The Book of Jane

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The Book of Jane Page 23

by Anne Dayton


  “I’m reading the clues. That’s my job, you know.”

  “I know, I know.” I roll my eyes. “What clues, Encyclopedia Brown?”

  “For one thing, you haven’t noticed what I programmed in.”

  I look at him for a second, confused. “I noticed the verse you programmed in. Jeremiah 29:11. Very clever. But I’m guessing from your reaction that that’s not what you meant.”

  “See, you’re getting good at this too.” He smiles.

  “What is it that I should have noticed?”

  “On the contrary, I was hoping you wouldn’t notice it,” Coates laughs. “Your utter confusion tells me that you really have changed, and that you’re ready.”

  “Ready for what?” This game is getting tiresome, and I was hoping to grab some more champagne before the clock strikes midnight, so we only have a few minutes left.

  “June tenth.”

  I sigh. He’s not about to just spit it out.

  “What happens on June tenth?”

  “That’s the day we get married,” he says, smiling at me.

  I freeze.

  “The day we what?”

  “We could always go the St. Patrick’s route, but really, I don’t know that we want a big elaborate wedding. We can do something smaller, more low key if you—”

  My mind is reeling. What is he saying? I stare at him, and I can’t figure out what to say. I realize people are starting to stare, so I blurt out the first thing that comes into my head. “We’d never be able to get St. Patrick’s.”

  Coates laughs. “I was thinking something more intimate might be better. What do you think?”

  What do I think? “June of this year?”

  He nods. “Why wait?”

  All around us, people are starting to scurry and hush each other, and I flush until I realize it’s not us they’re getting excited about. With only one minute till midnight, people are looking toward the stage where Herb Glassman is ready to begin the countdown to the new year.

  “What are you talking about?” My head spins.

  “I’m talking about you and me,” Coates says calmly, oblivious to the excitement around us. “I’m talking about how you make me laugh. How you challenge me to grow. How you force me to push the boundaries of what I consider normal.” He looks deep into my eyes as the excitement builds around us. It must be very close to midnight. “I’m talking about how I knew, from the very first time I saw you, that we were meant to be together.”

  “Then why were you such a jerk?” I ask, closing my eyes to block out to commotion around us. I need to think. He touches my cheek, softly, and I open my eyes to look into his.

  “Because I was completely flustered,” he admits, blushing. “You were there and I knew I had to talk to you and I had no idea what to say.” I bite my lip. “And then you had that boyfriend, and I knew he was wrong for you because I knew, Jane,” he takes a deep breath. “I knew that I was right for you.” I stare at him as he talks to me, acting as if there is no one else in the room.

  I don’t know what to say, so I just lean in to him, but he pulls away. “I love you, Jane.” And suddenly, he drops down to one knee.

  “What are you doing?”

  “What I wanted to ask you tonight, Jane,” he says, smiling up at me, “was, will you marry me?”

  “Ten…” The countdown begins from the stage as he takes a small black box out of his coat.

  “What?”

  “Nine…” He opens it and pulls out a gorgeous princess-cut solitaire ring. A few people around us notice and turn to stare.

  “Eight…”

  “I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Jane.”

  “Seven…”

  The couple next to us whistles and points.

  “Six…”

  I notice a lot of heads turning to look at us.

  “Five…”

  “Jane?”

  “Four…”

  I look at the crowd, now turning and looking at us. I know I should feel embarrassed, but I don’t. I feel…

  “Three…”

  Happy. I feel like this is right. And I know, with a certainty that I have never felt before, that God is good.

  “Two…”

  God is good, and wants what’s best for us, even if he has to strip away our own desires to get us to see it.

  “One…”

  I love this man, and suddenly I want the world to know it. As the year ends, I bend over and kiss him, and the crowd erupts in cheers.

  As the first notes of “Auld Lang Syne” float across the ballroom, Coates stands up and wraps his arms around me. I sink into his warmth as I think about how mournful this song is. I know that auld lang syne means “time long past,” and I think about what it means to say good-bye to another year. I think about all the dreams that died this year, and the pain, and about the friends who have gone away, some forever. And I also think about the good that I’ve seen—the new life that’s come into the world, and the deep ties of friendship, and the hope for better things to come.

  I hear the people around us, still cheering as we sway to the music, but all I can see is Coates. I’ve never seen his smile so big. I laugh, and thank God for a new year. A whole new start for us all.

  Acknowledgments

  As always there were a lot of brilliant minds that helped us with this book. Thanks to our amazing agent, Claudia Cross, for giving us great comments and never minding when we e-mail you every day. Thanks to Trace Murphy, the kindest, straightest, malest chick lit editor in the business. Thanks to Darya Porat for being a huge help and funny to boot. Thanks to Carly Fraser and Preeti Parasharami for pitching our book all over town. Thanks to Beth Meister for keeping us honest and being the best friend two knuckleheads could have. Also to Haymaker, for being the other Beth. And thanks to Shannon Hill at Waterbrook for being our friend and editor-at-large.

  Anne: Mom, you’re the choice of a new generation. Dad, you’re just what the doctor ordered. Nick, don’t ever forget you can’t beat the feeling, and Peter, you can’t beat the real thing. Jeff, I like the Sprite in you (and thanks for reading). Wayne, with you, life tastes good.

  May: Thanks to Dad for swearing people are crazy when they don’t hire me. Thanks to Mom for being the original bookworm in the family. Thanks to Matt and Diem for not taking the name Walker. Thanks to Isaac and Aaron for being the life of the party. Thanks to Sandy, my partner in crime. Thanks to the Bransfords for making Buster your “granddog.” And thanks to Nathan. I know I’m a handful, but you make it seem like you’re having fun.

  About the Authors

  Anne Dayton graduated from Princeton University and is earning her master’s degree in English at New York University. She works for a New York publishing company and lives in Brooklyn. Another publishing veteran, May Vanderbilt graduated from Baylor University and went on to earn a master’s degree in fiction from Johns Hopkins University. She lives in San Francisco, where she is a freelance writer.

  Also by Anne Dayton and May Vanderbilt

  Emily Ever After

  Consider Lily

  PUBLISHED BY BROADWAY BOOKS

  Copyright © 2007 by Anne Dayton and May Vanderbilt

  All Rights Reserved

  Published in the United States by Broadway Books, an imprint of The Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

  www.broadwaybooks.com

  BROADWAY BOOKS and its logo, a letter B bisected on the diagonal, are trademarks of Random House, Inc.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the authors’ imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Illustration by Bonnie Dain for Lilla Rogers Studio

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Dayton, Anne.

  The Book of Jane / Anne Dayton and May
Vanderbilt.—1st ed.

  p. cm.

  1. New York (N.Y.)—Fiction. I. Vanderbilt, May. II. Title.

  PS3604.A989B66 2007

  813'.6—dc22

  2006036515

  eISBN: 978-0-7679-2787-1

  v3.0

 

 

 


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