Page 55 of This Time Around
He couldn’t think of anything to say, which was just as well since they’d arrived at the venue. He started for a parking spot in back, but remembered Allie’s high heels and drove around for a few minutes until he found one closer. He pulled into it and shut the car off, but didn’t take his keys from the ignition right away. He sat there for a few seconds longer, mentally steeling himself.
“So . . . what’s the plan here?” Allie asked.
He turned to look at her. “How do you mean?”
“Do you need me to pretend to be your girlfriend, or am I just an old pal?” She shrugged. “I’m good either way.”
“No, I don’t want to lie. But I guess—maybe we don’t need to volunteer details?”
She laughed and tossed her hair. “I see. So you’re saying there might be a situation in which it would behoove you to have a girlfriend on your arm, but then again, maybe you’d rather be free to pick up chicks?”
“No, it’s not that at all.”
“It’s okay, Jack.” She smiled, and he knew she meant it. “I’ll play it however you want. Maybe we need a cue.”
“A cue?”
“Yeah. Like if we get in there and you want me to play your old buddy, you scratch your chin. And if you want me to play your girlfriend, you?—”
“Grab my crotch?”
“Very funny.” Allie grabbed the door handle. “Come on. We’re already thirty minutes late. Better get in there.”
She pushed her door open, and Jack unbuckled his seatbelt, not sure he was ready for this. Not sure he was ready for any of it.
Allie smoothed down the front of her dress, feeling oddly self-conscious. It wasn’t her reunion. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t be judged, though.
She glanced over at Jack, who was looking a little gray. She started to reach for his hand, but remembered they weren’t pulling out the boyfriend-girlfriend card unless he gave the signal. What was the signal again? She started to ask, but Jack grabbed the door handle and yanked it open with surprising force.
“Whoa, there,” she said, jumping back so the door didn’t hit her in the face. “You okay?”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”
He let the door fall shut, and Allie pulled her jacket tighter around her shoulders. The rain had stopped, but it was still chilly outside. Still, she got the sense Jack wasn’t thrilled to be going inside. “I guess you just seem kinda nervous about going in there.”
“Maybe a little,” he admitted.
“How come? You’re wildly successful, you still look hot, you have a great kid.”
He smiled, but it didn’t quite meet his eyes. “Thanks. That was a good pep talk. I needed it.”
She couldn’t tell if he was joking or not, but he seemed sincere. “What’s it like, anyway?” he asked. “I’ve missed all my other reunions. This will be my first.”
“That makes two of us.”
“Really?”
She shrugged, determined not to get defensive about it. “I got mono right before our ten-year high school reunion, so I couldn’t make it to that.”
Okay, so it wasn’t entirely true, but Jack didn’t need to know the rest of the story. That she’d been embarrassed about dropping out of law school, about breaking her engagement. She’d expected to have kids and a brag-worthy career and a big house in the West Hills, but she hadn’t achieved any of that by the time her reunion came around. It had just seemed easier to skip it.
“Anyway,” she said, “I never bothered with the college reunions, either.”
“How come?”
She shrugged. “Life just turned out differently than I expected.”
Jack’s brow furrowed. “Allie, people’s dreams change all the time.”
