Page 129 of It Couldn't Be You
I shook my head. “I got your brother for that.”
“Our friendship has always been a touchstone for me, too. Not so much for hiding but for reminding myself who I am. Growing up, working, getting married, and moving out, it gets easy to get so caught up in the grind and moving so fast that my self-reflection becomes a blur. I’ve gotten used to our friendship being one of my touchstones that reflects me back to me.”
“But all that growing up grind reflects you, too. You’re the heart and soul of your job. Your love story with Terrence—how you listened to your gut and fell in love with arms wide open. The way he moved here for you. And I’m sure wherever you end up living will be a further reflection of you.”
“I know, I know,” she said breezily. “I guess I’m talking about the way you remind me of the young, carefree Katie.”
“Well, dido. I love young Katie and young Emma.” I said tenderly, nostalgically.
“Can you believe this year, though?” Katie asked.
“No, not at all. If you’d told us a year ago, heck, even in January, that you’d be getting married the day after tomorrow—”
“Or that you’d be kissing Gabe?” Katie let her jaw drop. “Well, maybeyouwouldn’t have been so shocked.”
“Oh, I’d be shocked,” I said. “Or imagine telling yourself in January that you’d be owner of Coffee & Commas.”
Katie fell back on the front porch. I fell back, too.
We lay there with the wooden beams behind our back with our shoes kicked off, laughing. We could hear the murmurs of bustling downtown, but we could also hear the crickets singing in the grass.
“I feel like I’ve always known you and Gabe were meant to be. Like I always knew you were two lovesick puppies panting after each other. Like I’d just forgotten I knew,” Katie whispered.
“Maybe you did,” I mused. “My mom did.”
“My mom probably did, too.” She snorted. “Maybe you and Gabe were always meant to be together, but maybe it’s also that you and I were always meant to be sisters.”
“We’ve always been sisters, Katie. That’s one of the top reasons I didn’t want to admit my feelings to anyone. I didn’t want to ruin what we have in any way. I wanted to preserve us.”
“We don’t need preserving, Em. We are made of the strong stuff, the withstanding stuff. We are bound to change, to shift, to share—but we’ll always last.”
“Always.” I reached my hand over to hers. We latched on to one another, and I felt her diamond ring against my pinky.
It was different than when we were little girls grabbing each other’s hands to drag one another on to the next adventure. But it still felt easy, comforting like kin.
“You didn’t want to tell me because you wanted to preserve our friendship but also because you didn’t want to tick me off,” she said in a knowing voice.
“Duh,” I admitted readily.
She then flipped onto her stomach, resting on her elbows. “Okay, now I need the quotes from Gabe. I need all the details. Starting with what was said during the Cambria trip, but then also work backward to when you guys were teenagers. Wait, you two danced together on New Year’s Eve. Was that like a romantic time for you guys, and I was totally oblivious?”
Forty-Nine
Gabe
when can I see you again?
Me
I’ll be there tonight
Gabe
but that’s forever
Texas was moody and temperamental. One day it was blue skies, bright sun, and then you could wake up the next morning to clouds gray as smoke and torrential downpour. The hardest part to deal with was the lack of warning.
We’d been told it could possibly rain a couple of days ago, but no warning it would be such an angry storm that flights would be delayed and venues panicking about their outdoor ceremonies.
