Page 23 of It's a Love Story

I must not be here. It’s like they’re all talking around me, so I sit and wait to be addressed directly.

Aidan says, “Dad, she’s Janey Jakes, fromPop Rocks,”And then, finally, to me, “You are, right? There’s no way you’re not.”

“I am,” I say and wince a little. I wait for one of them to say,Poor Janey, do do do do do do.

Dan turns all the way toward me, as if I’ve just appeared. He scans my face again in that unnerving way he has of taking in every single detail. “Seriously?” He almost whispers it.

“How could you not have noticed this?” Paula asks.

“Or talked about it?” Reenie asks. “How long have you two been together?”

“Mom. Since this morning. We’re not together. Wow,” he says, looking at me. “Now that I’ve seen it, I can’t unsee it.”

I lean back in my chair. It’s been a long seventeen years trying to be taken seriously. Braces off, better haircut, moderate success. One piece of flying chicken has shattered my hard-earned smoke screen. But on the other hand, the only way I’m going to get anywhere with Jack this week is by playing the Janey Jakes card. And the stakes are very low here. I’m not trying to date any of these guys. I’m never going to see any of these people again.

“That was me,” I say. “Until I was sixteen.”

“Connor was so into Hailey Soul,” Aidan says.

“We all were,” says Dan. “I mean every guy in the country.”

“Well, you’re hot now,” says Connor.

Marla says, “Honey, the more you say it, the weirder it gets.”

Connor makes a face like he’s pretending to be embarrassed and turns back to me. “You were funny as hell on that show. Your timing, everything.” He’s laughing as if he’s rewatching the episode where I accidentally booked us a mobile pet-grooming truck as a tour bus.

“Thank you,” I say. I am surprised at how calm I sound. I take a sip of wine and decide to just go with it.

Dan leans back in his chair and looks around like he’s reconsidering everything he’s ever known. His eyes settle on me in a way that reminds me of the day we met. “You know, the first time I saw you, I thought I knew you. Remember? On the street with the hawk? I was a little distracted, but then I swear I recognized you.”

“Is that when you started dating?” Reenie asks.

“No, it was when I was considering dating her.”

This is the first either of us has ever acknowledged the brief moment that our relationship was going in a totally different direction. I’m uncomfortable opening that door, so I slam it shut. “Days before he ruined my career,” I say.

“You didn’t need me for that,” he says and raises his eyes to me in challenge.

I let out a breath and lean back in my chair, feeling myself relax again. Arguing with Dan is a safe space.

“She picks terrible scripts,” Dan goes on.

“Of course,” I say. “And I’m sure you all know Dan has a PhD inThe Notebook’’

Everyone at the table laughs. They laugh hard, and I like it. There’s no satisfaction like saying the right thing at the exact right time and getting that happy energy in return. It takes me back to the early days ofPop Rocks,before Pantheon Television learned that it was a lot cheaper to work with a laugh track. (I’d later think that the laugh track is to a live audience what porn is to sex. It can sound the same from the next room, but really, it’s not the same at all.) The laughter around the table now is raucous and alive, like they’ve been waiting all day to let it out.

Finn is wiping his eyes. “Jane, literally, he would watchThe Notebookand sob. It was part of his whole quiet-time weird thing, so we’d leave him alone . . .”

Aidan says, “But we knew when to come in . . .’’

“Minute fifty-four,” says Brian. “Tears, like clockwork.” Everyone laughs again, including Dan.

“It’s true,” Dan says. “WatchingThe Notebookwas the only way I could get them to leave me alone.’

“Until minute fifty-four and the tears,” Connor says. “Then we pounced.”

“He’s an introvert,” Finn says with air quotes, as if the whole idea of introversion is a made-up excuse for people who don’t want to deal. They all laugh again, but Dan doesn’t.

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