A Bridge of Her Own

by Heywood, Carey

  Wyatt’s mother sat on one side of Jane and Wyatt on the other, Jane's mother sat on the other side on the table, facing her. When they sat down, Mrs. Huntington took Jane’s hand in her own and told her how devastated she was when the two of them had broken up. Jane almost laughed out loud. Yeah right, she thought. Wyatt’s mom was now her biggest fan. How things had changed.

  They ordered their food. As they waited, Jane watched people walking up and down the street. Once their food arrived, she ate quickly. Maybe too quickly, she thought, as she had nothing to keep her busy while she watched them eat. She excused herself and went to the ladies’ room.

  She would have stayed in there, but it probably would have upset her mother. When she got back to the table, she was relieved to see the dishes had been cleared. Then dismayed to learn they had ordered desserts. Wyatt boasted that he had ordered the light sorbet for her.

  Great, she thought, now wishing for a trough of chocolate pudding instead. When their desserts came, she did her best to enjoy the sorbet. It was a bit chilly for a frozen dessert, she thought. Wyatt seemed to have dropped something because he was now kneeling next to her. She lifted the tablecloth and peered under it.

  He took her hand in his and pulled at a small velvet jewelry box. She felt as though she was watching a slow motion horror movie. She both felt his hand on her hand but also felt as though her hand was not even attached to her body. She didn’t even feel as though she could even hear what he was saying. What she heard was air rushing.

  Why couldn’t she speak? Why couldn’t she shake her head no? She watched in horror as he slipped the ring on to her ring finger. Movement on the other side of the picture window caught her attention. She looked up to see Gabe staring open-mouthed at her. She brought her hand up to cover her mouth.

  Her left hand. Which was now sporting a giant rock on her ring finger. He shook his head and walked away, only to look back at her a few steps away then continue on his way. Why was he there? This is not happening, this is not happening, she kept repeating in her head.

  “Jane, darling, say something,” her mother said, coming over to her.

  “Uh,” was all she could muster. She frantically looked back to where Gabe just was and then back to her mother. She stood, and Wyatt enveloped her in a tight embrace. All around her, the other patrons were smiling and clapping for them. With what everyone in the restaurant assumed were tears of joy streaming down her face.

  “Jane, really?” Wyatt admonished handing her a napkin to dry her eyes. “Don’t make a spectacle."

  She pursed her lips and nodded. On demand, she held her hand out to both her mother and Wyatt’s mother. When lunch was finished, Wyatt walked her to her car, letting her know the engagement announcement would run in next Sunday’s paper. Also, that they would need to set aside time to arrange for her things to be moved to the home he had just purchased. He said he would swing by her place tonight, and grinning, patted her on the backside.

  She moved away from him and got into her car. What the hell had just happened?. She called Lacey but could not coherently speak to her, so Lacey gave up and told her to just tell her when she got home. And to pay attention to the road and not get into an accident on her way home.

  She pulled over a few blocks away and tried to call Gabe. It went straight to voicemail. She looked at the ring on her finger. How in the world would she ever get out of this? It was strange, she thought, how this very moment was everything she would have wanted three years ago. How things had changed.

  What she wanted was so obviously different but her not being able to stand up for herself was clearly the same. She held her head in her hands. Taking a deep breath, she sent Gabe a text. She asked that he call her so she could explain. Figuring that was all she could do, she drove home.

  Chapter 28

  Her phone had ringed multiple times on her drive back. Each time she reached for it, she hoped it was Gabe. Each time, it was Wyatt or her mother. She ignored them all. Once home, she burst through the door.

  “Lace,” she cried out.

  “In here!” Lacey called back from the living room. Lacey looked up as she entered the room. “How was lu—” She began but was silenced when Jane held up her hand with the ring on it. “Um, I’m lost,” Lacey continued. “How did that happen?”

  Jane told her everything, including seeing Gabe

  “And you just sat there?” Lacey said, still looking at the ring.

  Jane nodded glumly. “What do I do?”

  Lacey put her hands up and said, “Um, tell Wyatt you do not want to marry him but say you lost the ring on the way home and give it to me.”

  Jane huffed. “I’m being serious, Lace."

  “So am I. Here, let me try that baby on.” Lacey returned holding out her hand.

  Jane rolled her eyes and handed her the ring. Lacey cradled it in her hand and murmured sweet nothings to it.

  “Jane, do you want me to marry him?” she joked.

  Lacey stopped joking after Jane told her about the forthcoming engagement announcement and the expectation that she would be moving in with him.

  “No, I have to do this. I have to return the ring and tell him that I do not want to marry him,” Jane said. “But how do I tell him that?” she continued.

  “Um, like you just did. ‘Hi, Wyatt. Here is your ring back. I do not want to marry you,’” Lacey replied.

  Jane shook her head. That just seemed too harsh. Besides, she had never seen her mother this happy. How was she going to be able to do it now? There was a knock at their door. Jane cringed, and Lacey motioned for her to stay where she was. She got up to check who it was. It was Jane’s mother.

  “I know you are home, Jane,” she called out through the door. “I parked next to your car."

  Lacey opened the door. “Hi, Mrs. Martin."

  “Lacey,” she said, walking past her and into the living room. “Jane, you left so quickly, before I was able to tell you how happy I am. You were so quiet at the restaurant."

  “I know, Mom. I’m so sorry,” Jane began.

  “Let me see the ring,” her mother asked, reaching for her hand.

  “I have it,” Lacey called out, rushing over.

  “Why in the world are you wearing Jane’s ring?” she gasped.

  “I uh, well, um,” she said, taking it off and handing it to her. "I’m going to go get a drink,” she said, slowly backing out of the room as Mrs. Martin frowned at her.

  “Here, darling,” she said, handing the ring to Jane.1 “Let me see it on your hand."

  Jane held her hands in her lap. Her mother reached over, pulled her left hand towards her, and slid the ring on it.

  “Really, Jane, you are acting so strange. You should be so proud of yourself. You have landed quite a catch.”

  “I’ve got to get out of here,” Jane said, getting up. Leaving her mother open-mouthed on the sofa, she set the ring on the coffee table, grabbed her keys, and ran out the door. She checked her phone before she pulled out. Still no response from Gabe. Figuring it could not hurt to try, she made her way to his house. When she got there, she was happy to see his car parked in the driveway.

  She got out of the car and went to knock on his door. No answer. She knocked again. Still no answer. Her head dropped, and she turned to walk back to her car. Halfway to her car, she saw Gabe a few yards away walking Baby. She straightened and waved. He nodded but didn’t seem thrilled to see her.

  “Where’s your fiancé?” he said in greeting.

  “I’m not engaged, Gabe. Look, no ring,” Jane said, holding up her hand.

  “That was not what it looked like earlier,” Gabe returned. “So that was the famous ex-boyfriend?”

  Jane nodded, chewing her lip.

  Gabe sat down on his porch steps and ran his fingers through his hair. “I really like you, Jane, but I do not know how to handle this. I mean, after last night…” he said, looking up at her.

  Jane lifted her hands and shrugged. “I don’t know what t
o tell you. I do not want to marry Wyatt or even date him."

  Gabe regarded Jane and then asked, “Does he know that? And who were those other people with you?” Gabe asked.

  Jane looked down. “Our mothers.” She looked up to see his reaction.

  He exhaled deeply and laughed. “Jane, this guy just proposed to you in front of both of your mothers. How can you tell me you are not together?”

  “My mother thinks we should be together, and I am not sure why his mother likes me all of a sudden. But that doesn’t matter because I don’t feel the same way."

  Gabe stood and moved for the door. “I just need some time to process all of this, okay?”

  “Of course,” Jane said, stepping back “I didn’t mean to intrude."

  Gabe sighed, and pulling her into his arms, said “Come on. Don’t be like that. This is just a lot to deal with.”

  Jane, with her face in his neck, inhaled. She tried her best not to cry. When she felt Gabe's arms open, she took a step back, and giving him an awkward wave, got into her car and left. That was so embarrassing, she thought, driving away. Of course, he would have no interest in dealing with this.

  She returned to her apartment and was relieved to see her mother’s car was gone.

  “Do not ever do that to me again,” Lacey called out from the living room as she walked in the door.

  She grimaced as she entered the living room.

  “Your mom lost it when you took off. I have never seen her that pissed,” Lacey continued. "So where’d you go?”

  “To Gabe’s,” Jane mumbled.

  “How’d it go?” Lacey asked.

  Jane scrunched her nose and shook her head. She went to put her feet up on the coffee table when something caught her eye. It was the ring. She picked it up. It was actually very pretty. Very big and very pretty.

  “Why did he propose?” she moaned.

  Lacey snorted.

  “How are you laughing right now?” Jane asked, annoyed.

  “Come on. I mean, come on. You are turning down Wyatt Huntington’s marriage proposal. I am just thinking of how different you were two years ago,” Lacey said grinning. “Please tell me you see a little bit of irony in all of this.”

  Lacey had a point. It had been a long time since Jane had any interest in Wyatt. She couldn’t even point to the moment she had stopped loving him. It had happened slowly over time.

  “What did my mom say when she left?”

  “Something about disowning you,” Lacey winked. “She just does not get why you aren’t thrilled. She even mentioned something about taking you to have your head examined."

  At this, Jane picked up the closest thing she could find. It was a throw pillow. She tossed it at Lacey.

  Catching it, she laughed “It’s your mom. You know exactly what she said. That, and she wants you to call her once you’re home. Probably should have told you that when you walked in the door.

  Jane went to grab her phone. She had a bunch of missed calls and texts from Wyatt. She had every intention of continuing to ignore those. She called home. Thankfully, her dad answered. She spoke to him for a bit, and he let her know without a doubt that he supported her one hundred percent in whatever decision she made. He did, however, want her to know that, in his personal opinion, she did not seem very happy when she dated Wyatt.

  She heard her mother in the background telling him that was crazy. He gave her his love and passed the phone to her mother. Her mother went on and on about all of Wyatt’s qualities and that he had called her and told her that Jane was not answering his calls. She sat there patiently, saying, “hmm hmm” from time to time. After five minutes of this, she was holding her head in her hands.

  She apologized and promised that she would call Wyatt back then hung up. She knew she wasn’t going to call Wyatt. She sat on the sofa and worried at her nails. Then it hit her that Wyatt said he was going to stop by tonight. She had to get out of there. She apologized to Lacey and told her that she was going to go spend the night at a hotel.

  Lacey stared at her, open-mouthed. “Jane, you know I love you, but that is the craziest thing I ever heard. Your problems will not go away just because you do,” she said.

  “I just can’t deal with this tonight,” Jane murmured.

  “Fine but don’t run away. Here give me your phone,” Lacey replied, reaching her hand out.

  Jane cautiously handed her phone to her. Turning it on, Lacey promptly replied to one of Wyatt’s texts. She wrote, Hi, Wyatt. It is Lacey. Jane must have had something that didn’t agree with her at lunch and is going to bed sick. She will text you or call you tomorrow. She sent the message. Jane let out a sigh of relief and took her phone back from Lacey, thanking her.

  Chapter 29

  Lacey paced back and forth across the living room.

  “This whole situation sucks, babe, but I think Gabe is a good guy, and if you give him a day or two, maybe he’ll be able to think about it and be okay with it. The important thing is that you have already told him how you really feel so it is up to him at this point. Do I know for sure if he can get past this? No, I don’t. All I know is it is not something you can control so, to a certain extent, you have to let it go so you don’t drive yourself crazy worrying about it."

  Lacey was right. Jane sat down abruptly and folded her arms over her lap. There was nothing else she could do when it came to Gabe at this point, but she didn’t want to just sit there and wait to hear from him either.

  “Let’s go get a drink,” she said, standing.

  “Music to my ears,” Lacey smiled.

  They went to a local pub. It was a hole in the wall located in a strip mall. The place was a total dive but sometimes you just needed to go somewhere you would not care how you looked. It was mainly empty, which was good. Lacey and Jane sat at a table in the corner, and Lacey went to go get them a couple of beers.

  "Do you really think I'll ever hear from Gabe again?" Jane wondered aloud.

  "Babe, you have got to let it go because it is out of your control," Lacey countered.

  Jane rolled her eyes and took a deep swig of her draft. She was not a huge fan of beer; she normally preferred the sweet-tasting drinks, but this place had really good happy hour deals and dollar drafts were hard to pass up. Jane slapped her forehead, realizing her issues had completely taken over the whole weekend. So much that she had not even asked Lacey how her date with Jack had gone. When she asked, Lacey blushed, which was not normal for her. Jane had a pretty good feeling that Lacey enjoyed herself quite a bit.

  She told Jane all about her night. She even had another date scheduled with Jack. Jane thought it was really cool Lacey was seeing someone with a set schedule. In the past, she seemed to gravitate towards the artsy types and that was code for the unemployed. Lacey glowed, talking about their evening. She hoped she would not get bored with him as she tended to do. For their next date, they were going on a river boat.

  "How romantic," Jane gushed.

  "As long as I don't get motion sickness," Lacey worried.

  "You'll be fine," Jane assured her.

  They had finished their drinks, so Jane went up to the bar to get their next round. While she waited, Lacey put some money in the pool table so they could play while they drank. Lacey may have been master of arcade games, but Jane was really good at pool. Jane silently wondered to herself if Lacey was doing it just to try and cheer her up. It was nice, given the current situation, to just focus on something other than Gabe or Wyatt. After a couple of games, the girls walked back to their apartment.

  The following week flew by like a blur. Jane tried multiple times to speak to Wyatt about the proposal, but every time, she either chickened out or he was unavailable. Finally. Friday night, while Lacey was on her riverboat date, he agreed to stop by for a chat. What she intended to be a serious talk, Wyatt had assumed would be a booty call. She spent the evening pushing his hand off of her thigh.

  Finally, at her wit’s end. she declared, “Wyatt I do not want t
o marry you."

  That stopped him cold. He stood, and brushing the wrinkles from his slacks, said, “You might pretend that you think that, but you and I both know that I am all you ever wanted. I’m doing you a favor here. Don’t forget it."

  He lowered his mouth to hers and gave her a crushing kiss, pushing her forcefully against the back of the sofa then left. She tenderly lifted her fingertips to her lips and gingerly felt them. They felt a bit puffy but no worse for the wear. What had just happened? She thought. He had completely ignored what she had said. Was it going to take her not showing up on their wedding day for him to take the hint? She picked up her phone and called her mother.

  Finding willpower she did not know she had possessed, she point blank told her that she would not be marrying Wyatt. She may have even thrown in a come hell or high water, even though she was not completely certain it applied. After a long pause, she could hear her mother crying on the other end. Shit, she thought. Maybe she should have eased her mother into this.

  “Mom, don’t cry. I’m so sorry I yelled. Mom, please say something,” Jane worried into the phone.

  “I just don’t want you to die an old maid,” her mother sobbed back. Jane had to stifle a giggle. Was that all? She went on to have a heart to heart with her mother that they probably should have had years ago. Her mother still saw her as a young girl who needed her help. And Wyatt honestly did look really good on paper. Besides, since Jane hardly spoke to her mother, how would she know she had moved on? In her mom's mind, Jane was still pining over Wyatt because that was the last Jane had ever told her.

  When Jane went on to assure her that she not only no longer loved Wyatt but had also met someone new, her mother was thrilled. She wanted to hear all about Gabe, which Jane was happy to share until she had to tell her he had witnessed the proposal. Her mother was horrified for her and now completely understood her behavior in reacting to what should have been a dream come true.

  “Oh, Jane. What are you going to do?” she asked sympathetically. She told her how Wyatt had stopped by, and she had tried to end the engagement. Her mother was furious on her behalf and suggested that she and Wyatt come over for dinner. There was no way, she concluded, that he could continue this arrangement if she stood up to him with their help.