The Bloom Girls

by Amy Pine

  A knock sounded on the bedroom door.

  “Gabi? Are you in there?”

  Gabi’s eyes widened. “It’s Ethan. Something’s wrong. I can feel it.”

  Alissa narrowed her eyes. “What did I just say about waiting for the other shoe to drop?”

  “Isn’t it bad luck for him to see me?” Gabi asked.

  At most Jewish weddings, the bride, groom, and their families did photos before the ceremony, the whole bad-luck thing believed to be a silly superstition. But Gabi hadn’t wanted Ethan to see her in her dress before she walked down the aisle, so—much like forgoing a rabbi to officiate—they said to hell with tradition.

  “Gabs,” Ethan called out through the door again. “I just need to tell you something really quickly, okay? I’ll cover my eyes if that makes you feel better.”

  “Coming, Ethan!” Alissa called back to him, then she turned her attention back to her daughter. “Go stand on the other side of the door so when I open it, you’re hidden.”

  “Good idea!” Gabi said, then picked up the skirt of her dress and moved as quickly as she could into position.

  “Ethan,” Alissa said as she opened the door to see her almost son-in-law looking drop-dead gorgeous in his tux. “Wow. I mean, is everything okay?”

  He swallowed. “T.J. had my ring. He was about to tie it to that little pillow for Grayson to carry down the aisle when I realized I hadn’t tried it on since we got it sized at the jeweler, so I put it on and—” Ethan held up his left hand to show Alissa not the ring but the irritated red bumps that circled his swollen finger where the ring had likely just been.

  “Oh shit,” Alissa said.

  “What is it?” Gabi asked from behind the door.

  “Um…it looks like your husband-to-be had an allergic reaction to his wedding band,” she said, poking her head around the door with a wince.

  “What?” Gabi said. “Oh my God. Mom…My ring. I haven’t tried it on yet either. It’s in the box on the vanity where I was doing my makeup. Can you get it?”

  Alissa nodded and strode away, showing up thirty seconds later with the ring box containing Gabi’s wedding band.

  With shaking hands, her daughter grabbed the box, fumbling to open it before sliding the band onto her left finger. She gasped as said sliding stopped at her second knuckle.

  “It’s too small!” Gabi whimpered.

  “Or you’re retaining water!” Alissa offered.

  She heard Ethan take a step closer, then felt something thunk against the door.

  “Was that your head?”

  “Yep,” he said.

  “Are you okay?”

  He reached a hand around the back—the one that had clearly rejected his wedding band—and found Gabi’s hand, threading his fingers through hers.

  “The ring not fitting doesn’t mean anything,” he said. “I promise that I want to be with you for as long as you’ll have me, Bloom.”

  “What about yours almost giving you gangrene?” she asked.

  He let out a soft chuckle. “It’s not gangrene.”

  Gabi sighed. “I want to be with you too. For as long as you’ll have me. But what if this—delay—means we should…I don’t know…think?”

  Ethan squeezed her hand. “I’m yours whether there’s a ring or not, got it? You’re it for me, no matter what.”

  Gabi nodded even though she knew he couldn’t see her. “Whether there’s a ring or not,” she echoed. She pressed a kiss to his palm before letting his hand go. “See you out there, Harris.”

  “See you out there, Bloom.”

  Something shifted inside her then, though she couldn’t put her finger on it. But his words played over in her head on a loop. Whether there’s a ring or not. Whether there’s a ring or not.

  * * *

  Grayson was happy to carry his empty pillow down the aisle while his sister aggressively tossed flower petals at the onlookers rather than the aisle itself, but at least neither of the two ran away.

  “Pssst. Bloom,” Miriam said, appearing next to Gabi at the tent’s opening.

  “Where were you?” Gabi asked, letting out a relieved breath. “I can’t do this without my maid of honor and officiant.”

  Miriam—her pink hair now the promised deep blue to match her gown—grinned. “Rummaging through Gigi and Gramps’s pantry. Look what I found!” She held up a bag of Snyder’s Pretzel Rings.

  Gabi gasped. “Has anyone told you you’re the best maid of honor slash wedding officiant in the history of maids of honor slash wedding officiants?”

  Miriam curtsied, then tore open the bag, first popping a ring into her mouth and then handing one to Gabi. “Hide that behind your bouquet, and when I ask for the rings…Well, you know the drill.” She grabbed a few more and dropped them into the hidden pocket on the side of her dress. “For the groom,” she added. “Just in case one breaks—or I get hungry.” Then she rolled down the top of the bag and leaned it against the outside of the white tent just in time for her cue to head down the aisle herself.

  “See you on the other side!” Miriam said with a wink, and then she was gone, on her way down the aisle toward the chuppah.

  Gabi and Ethan had opted for her aunt Sadie making a wedding playlist rather than hiring a band or a DJ. One of Gabi’s trusted photography classmates had offered to do the photos for free. With her mom baking the cake, the only major expenses of the evening were the tent rental and the boxes and boxes of Lou Malnati’s pizzas that would be delivered shortly after the ceremony. It was for all intents and purposes Gabi’s dream wedding because all that mattered was that the man she loved was at the other end of the aisle waiting for her.

  When “Lucky” by Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat started to play, Gabi moved without hesitation toward the music—toward where her parents waited for her in the middle of the aisle. When the song spoke about being in love with your best friend, she glanced up at Ethan, who gazed back at her with more love and promise than she could have ever imagined. And when her parents both kissed her on the cheek, told her they loved her, and then stepped away, their blessing for her to begin this new life with the man of her dreams, Gabi had never been surer that she and Ethan would make it, no matter what this new life threw at them.

  There it was again. That shifting. That strange feeling in her chest.

  Whether there’s a ring or not.

  If his ring wasn’t right and her ring wasn’t right, what if—the timing wasn’t right? She and Ethan were still learning new things about each other every day, which made sense because they’d only known each other for six months. Six. Months.

  He must have seen it in her eyes when she handed her bouquet to Miriam and he took her hands in his. Otherwise how did he know exactly what to say?

  “It was a sign, wasn’t it?” he asked her.

  Gabi nodded. “We still have so much to learn about each other. Like, I didn’t even know you had a metal allergy.”

  He laughed. “Nickel. Guess there must be trace amounts in the wedding band.”

  “Well,” she said. “Then I should probably tell you that I’m lactose-intolerant and had to take a dairy relief pill every time we had gelato in Italy so I wouldn’t…you know…”

  “Are these your vows?” Miriam asked. “Not that I’m judging, but I was expecting something a little more romantic than dairy-induced gas.”

  Gabi snorted, but then her stomach clenched. She and Ethan were on the same page, but were they really going to do what she was pretty sure they were about to do?

  “I’ve never even taken you on a real first date,” Ethan said.

  In fact, there hadn’t been a real world for them since they met. They went right from the fairy tale of Europe to the heightened reality of wedding planning.

  “Oh for heaven’s sake!” Evelyn Adler called out, leaping up from her chair. “Are you two standing up there right now calling off the wedding?”

  Miriam threw her arms in the air—bouquet included. “What am I going to d
o with all the pretzels in my pocket?” But she was grinning. “You do you, lovers.”

  “I am marrying Ethan Harris, Grandma Ev,” Gabi said, pivoting to face the bug-eyed and slack-jawed onlookers. “Just—not today.” She turned back to her fiancé. “I want to date him and get to know him first.”

  “And I want you to chase your dream. Even if it’s halfway across the world, I’ll be here when you get back.”

  “I love you, Ethan. So very much.”

  He leaned his forehead against hers. “I love you back. But we might be in a shitload of trouble here…”

  T.J. stepped toward Miriam and threw his arm across her shoulders. “This lovely lady is ordained for the day if there are any other takers!”

  Gabi watched as her dad got down on his knee in front of her mom. Oh God. She’d just gotten used to the idea of the baby and them starting over. But marriage? No way were they ready for that.

  “What do you say, Freckles?” he asked.

  Alissa threw her hand over her mouth but shook her head. “I love you, Matt. But let’s try cohabitating with a new baby first.”

  Miriam handed her a pretzel ring from her pocket. “You could call it a trial engagement. Just a thought.”

  Gabi’s mom let her dad slide the pretzel over her ring finger. “We’ll see,” she said, blushing. “Please stand up now?”

  It was then—her father standing with one arm around her mother and his free hand on her pregnant belly—that Gramps rose from his chair and then gingerly lowered himself to his knee.

  The tent went silent.

  “What do you say, sweetheart? Should we finally make it legal?”

  “What?” Matthew shouted.

  Gabi’s mouth fell open. Ethan squeezed her hand, and Miriam blurted, “Holy freaking shit.”

  Gramps and Gigi simply shrugged.

  “We were hippies,” she said. “Okay, are hippies. We weren’t exactly into the establishment of marriage. But since there’s a cake and music, we should celebrate someone, shouldn’t we?”

  “Plus,” Miriam chimed in, “ordained woman up here itching to marry a couple of people who want to say I do.”

  “I’m ordained too!” a woman’s voice called from the crowd, and Rabbi Becker popped up from her seat.

  “So am I!” a voice rang out a few rows back. It was the older man Gabi recognized as Ethan’s parents’ rabbi.

  “It should probably be me,” a third voice called, and Rabbi Avi Silverman rose from where he’d been sitting only one row behind the Blooms.

  And just like that, Gabi and Ethan stepped aside, making way for the very unexpected bride and groom.

  “Hey,” Ethan dipped his head and whispered in her ear. “When they’re done saying I do, how do you feel about helping me conquer my fear of heights?”

  Gabi’s eyes widened. “Race you to the tree house.”

  Epilogue

  Six Months Later…

  Miriam’s buzzer rang, though Gabi guessed it was time to start considering it her buzzer since this was her crash pad when she was in town. But Miriam wasn’t home, and Gabi was out-of-her-mind excited to see the person on the other side of the door. On her way to answer it, she realized she was wearing two different shoes. How had she acquired so many pairs of black sandal wedges?

  “Just a minute!” she called, running back to her room and rummaging around in her way-too-small closet for a possible match. When she couldn’t find either, she kicked off both of the current wedges and opted for the red slides that looked just as cute with the black halter jumper. In fact, they looked better.

  Things had gotten so crazy since the holidays—and the wedding that didn’t happen but the other wedding that did. Gabi’s mom had gone into premature labor and was forced onto bed rest, so Gabi had tag-teamed with her dad and Becca to take regular shifts with her mom. After the baby was born—Elliott for Gabi’s great-grandfather whom she’d never known—she’d gotten her biggest photography gig yet, a twelve-week stint in Montreal taking candid vacation portraits.

  “Come with me,” she’d asked Ethan, who had just made it through his first tax season at his father’s firm. And he had joined her—for the first week. But then he had to get back to work, which meant eleven weeks of nothing more than video chats and texts.

  She’d flown in late last night. This was her first time seeing him in almost three months.

  And it was their official first date.

  She tightened her ponytail and smacked her lips together, certain her lipstick would soon be all over both Ethan’s lips as well as hers.

  The buzzer rang again, and finally she made it to the door, allowing herself one steadying breath before throwing it open to find her wayward fiancé standing there with a bottle of wine in one hand and the Roman Holiday DVD in the other. On the floor next to him were two brown bags of groceries.

  “We’ve still never watched it,” he said. “So I thought maybe we could stay in? I’ll make you dinner.”

  She launched herself at him, and he caught her in his arms, somehow managing not to drop the wine.

  “Welcome home,” he said, making her lipstick a thing of the past.

  He backed her into her apartment and kicked the door shut behind him.

  “What about the groceries?” she asked, and he laughed, his lips still on hers.

  “They can wait. I have everything I need right here.”

  * * *

  Alissa bolted upright in bed, her breasts aching but Matthew and Elliott nowhere in sight. She heard soft singing coming from down the hall and tiptoed toward the nursery, where the door was open just a crack. There they were, father and son, in their usual spot for Elliott’s 3:00 a.m. feeding.

  Matthew sat shirtless in the rocking chair, his son looking up at him from his father’s arms while he downed the bottle of breast milk at his lips. Every time she saw them like this, she swore her heart couldn’t fill with any more love if it tried, and every time it proved her wrong.

  Even though Matthew insisted on taking the middle-of-the-night feedings so Alissa could sleep, her engorged breasts were on a tight schedule, which meant it was time to pump.

  Alissa chuckled as she hooked herself up to the automatic breast pump, remembering when she caught Matthew first unboxing it and trying it on.

  “Remember that line from Meet the Parents where Ben Stiller says you can milk anything with nipples?” he’d asked.

  “Oh my God,” she’d said. “I’m having a baby and am in love with a toddler.”

  “All I heard was that you’re madly in love with me, so joke’s on you.”

  Once the pump was doing its job, Alissa leaned back on the bed and picked up her phone. She spotted a notification from the last dating app she’d used—long before Matthew had come back to town—and realized she’d forgotten to delete it. No need for it now. Even though Alissa had turned down his proposal at Gabi and Ethan’s wedding that wasn’t, he’d made his intentions clear every day since.

  “You’re not getting rid of me, Freckles. So one of these days, you better make an honest man out of me.”

  Whether or not they got married again remained to be seen, but he wasn’t getting rid of her either. This was it. He was staying put, and so was she.

  She grinned as she tapped the icon, looking forward to deleting it, and the app opened to the first dating prospect in the deck, and Alissa’s heart sank.

  “Oh my God,” she said, not noticing Matthew now standing in the doorway, their son cooing in his arms.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, and she looked up, unable to hide the anguish on her face.

  She held the phone toward him so he could see.

  “It’s Jeff,” she said. “Becca’s husband. Jeff.”

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  Reading Group Guide

  Discussion Questions

  The Bloom
Girls starts with Gabi Bloom embarking on a summer abroad after finishing college and before figuring out the rest of her life. How important do you believe it is to experience the world outside the bubble in which you grew up? Does it matter if you do it when you’re barely an adult, like Gabi, or would it have the same benefit/effect later in life?

  Pregnancy at any age changes your life dramatically. Pregnancy when you’re a divorced almost-empty-nester does even more so. And when the baby daddy is your ex-husband—well, things can get complicated. How did you relate to or react to Alissa’s revelation?

  Many different family relationships are illustrated throughout the novel: mother/daughter, father/daughter, sister/sister, husband/wife, et cetera. Which relationship resonated with you the most?

  Alissa panics about the pregnancy and how to tell Gabi, especially given her complicated history with Gabi’s father, Matthew. But she is thrown for a loop when she learns that Gabi is engaged and that Matthew wants to try to make things work this time around. Is it fair for her to want to tell Gabi on her own terms, waiting until she’s sure of what this baby means for her and Matthew?

  Just as every marriage is unique, so is every divorce. Based on their complicated history mentioned before, what is your prognosis for Alissa and Matthew post-baby?

  While Gabi did grow up with two loving parents, their divorce still affects her life choices. Where do you see these effects in her relationships with others or in her relationship with herself?

  Ethan has his shot at a pie-in-the-sky dream and loses it. But he’s coping and even thriving, thanks to Gabi. He even goes so far as to claim that she is his dream now, and it’s her turn to reach for hers. Do you think the right partner can be enough to fulfill you, or do we need to be fulfilled on our own before we can be a good partner to someone else? What it boils down to is…Will Gabi and Ethan make it for the long haul?