Page 53 of Save the Date

“Conventional? In what way?” Emma prodded.

“You’ve always been a bit…unorthodox. Even when you were a kid. I remember I had to take you to a speech therapist because you were using your tongue wrong. She asked you all these questions as part of the assessment and you told her that your favorite color was black, and your favorite food was artichokes. You were four.”

“I stand by both those choices,” Emma said as she gestured to her entirely black outfit.

“Exactly. You’ve never had any problem going outside the box or not following a crowd. I mean look at what you are doing right now. Operation: Save My Date couldn’t be more unconventional,” Debbie explained. “And Ryan… Ryan was vanilla.”

“Ew, Mom,” Jackie complained.

“I don’t mean sexually. And I don’t even mean it in a bad way. There’s nothing wrong with liking what most people like or following a more traditional path. But that has never been you, Emma. You forge your own way.”

Emma could feel the prickle of new tears. For her entire life, Emma had wanted nothing more than to fit in. But growing up, her anxiety had made social situations difficult, and her personality quirks had always gotten in the way of presenting astotally normal. She’d always viewed her inability to fit in as a bad thing. As something that needed to be corrected through a lot of therapy and self-restraint. It was shocking to hear her mother describe it as a strength.

“Ryan was a good guy—or at least seemed like a good guy. But he wanted a predictable life. I could tell he wasn’t super comfortable with you getting so big on YouTube or selling your book. Not that he wasn’t proud or impressed—I just got the sense that he was worried your career might knock his plan for himself off course.”

Emma nodded as a tear escaped from her eye. She had only ever allowed herself to hope that she could find someoneas goodas Ryan. She had never imagined that there might be someone even better.

“Why didn’t you tell me all this when we were still together?”

“Why would I? You seemed happy and certain about him. I had no reason to think I knew better than you as just an outsider looking in.”

“If either of my girls date someone I don’t like I’m going to tell them,” Jackie declared.

“IlikedRyan. I just wasn’t sure if I liked him for Emma.”

“Same difference. I’m not going to let them waste their time with losers.”

“Good luck with that,” Debbie said with a laugh. “Do you not remember your high school boyfriend?”

“Drew was very cool. And on the football team,” Jackie said defensively.

“Didn’t he get kicked out of UConn for trying to fill a pool with alcohol?” Emma asked.

“I don’t know. I’d already dumped him by then,” Jackie replied. “None of this really matters anyway because Emma has Matt now and he is the real deal.”

“Wait, did you meet him?” Debbie asked. “I want to meet him!”

“I haven’t met him in person, but I can tell. Like how I knew Chris was going to be my husband before I even talked to him.”

Emma bit her tongue like she did every time her sisterbrought up her relationship origin story. Jackie was clearly proud of her ability to locate, target and procure Chris, but it had always felt a little to Emma like Jackie had trapped a wild animal rather than found a willing and ready partner. Chris hadn’t been looking to settle down when they first met in college, and he certainly hadn’t been planning to get married so young. But Jackie had made her intentions clear: either get in or get lost. Clearly Chris had gotten on board. Meanwhile, each time Emma had tried a similar tactic, her boyfriends had had no issue getting lost—Will included.

“How areyoufeeling about Matt, honey? Do you like him as much as your married sister seems to?”

Emma laughed at her mother’s gentle dig. “I definitely like him. He’s not my normal type and I feel a little insecure around him sometimes because he is so tall and beautiful. But overall, I feel super lucky that he’s open to trying this with me.”

“In that case, I’m excited to meet him. Whenever you two feel ready,” Debbie said.

“I’m ready now,” Jackie added.

“I’ll introduce you all soon. I just want us to get to know each other a bit better first.”

“I understand,” Debbie said. “I waited three months to tell our friends that your father and I were dating. He’s still touchy about it.”

Debbie’s relationship origin story was eerily similar to Jackie’s, but in reverse. After being in the same college friend group for a few years, Alan had suddenly decided over a Christmas break that he wanted to date Debbie. Like Chris, Debbie had taken some convincing before ultimately falling for Emma’s charmingly awkward and persistent father. Emma was the only one in her family who had to date as a college graduate. It was immensely frustrating that it was taking her so long to find someone.

“When you do meet Matt, are you going to give me your real opinion of him?” Emma asked.

“Only if you really want me to,” Debbie replied, which they both knew probably meant no.

---