Page 8 of Our Big White Lie
“Oh my God,”my other best friend, Marco, exclaimed after I fessed up to him.“It’s about damn time.”
“Wait, youjuststarted dating?”a mutual friend asked.“I thought you were living together.”
“Theyareliving together,”another friend had said with a smirk.“They’re”—she made very emphatic air quotes—“roommates.”
Gail, for her part, was both tickled and not in the least bit surprised.“Everyone on God’s green earth has known about the two of youexceptfor the two of you. Pass the potatoes.”
So… yeah. Announcing that we were together was about as anticlimactic as it could get.
But three months after Ginny’s wedding, at Christmas dinner with Ava’s family…
“You’re gettingmarried?” Gail squealed. “Are you serious? Oh, my goodness! My girls are getting married!”
“Yep!” Ava smiled brightly, holding up her hand with the simple gold ring we’d bought together a few weeks earlier. “Tori proposed this morning!”
Gail crushed us both in hugs, nearly sobbing with joy, and I knew without a doubt in that moment that we’d made the right decision.
“Oh, I’m so excited!” She told me as she hugged me tight. “Do you girls have any thoughts about your wedding?” She let me go and hugged Ava again. “Have you thought about a date? Oh, this is so exciting!”
Ava laughed. “We’ve only been engaged for a few hours, Mom. We haven’t gotten very far yet.”
I nodded. “But if you want to help us plan…”
Gail’s eyes lit up all over again. Clasping her hands beneath her chin, she looked at me, then Ava. “Are you sure? I’d love to help! I don’t want to be the mother of the bride who takes everything over, but I’d so love to help!” She grinned so big I thought she was about to burst. “I get to be the mother of the bride!”
“Of course you can help, Mom,” Ava said.
Instantly, Gail had her wrapped up in another huge hug. A second later, I was again enveloped in one of her amazing hugs. Over Gail’s shoulder, I met Ava’s eyes. Any doubt she might’ve had about this had vanished. Yes, we were lying, but we were making Gail happy. Really, really happy.
Hopefully that was enough to balance the karmic scales.
Ava shut the car door, held the wheel in both hands, and released a harsh breath, forming a thin cloud in the cold air as she gazed up at her parents’ house.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Yeah. I’m good.” She turned to me, the fatigue in her eyes painfully obvious. “I don’t know why I was so stressed about it.”
“I think anyone would be. Even if we weren’t doing it because… you know…”
Pressing her lips together, she nodded. Staring at the closed garage door, she said, “It makes it feel more… real, I think. Not that we’re getting married—that my mom is…”
My chest tightened. “I’m sure it does.”
She swallowed hard. “I thought for a while that focusing on the wedding would keep my mind off that. But now…”
I winced. “Yeah. I guess it’s kind of unavoidable now.”
She nodded slowly. God, she looked utterly wrung out. She’d been so happy all evening, especially as we’d celebrated Christmas and chatted with her mom about wedding plans. Now that the lights had gone down, she was visibly drained. The harsh glow of the headlights reflecting off the garage door made her look pale while adding deeper shadows beneath her eyes; shewas still beautiful—she always was—but the weight of the world on her shoulders was impossible to miss.
“Do you want me to drive?” I asked.
Ava chewed her lip. Then she sighed, letting her hands slide off the wheel into her lap, and nodded. “Probably a good idea. I’m exhausted.”
We got out and both went around the front of the car. To my surprise, though, as we passed through the headlight beams, Ava stopped me and wrapped me in a hug.
“Thank you so much,” she whispered. “I was still having some doubts, but when I saw how happy my mom was…”
I smiled and held her tighter. “I’m glad she’s happy.”
