“It’ll be nice. We won’t have to be long distance.”
“A
nd what about my job?”
“Could you commute or take a year off?”
“No,” he said with an edge to his voice. “I can’t commute from Europe, and I can’t take a year off.”
“But this is a big opportunity for me. I’m close to a breakthrough. This experience could write my ticket to a tenure-level research position anywhere in the world.”
“And I’m just supposed to move with you anywhere in the world?”
“Yes!”
“No.”
She swallowed over the lump in her throat. “Do you not want to be with me?”
He let out a long breath like he was annoyed or exasperated. She wasn’t sure which, but he definitely wasn’t happy with her. “I just had a great opportunity come up too as assistant director at the MIT Artificial Intelligence lab.”
“Working on robots?”
“Yes. It’s a really cool lab with great projects working cross-discipline with designers, engineers, and computer scientists on the cutting edge of AI. And no travel. I can put down roots in Boston.”
“Wow! That’s great.”
He took her hand. “Yes, it is great. It’s especially great if you’re with me in Boston.”
“Well, I don’t know. There’s fabulous research facilities in California and Chicago too. Not to mention—”
“There’s research opportunities in Boston.”
She pulled her hand out of his grasp, not liking the sound of this. “So your career takes priority over mine?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Then why do I have to choose a job based on where you’re at? Why don’t you choose a job based on where I’m at?”
“Because we can have both where I’m at.”
“So this is the kind of marriage you want?” she asked, her voice rising. “One where I just follow along with whatever you want?”
He jammed a hand through his hair. “Do you have to go to Geneva?”
“No, but I want to.” She stood abruptly, her brain whirling through potential futures with Ian. “How exactly do you see our future? Where will we live? Whose career will take precedence? Will we have children? Who will be the caretaker? How will we handle money decisions?”
Ian flopped flat on his back on the bed like she’d knocked him out. “Whoa.”
She stood next to the bed and stared down at him. “I want a tenured position at a university. Would you move to where that is?”
He moved to sit on the edge of the bed and patted the spot next to him. “Time for the serious talk.”
She sat where he indicated. “Yes.”
“There are a lot of universities in Boston,” he said.
She tensed, annoyed he kept harping on the same point. She countered with her own repeated point. “There are also wonderful opportunities elsewhere here and abroad.”
“And what would I do?”
“Find a job where I am.”
“Or…”
She thought about that. “We have a long-distance marriage.”
He winced. “That sounds bad.”
“Agreed. Your job is more flexible than mine. You can work from home.”
“Not with this new job. They need me there. I hoped we’d put down roots in Boston together.”
She ground her teeth. She didn’t want to fight about this. She wanted Ian on board with her future career. Her mom always said to find a work partner first, life partner second. This was exactly why. She’d worked too hard to just say whatever you want, honey.
Maybe she was ill-suited to marriage. Tears unexpectedly stung her eyes. Dammit. She hardly ever cried.
“Kate,” Ian said gently. A tear escaped at his caring voice. He wiped her tear with the pad of his thumb. “We’ll figure something out. Okay? Don’t cry.”
“They’re happy tears. I’m newly engaged.” She sniffled. “Of course I’m very happy.”
Ian’s lips formed a flat line. He didn’t look very happy either.
Barry peeked his head in. “Ready for dinner?”
“Sure,” Kate said, leaping to her feet. “Nothing better than a celebratory engagement dinner for two people who are happy to be engaged. Right, Ian?”
He took her hand and squeezed. “Right, Kate.”
Barry shot Ian a hard look and then smiled at Kate. “Sure thing. Let’s go!”
~ ~ ~
So this is awkward. Ian took a pull on his beer, sitting in a back booth at Garner’s Sports Bar & Grill with Kate, Barry, and Amber in an almost solemn occasion for their congratulatory engagement dinner. Kate sat at his side, drinking iced tea, which meant she was pissed and Ian wasn’t getting lucky tonight. Not that he really wanted to do anything at his brother’s house. When Kate drank beer, it made her extra lusty, so avoiding alcohol at a bar was like holding up a big sign that said hands off. Yup, she was pissed he wasn’t falling in line with her plan to have a fabulous career with or without him.
Amber broke the awkward silence for the third time. “When we have your engagement party, we’ll get it catered by Shane O’Hare. Really gourmet stuff. We figured tonight we’d keep it low key since we have to get Violet soon.”
“This is fine,” Ian said. He preferred the steak sandwich and fries he’d ordered to fancier stuff. Their food hadn’t arrived yet. They’d just been sitting, sorta staring at each other. The dark cherrywood bar to their left was crowded on a Saturday night, and the dining room with a dozen tables and a row of booths was nearly full. The noise level from the bar and the locals’ cheerful conversation at nearby tables was a sharp contrast to their quiet group.
Kate nearly vibrated with tension next to him, her back ramrod straight.
Barry’s kind brown eyes landed on Kate. “Tell us the latest with your research, Kate.”
Kate obligingly launched into a long monologue on her research into the top quark as well as some new discovery in dark matter that delved into some physics Ian was sure no one was following, him included. It didn’t help that Kate delivered the information in a tone that lacked all enthusiasm. Amber hid a yawn behind her hand.
Barry nodded and smiled frequently, probably as lost as the rest of them, until Kate finally wound down. Barry turned to Ian. “And how’s things in the consulting world?”
“Actually, I might take a job in the AI lab at MIT. One of my old professors wants me to join them as assistant director, working my own research and running the lab. It’s really cutting-edge stuff over there.”
“That sounds fun,” Barry said.
“Yeah.” Ian pulled up the lab website on his cell phone and showed everyone the pictures of the AI units for a variety of uses.
“Some of these robots are adorable!” Amber exclaimed. “Like stuffed animals almost.”
Ian grinned. “Yeah, filled with machinery. They even have one that helps teach preschoolers foreign languages.”
“Wow!” Amber said.
“Very cool,” Barry said.
Kate was quiet, staring at the table. He put his cell away.
Another awkward silence fell.
“Is everything okay?” Amber asked, looking from Kate to Ian. “I thought you two would be crazy excited tonight.”
Kate spoke in a formal tone. “Barry and Amber, you consider yourself a happily married couple, correct?”
Ian shifted uneasily. The formal tone was a very bad sign. She always got more formal when she was nervous or upset, a callback to her formal upbringing. He hoped she wasn’t nervous about them as a couple. He didn’t want to break up at their engagement dinner. Or at all.
Barry smiled and put an arm around Amber. “Absolutely.”
Amber gazed at Barry adoringly. “Yes. I can’t even believe we’ve already been married four years.”
“Feels like four minutes,” Barry said, giving her a quick kiss. “Every day is a gift with you, love.”
“Oh, Bare,” Amber cooed.
Kate cleared her throat loudly. “So my question is, how did you decide whose career comes first?”
Barry and Amber exchanged a look. Amber spoke up. “We both do what we like to do. I paint; Bare does his apps—”
“Don’t forget my fro-yo!” Barry said.
“Everyone knows The Dancing Cow,” Amber said. “It’s your signature.”
“And a lot more fun than the software engineering job I used to have,” Barry said.
“So everything between your disparate needs and wants worked out on its own?” Kate asked.
“Yeah,” Barry and Amber chorused.
“That’s no help at all,” Kate muttered. “Be specific. How did you decide where to live? Whether or not to have children? Who would care for those children? How do you handle money decisions?”
“Kate,” Ian said through his teeth.
Kate glanced at him and turned back to Barry and Amber. “I value your opinion and look to you as a model for a successful relationship. I would really like to hear more about your experience as a happily married couple.”
“It was easy,” Barry said. “We wanted the same things.”
“Oh,” Kate said. She turned to Ian. “That’s disappointing.”
Amber bit back a smile. “You don’t need to know how other married couples navigate their relationship, you just need to worry about your own.”
“I’m extremely worried,” Kate replied. “Ian is acting weird.”
Ian glared at her.
“You are,” Kate said. “And I don’t know what it means, but I don’t like it.”
Another awkward silence.
Ian took a long drink of beer, avoiding the censure in his brother’s eyes. Barry wanted him to step up and fix things, but damn if he knew how. Kate seemed to expect him to go along with whatever she planned for her future. Ian wanted to plan that future in a way that made them both come out a winner. Thankfully their food arrived just then, and they all dug in.
“Oh, hey, there’s Daisy!” Amber exclaimed, waving excitedly.
Daisy O’Hare smiled and waved, heading over to their table. Ian had met her a few times. She was one of Amber’s close friends, beautiful, blond, and bubbly.
“Hi, guys!” Daisy said, beaming her sunny smile. “Date night?”
“We’re celebrating Ian and Kate’s engagement!” Amber said brightly. “You remember Bare’s brother and my sister?”
Almost Hitched Page 3