Abi and the Boy She Loves

by Kelsie Stelting

  “Where are we going?” I asked.

  Skye turned to Stormy, who smiled deviously and said, “We’re spending the night with some old friends.”

  That was all she would divulge, though, even with me prying every few seconds. I couldn’t even guess at what she meant by old friends—I hadn’t known them long enough to have a clue.

  We all got into our cars and followed Frank’s Suburban down the road. As we kept driving, though, my mouth fell open into an incredulous smile.

  No way they were taking us here.

  But then they pulled under the faded Denison Cemetery sign.

  I got out of the car. “We’re staying here?”

  Stormy nodded proudly, hands supporting her back.

  Anika nudged Skye, her mouth gaping, “Did you know about this?”

  With a sheepish smile, she nodded. “I didn’t want my bachelorette party to be like everyone else’s.”

  Anika pointed at a wooden headstone. “I’d say you got your wish.”

  I definitely agreed, although, in a less horrified way. “Are you staying the night, Stormy?” I asked. “I thought you were on bed rest.”

  Frank came around the SUV with a massive air mattress and pump. “I’m on it.”

  “You guys are crazy,” was all I could manage, shaking my head.

  Evan pulled a tarp load of firewood out of his trunk, and he and Roberto got started on the fire while Leanne and Macy set up a folding table with campfire food, and Andrew and Frank set up a small tent city, Stormy’s air mattress included.

  Anika and I gave each other exasperated, conspiratorial looks as we helped set up all the camping chairs that had been loaded in Roberto’s truck.

  “And I thought Roderdale was crazy,” she muttered.

  I laughed. “They’ve got nothing on us.”

  Skye strung battery-powered twinkle lights on stakes around us, and as the sky went from dusk to dark, the place became even more eerily beautiful. So much so, I almost forgot we were in an abandoned cemetery.

  Soon, we were all roasting hotdogs over the fire, watching them turn from pinkish brown to fully black.

  “Skye,” Anika asked from across the fire, “aren’t you worried you’ll have bags under your eyes tomorrow from sleeping out here?”

  She shrugged, making her hotdog wobble. “I wasn’t going to get any sleep anyway. Might as well have fun with my friends.”

  I smiled at her, my heart swelling and aching and tugging at the same time. She was living my fantasy—marrying the guy she loved. I couldn’t help but think of Jon, asking me to marry him. Telling me he couldn’t live without me. And then leaving me.

  I couldn’t erase the memory of his face after counseling. Drawn and surprised and...different. Yes, he was still Jon with the beautiful green eyes and the smooth skin and strong jaw. But he was thinner than before. His hair had grown out further. His shoulders seemed more...relaxed somehow.

  Stormy nudged my elbow from where she lay on the air mattress. She rested on her side looking highly disgruntled. “What’s with you?” she asked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “We’re in the right place for one,” I muttered.

  “Seriously.”

  I sighed and asked Roberto to cook my food. When he agreed, I climbed onto the air mattress with Stormy. Honestly, she had the best seat in the house, under thick blankets.

  “I saw Jon today,” I said quietly.

  “What?” Her mouth fell open. “Where?”

  “At counseling,” I admitted. “I ran into him on the way out.”

  “What did he say?”

  I sighed. “Nothing. He didn’t have time to.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I was so surprised, I just kind of ran.”

  She shifted, resting her head on her hand. “He didn’t reach out to you after?”

  “No, this is the first time I’ve even seen him since...”

  She nodded, her wide brown eyes reflecting the fire. “Do you think he’ll be at the wedding?”

  My gut sank. I hadn’t even thought of the possibility.

  “He was invited,” she said. “His parents RSVP’d. I don’t know if he’ll show, though.”

  “Has he been talking to Frank?”

  She shook her head. “Frank tried calling him after it all went down, but nothing.”

  I tried to shake the thought of Jon at the wedding as Roberto handed me my hotdog and I started eating. Still, Jon was stuck on my heart. He always was, even when I wished, more than anything, that I could forget him.

  Several hotdogs, two corn on the cobs, a s’more, and a liter of root beer later, Stormy cried, “That’s it! We’ve got to spice up this night.”

  Roberto grinned across the circle at her. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”

  Evan howled at the moon at the same time Andrew yelled, “STREAK!”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Frank yelled. “Stormy’s on bed rest. What are you thinking?”

  She gave him an evil grin, to which his eyes widened, and he said, “Oh no.” And she responded, “Oh yes.”

  That’s how we all ended up running around the cemetery, half-naked, Skye in a bridal veil, the guys carrying Stormy around on an air mattress, and all of us howling at the moon.

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  Cold, dewy air seeped through the tent, making my skin feel sweaty and my hair curl in a weird tangle. I lifted my head from my pillow and saw the other girls stirring, their hair as messy as mine.

  “Morning,” Anika mumbled, looking like a zombie coming to life.

  “Mmm,” Skye groaned.

  Stormy still snored from her spot on the air mattress. I reached over and nudged her.

  “Ugh,” she mumbled.

  “What time is it?” I asked.

  Anika held up her phone, squinting against the brightness. “Half past eight.”

  “We better head to Grandma’s,” I said. “She’s expecting us at nine.”

  Grandma had volunteered her house for the bridal party, and even promised to keep us fed with breakfast and lunch before the ceremony at three.

  I heard the boys mumbling to each other outside. I reached forward to unzip the tent, and bright light poured through the opening. After stumbling out and righting myself, I saw they’d already disassembled their tent and were working on the chairs around the campfire.

  Evan saw me and lifted a hand. “Morning.”

  “Morning,” I said, attempting to put my mess of a hair into a ponytail.

  The other girls came out after me, muttering responses of their own, seeming a little worse for the wear than the guys, who looked like they’d been up and drinking coffee for hours.

  Skye walked to Andrew, and he wrapped her in his arms, kissing the top of her head. I smiled at them. I couldn’t believe they’d be getting married later today.

  Frank dumped a chair in the bed of Roberto’s truck and said, “We can take care of this if you girls wanna go into town.”

  We all looked at each other, and Stormy shrugged.

  “Suit yourselves,” she said.

  Frank pointed at her.

  “I know, I know,” she grumbled. “Find a bed and stay there.”

  His pointing finger changed to a thumbs up. “Love you.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” She walked away raising her hand in a wave.

  Andrew and Skye gave each other a final, gooey goodbye before we got in our cars and left to Grandma’s house.

  When we walked inside, the entire place smelled like apples and cinnamon and had been decorated with white streamers and balloons.

  The three women responsible stood in the kitchen: Grandma, Skye’s mom, and Marta.

  I stared at her, frozen by the resemblance of her green eyes to Jon’s and the fact that she was even here. The last time I’d seen her, I was hearing my dad wouldn’t be given parole. Watching Glen tell their son not to make things worse for me.

  Her smile softened as she walked right to me and
wrapped me in a hug. And then I promptly burst into tears.

  The other girls seemed at a loss, but Marta rubbed my back. “Honey, it’s okay.”

  I shook my head, sobbing for reasons I didn’t completely understand and one I did. “I miss him.”

  She stayed silent, just kept rubbing until I finally relaxed into the tired mess I was.

  The other girls tried to comfort me, but I just brushed them off. “This is Skye’s day,” I reminded them. “I’ll be okay.”

  We all sat down in the living room to the cinnamon apple muffins and scrambled eggs Grandma had made for us. Gram sat beside me, pausing her meal every so often to wrap an arm around me and squeeze me tight.

  No matter how much I had lost, I had her and the girls in this room. Plus the guys and my friends from college. I needed to remember that.

  After breakfast, doing our hair and makeup only took so long. I liked that Skye had opted out of hiring a professional to come in and do it all. It made the day feel more relaxed than what I’d seen or heard of other weddings. To be fair, I’d only attended a handful of weddings in my life and had never actually been in one. Now that our hair and makeup were done, I wasn’t sure what to do.

  The other girls sprawled around the room, and Skye sat down beside me against the wall.

  I rolled my head over to look at her. “How are you feeling?”

  Everyone seemed to glance over at her, waiting for her answer. Skye was our friend, but so was Andrew. Her response mattered to us on so many levels.

  “I’m excited,” she said. “I keep feeling like all of this wedding stuff is getting in the way of what really matters.”

  “You’re kidding,” Leanne said. “I’m pretty sure my sister’s watched like a million episodes of Say Yes to the Dress and every other wedding show on TLC.”

  I noted the fact that she hadn’t said Denise’s name. Was there a reason for that? Something I didn’t know yet?

  Skye shrugged. “I mean, I used to too. And maybe it would be different if we had more money.” She looked down at her hands in her lap. “I feel like when you find the right guy, all of that stuff goes away.”

  I glanced at the engagement ring she twirled on her finger. It didn’t look too different from the promise ring buried under layers of clothes in my suitcase. “How do you know you’ve found the right guy? How did you know to say yes?”

  “It’s not something that’s easy to put into words,” she said. “It’s like...poetry. All the words come together in this beautiful pattern, and you don’t know why these words that are matched together are any different than the millions of other words out there, but they are. They make music together, and you know that’s exactly how it should be. The idea of pairing them with anything else is just...wrong.”

  “Exactly,” Stormy said. “Like if you pulled them apart, they’d lose their meaning somehow. They make each other better.”

  Anika nodded. “That’s how it is with Kyle. He makes me want to be better, just by being him.”

  Stormy propped herself up on the bed. “Before Frank, I always felt like something was missing, like I had to fill that part of myself with guys or parties or anything so I wouldn’t feel that way.” Her lips trembled. “He helped me stand still.”

  “Andrew showed me that I was enough,” Skye said. “That no matter what kind of house I lived in or how my parents acted or how mean people were to me at school, I still had value. I mattered.” She looked toward the ceiling, blinking quickly. “God, I’m going to mess up my makeup.”

  I put my hand on hers and managed a smile, even though my heart was splitting in two. I had all of that, those things they said, and I’d lost it. Did people get more than one piece of music in their lives? I doubted it.

  Skye squeezed my hand back. “Something in him spoke to something in me and said yes long before he ever asked.”

  My lips faltered, and instead of facing her, I did the cowardly thing and hugged her, burying my head in her shoulder. “I’m so happy for you.” And devastated for me.

  Skye’s mom peeked her head in the room and said we had about forty-five minutes left until we needed to leave for the church.

  With her dress on, Skye was the most beautiful bride, all soft curls and bright smiles. If any marriage was going to work, it was theirs. I knew it.

  We arrived at the church, and music began playing. I could hear it through the doors. Skye and her mom separated us into pairs. Evan with Anika. Frank with Stormy. Roberto with me. Macy with Leanne.

  And then we walked into the church, and when I should have been seeing Andrew and the way he looked at Stormy, all I could see were those beautiful green eyes, looking right back at me.

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  I kept my eyes on Skye and Andrew, but the entire time, I could feel Jon’s gaze on me. I missed him more than I dared admit. More than I dared feel, because it would ruin me.

  How could he come here and set me back to the first day he left with a single look? Months of trying to be on my own, of focusing on my friends, of pouring myself into track and school...and I was back where I’d begun.

  Only this time, I couldn’t remember why we’d parted. Couldn’t remember how I’d ever let our circumstances tear me away from the love of my life.

  The pastor’s words caught my attention, and I held on to each one.

  “There will be times when it seems like everything is going against you as a couple,” he said. “There will be financial setbacks, illnesses, injuries, family drama, children, parents, lost jobs, and anything you can imagine in between. That’s when you cling to each other. That’s when you hold on. That’s when you fight with everything you have and say no to anything that is not each other. And you keep saying no, because today, you said yes. You said I choose you.”

  I watched Andrew’s mouth form the words to Skye, I choose you, and my heart swelled for them and shattered for me, for all I’d lost. If I had it to do all over again, I’d stop Jon in the hallway and tell him I chose him. I’d fight for him when he’d lost the fight for himself.

  But I couldn’t go back. I could only go forward.

  And right now, that looked like cheering for my friends as they slipped rings on each other’s fingers and sealed their promise with the most important kiss of their lives.

  We followed them out of the church, under showers of rice, and went to take pictures. There was a jittery excitement in the air, like the moment they’d been waiting for their entire lives had finally come to fruition.

  With the photographer’s direction, we smiled for photo after photo under a nearby oak tree. Skye and Andrew made a beautiful couple. I couldn’t wait to see the pictures. I tried to focus on them and their happiness through the pictures and the beginning of the reception, but with the cake cut and the first dances done, I was running out of things to distract myself.

  The love and the loss of my life was here. I’d spotted him sitting at a table at the far end of the room. His tie was loosened. His long hair hung around his face, smooth and edgy. Different but the same. My heart was torn between wanting to see him and knowing that if I did, I wouldn’t be able to recover.

  Not that this was recovery. My shaking hands and pounding heart and constantly being afraid to look in his direction for fear of what I’d find, but looking anyway because I couldn’t peel my eyes away.

  The mother-son dance started, and Grandma came to the bridal table. “May I have this dance?”

  I turned my gaze away from Jon gently swaying with his mom.

  “Are you sure?” I asked.

  She nodded. “It was this one or the daddy-daughter dance, and, well, I like this song better.”

  My eyebrows came together. “Really?” They were both sappy country songs.

  “Yes, now hurry up and get down here.” She wiggled her fingers impatiently. “We’re going to miss it.”

  When I stepped off the platform and joined her on the dance floor, she held my hands and gently spun me in what I guessed w
as a waltz. I might be able to outrun my grandma now, but there was no way I could out-dance her.

  I tried to stick to the opposite side of the dance floor from Jon, but soon I heard his voice.

  “You’re supposed to let me lead, Mom,” he said.

  She chuckled. “Old habits.”

  My back bumped into someone.

  “Oh, sorry, Marta,” Grandma said. “Clumsy me.”

  I glanced from Jon to Marta to Grandma, my mouth open. I knew exactly what was happening. “You’re a terrible actor,” I told Grandma.

  Grandma flung her hands up. “Well, what else were we supposed to do? This is ridiculous.” She gestured between Jon and me. “You’re both clearly miserable. Talk to each other.”

  Marta nodded. “You’ve been separated long enough.”

  Jon looked to me, his green eyes full of...something. I couldn’t tell what. And that hurt even worse because I used to know him as well as I knew myself. But now...

  “Excuse me,” I said and walked away. Every second that passed made oxygen harder and harder to get.

  I skirted the room and made a beeline to the bathrooms. High school had familiarized me with seeking shelter in a bathroom stall. Time to go back to an old favorite.

  When I walked in, Stormy stood at the sink, staring in the mirror, and breathing deeply.

  “You’re not going to beli—” I gave her a confused look. “What are you doing?”

  And then I stepped in water. “Gross. Is one of the toilets leaking?”

  She stared straight back at me. “That’s my water.”

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  My heart froze somewhere between my stomach and the floor. “Wh-what?”

  She pointed at her stomach. “I’m going into labor.”

  “Oh my God,” I cried. “How long do we have?”

  Exasperated, she said, “The doctor didn’t exactly give me a countdown timer!”

  “Okay, okay.” I tried to breathe deeply, letting my athlete instincts take over. “Okay, I’ll go get your mom and Frank. You go to my car.” I grabbed my clutch and handed her the keys, thanking my lucky stars I’d brought my car earlier in the day so I’d have it. “Sit in the back seat.”