One of the Guys (13 page)

           
The beginning of the end of the Lucy
she knew. Soon she would be married, a housewife, and eventually, maybe even a
mother… Kate swallowed. Finally, she said, “So you got her a ring AND a house?”

           
Jackson chuckled. “I’m not really
going to give her the house for her birthday. She said she just wanted to hang
out with her parents for her birthday, so that’s what we’re going to do.”

           
“But when are you going to give her…
the house?
 
And when are you going to
propose?”

           
“Well, this is what I was thinking,”
Jackson said, sitting down on the floor in the middle of the empty bedroom. Kate
joined him. “We do dinner and cake at her parents’ house like she
wants,
and her birthday’s over and done with. She’s not
going to be expecting me to give her something after her birthday, right?”

           
“Right.”

           
“So I’m thinking, that Saturday
night,
after
her birthday, if you
don’t have anything going on…
Do
you
have anything going on?
 
Do you have to
work?”

           
Kate thought for a second. “I have a
wedding at two, but it’ll be over and done with kind of early in the evening,”
she replied.

           
“Okay, so here’s the plan. We let
Lucy think there’s a poker game as usual, but we tell her that you have to go
to somebody’s housewarming party… I don’t
know,
somebody from work, or something. You suggest that she come with you to this
party, because I’ll still be playing poker.”

           
A grin spread across Kate’s face. “I
love it!”

           
“Great!
 
I mentioned it to Lucy’s mom and sister, and
they are flipping out. They’ve already started inviting people and planning
food. Anyway, she’s going to think she’s coming to a party for someone she
doesn’t even know…”

           
“…but the party’s going to be for
her!” Kate sighed. “That’s so sweet.”

           
“And that’s when I’ll propose.”

           
“Jackson, that’s amazing.
You’re
amazing. God, she’s a lucky
girl.”
 
Kate leaned over and threw her
arms around Jackson in another hug.

           
“And I’m a lucky guy!”

*

Later
that evening, Kate and Chris lay sprawled on the couch, taking a break from
their marathon make-out session. “So, I know you know that Jackson is going to
ask Lucy to marry him, but did you know he bought her a house?” Kate asked,
running her fingers lightly up and down across Chris’s flat stomach.

“A
house?
 
He bought
her a house?”

“Yeah.
A huge house on the beach, just before the lighthouse.”

Chris
whistled.
“Seriously?
 
Moving in?
 
Getting married?”
 
He shook his head.

“What’s
wrong with that?” Kate asked.

“It
just seems a little fast, doesn’t it?
 
They haven’t been together that long, right?”

Kate
chuckled. “They’ve had a thing for each other since high school!
 
And you think it’s moving too fast?”

Chris
shrugged. “When’s he going to pop the question?”

“That’s
the thing. He bought the house but she doesn’t know about it. So next weekend,
he’s going to have a bunch of us over. We’re going to act like he’s playing
poker but that I have to go to a friend’s housewarming party. I’m going to get
Lucy to come with me, but the housewarming party is going to end up being for
her, and then Jackson will ask her to marry him.”

“So
he’s springing a house and a ring on her at the same time?”

“Isn’t
that amazingly romantic?” Kate gushed. She could see from the bored look in
Chris’s eyes that he found the idea neither amazing, nor romantic.

“I
guess,” he yawned. He stretched and sat up, disentangling his arms and legs
from Kate’s.

“Leaving
so soon?” she asked, propping her head up in her hand.

“Yeah,”
Chris said, scooting to the edge of the couch. “I really should get going.”

“You
know, Lucy’s spending the night at Jackson’s tonight. You don’t have to leave. You
could stay if you wanted to.”

Chris
glanced at Kate, and then slid his feet into his flip-flops. “I could, but I’ve
got a lot to do tomorrow.”

Kate
sat up. “What are you talking about?
 
I’m
the one that’s got to be at the office at like, eight. Just stay,” she said,
reaching for him, trying to hook her finger in a belt loop as he stood up. She
missed.

“Sorry,”
he said. “I’ve got to go to the gym, and then I’ve got to get to the bank, I
have a meeting with a client, and I have a lot of editing to do. I want to get
up early and get going right away,” he said. “Maybe we can do something during
the week,” he added. He leaned down over the couch and kissed her while she was
pouting.

 
“What about after Lucy and Jackson’s party on
Saturday?
 
She’ll be staying with him
again, and then you can come home with me.”

He
smiled. “It’s tempting,” he remarked.

“Tempting
like you’ll actually stay?”

“We’ll
see,” Chris said, ruffling her hair. “Have a good night,” he said.

“Good
night,” Kate replied. She didn’t bother to make a move to walk him out. She
watched him pick up his wallet and keys from the coffee table. He gave a little
wave and winked at her. She waved back. As soon as she heard the door close,
she grabbed a pillow and the remote and curled up into the corner of the couch.

She
would have preferred curling up to Chris. She didn’t understand what the big
deal was about spending the night. Max never seemed to mind staying over. And
he always liked to cuddle. It’s not like she was asking Chris to move in with
her. They’d been seeing each other and making out for… weeks now. But he still
didn’t seem interested in spending the night. What was the deal?

*

           
“Happy birthday,
dear
Luuu
-cy.
Happy birthday
to-
ooo
yooou
!”
 
Everyone clapped as Lucy bent over, held her
hair back, and blew out the candles on her cake.

           
“Thank you,” she said. She kissed
Jackson, and then her dad, Ed. Then she went around the table and hugged her
sister, Maggie, her brother-in-law, Mark, and her aunt Janet. She hugged and
kissed her mom. At last, she came to a stop in front of Kate.

           
“Happy birthday,” Kate said,
flinging her arms around Lucy.

           
“Thank you. This is so much better
than last year!” she said. “This is the kind of birthday I want every year.
Just hanging out with you guys.”

           
“Lucy, you have to cut the cake,”
her mom called.

           
Lucy returned to the table and
started slicing up the cake, chatting with her mom and her aunt. She didn’t
notice Jackson sidle up to Kate and nudge her as he stuck his hands down in his
pockets. “Did you ask her about the party yet?” he whispered.

           
“Not yet,” Kate whispered back. “
Haven’t had a chance
.”
 
Lucy looked up at them just then, and held up a plate of cake.

           
“Hurry up!” Jackson said out of the
corner of his mouth.

           
Kate smiled at him over her shoulder
as she took her piece of cake from Lucy. She followed Lucy’s sister, Maggie,
into the living room. Maggie had declined a piece of cake and sat, curled up in
the corner of the loveseat. Kate plopped down on the floor and smiled up at
Maggie. “How have you two newlyweds been?”

           
“Good, thanks,” Maggie smiled. “How’s
business?”

           
“Busy,” Kate replied, sticking a big
bite of cake in her mouth and smiling as Jackson came in and sat down on the
floor next to her.

           
“Hey, Lucy!
 
There’s presents
in
here for you!” he called.

           
Lucy peeked around the corner as her
parents, her aunt, and her brother-in-law all filed into the living room. She
shook her head at the small pile of gifts on the coffee table. “You guys
shouldn’t have!” she squealed.

           
Lucy sat down on the loveseat next
to Maggie and quickly gobbled up what was left of her cake. “I think you should
open Jackson’s first,” Maggie said, picking up a small white box with a tiny
silver bow on top. She gave it a little shake.

           
Beaming, Lucy took the box from
Maggie and bent to give Jackson a kiss. Kate noticed Lucy’s hands shaking a
little as she pulled the top off of the box and slid the black velvet box out
into her palm. Taking a deep breath, she opened the lid and gasped.

           
Everyone in the living room held
their breath in suspense as Lucy turned the box around for all to see. “Diamond
earrings,” she said. “Wow. Jackson, they’re beautiful.”
 
She bent and kissed him again as everyone in
the living room exchanged knowing glances. “Thank you, honey.”

           
“You’re welcome.”

           
Kate grinned at Jackson. “Are you
planning on totally spoiling her, or what?” she whispered.

           
“She needed
something
to open on her birthday,” he whispered back.

           
“This is from Maggie and Mark,” Lucy
said, reading the tag on a bright yellow gift bag. “Thanks, guys,” she said,
pushing aside layers of tissue paper and pulling out a t-shirt. She unfolded it
and held it up in front of her, then let out a shriek. “Oh my God!” she cried,
jumping to her feet. She bent down and hugged Maggie, then crossed the room and
nearly tackled Mark. “Oh my God!” she cried again. “Congratulations!”

           
Everyone was looking at each other
in confusion as Lucy made her way back to the loveseat. She hugged Maggie again.
Maggie could just be seen over Lucy’s shoulder, and she was beaming. “Mom and
Dad, I’m pregnant,” she announced.

           
Lucy held up her “# 1 Aunt” t-shirt
for everyone to see. Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler both grabbed each other’s hands for a
moment and smiled at each other. Then Mrs. Wheeler got to her feet and hugged
Mark. She then made her way to Maggie. Mr. Wheeler sat for a minute, smiling,
and then quickly swiped at the corner of his eye before getting to his feet and
pulling Mark into a big bear hug.

           
“Wow!
 
Congratulations, you guys,” Kate said, giving
Maggie a hug. “That’s awesome!”
 
She
stepped aside as Lucy, her mother, and her aunt surrounded Maggie and started
bombarding her with questions. Kate turned to look at Jackson, but he was
huddled in conversation with Mark and Ed.
Being
the
only non-family member, she decided to take a breather out on the back patio.

           
It was refreshingly cool outside as
Kate sat down at the picnic table and pulled out her cell phone. She had asked
Chris to tag along tonight, but he said he had already made plans with friends.
That was the last she’d heard from him. She didn’t know what friends he was
referring to.
 
She knew that Max was at
home working on some website project for a new client. Jackson was here. Kevin
usually spent Friday nights with his work buddies. She considered texting Chris
and asking him to stop by later that night, but then thought better of it. If
he came over, he probably wouldn’t spend the night, anyway. She wanted some
company.

She
scrolled to Max’s entry in her phone book and sent him a quick text. “Are you
doing anything tonight?”

It
was barely a minute before she got a response. “Do you want me to come over?
:)”

Kate
chewed on the inside of her cheek. “Just want to cuddle. Is that ok?”

His
reply was quick. “See you at 10?”

Smiling,
she texted him back, telling him that 10 o’clock was fine. Then she headed back
inside to the party, where Lucy had finished opening her cards and presents and
was going around the room hugging everyone and thanking them for her gifts. She
gave Kate a big, hard squeeze. “Thank you,” she said. “I love you!”

“I’ll
take you out to dinner for your birthday some night this week,” Kate said.