The Sure Thing

by Claire Matthews

  “Thanks.” His smile was stiff, a bit nervous. They hadn't solved any issues last night, just talked round and round until they agreed not to talk anymore. But Becca knew what had to be said.

  “Listen, Nick...” His eyes froze on hers, and she saw immediately that he was on to her, that he knew what she was going to tell him.

  And as she laid out her arguments, calmly, logically, like a lawyer, she stared at her thumbnails as they flicked at the wood-grain patterns on the kitchen island. It wouldn't work between them. Neither one of them was in a place where they could move. Relationships were dependent on timing as much as love, and their timing was all screwed up. Anyway, she would drive him crazy with her erratic schedule and junk-food addiction. Really, she was doing him a huge favor.

  She knew she was hurting him, because he didn't even try to argue. She looked into his eyes, searching for emotion, but they were blank. When she finished her speech, they sat in silence. She resisted the urge to touch him, to wipe the tiny speck of shaving cream off his earlobe. She didn't feel she had the right to, not anymore.

  Finally, he lifted himself from his seat. He moved slowly, as if he weighed a thousand pounds. “Maybe you're right, Becca. Maybe...I don't know. I don't want to complicate your life.” He moved to the middle of the living room, looking lost.

  “Nick.” He met her gaze, his face a mask of sadness. She walked over and gave him a tentative hug. He went limp, his arms dangling by his sides. “Nick, I'm sorry.” After a long moment, she felt his arms creep slowly around her, wrapping her in a deep, tender embrace. She noticed the blinking headlights of his cab shining through her front window. He kissed her temple and took his suitcase to the door. And then, because her timing always sucked, her tears came in a sudden torrent.

  “Goodbye, Becca.” Right before he folded himself into the cab, he looked back toward her front door, like he was waiting for her to call to him and ask him to come back. It took all her willpower to let him go, but she did. She knew it was the best thing for both of them.

  ****

  “Come on Becca, this fondant is melting.”

  “I'm coming, just a sec.” She decided she needed a third coat of mascara, since it was a night wedding and her eyes tended to look tired and squinty by the end of the day. Yep, one more coat, and then she would finished getting dressed. In mid lash-brush, the door to the bathroom crashed opened dramatically. Gabe glared at her.

  “Becca, holy shit, what are you doing?”

  “Getting ready. Go on, get out, I'm not even dressed.”

  “Becca, we are late. Like, crazy-late. I don't care how much you don't want to see Dr. Nick, if we fuck up this wedding, we'll be making tuna wraps for bar mitzvahs at the Jewish Community Center before you can say shalom.”

  “Stop yelling at me! I'll be ready in a minute. I just need a minute.”

  “No, wha=t you need is a Xanax, but I'm afraid you'd face plant in the damn cake. Now come on.”

  Becca threw on her little black dress, which was her uniform for virtually every job she worked, and jumped in the Jeep. They were silent all the way to the reception hall, although Gabe kept shooting her concerned, brotherly looks that drove her insane. She closed her eyes and leaned back in her seat. She'd had no contact with Nick over the last three weeks and she missed him horribly. The thought of seeing him filled her with equal parts joy and dread, and she knew she had to keep her cool. She'd let him go, and she owed it to him to be consistent and strong, not all fluttery and weepy at the sight of him.

  The wedding went off without a hitch. Becca didn't sit in on the ceremony, but rather peeked in from the alcove that led from the chapel to the reception hall. Katie looked beautiful, and she had to admit that even Jordan seemed disarmingly happy in his crisp black tux. Nick and the other groomsmen had their backs to her, so she didn't get a good look at him until the end when they all turned to watch the couple walk down the aisle as husband and wife. A sob escaped her lips, and her hand flew to her mouth. He looked so handsome. He stood, stiff as a soldier, until Katie and Jordan were out the door, and then his shoulders seemed to relax a bit. He began chewing a fingernail and Becca had the urge to slap it from his mouth. She started a bit when she felt someone sneak up behind her, encircling her waist in his arms. Gabe. He rested his chin on her shoulder and sighed.

  “You know if you weren't my very dearest friend, and if I didn't love you so much, I wouldn't be able to tell you what an incredibly stupid, selfish bitch you're being.”

  “Umm, thanks?”

  “Don't play dumb, Stretch. Look at you. Look at him. God, it's like a bad Lifetime movie.”

  “Who am I?”

  “Cheryl Ladd.”

  “Damn, I wanted to be Valerie Bertinelli.”

  “Sorry, she's a brunette. I'd let you be Heather Locklear, but you're too freakishly tall.”

  Becca sighed. “Gabe, the timing's just...bad. He can't move, I can't move. It's a mess.”

  “You're so full of shit. What's keeping you here? Your crippling debt? Your desire to plan tacky weddings and decorate penis-shaped shower cakes?”

  “Hey, we do alright.”

  “Sure, but who wants to settle for alright? This is your chance to do great, and you're throwing it away because you're afraid of repeating mistakes you made when you were a stupid kid. Give yourself some credit. You've grown up a lot since then.”

  “Then how come I still feel like a stupid kid?” She leaned back against his chest.

  “Fine, then give Nick some credit. He's a great guy, and for some insane reason, he's totally in love with you.” He kissed her cheek gently and turned her to him.

  “But what would I do without you?” Her voice was small.

  “Girl, you'll never be without me. I'm always a snarky text-message away. Plus, Logan and I have been thinking about getting a weekend place in LA. If you get off your ass and go make nice with Nick, we won't have to, we can just mooch off you two instead.”

  “I think you're getting ahead of yourself here. What if he doesn't want me anymore? I haven't heard from him in weeks.”

  “Only because you took his heart and stomped it in the dirt! What do you want him to do? He's not a masochist. You're going to have to make the next move here.” She was silent for a moment, and he gave her a quick hug, gesturing towards the chapel with a jut of his chin. “Go on, now's your chance. I can handle things at the reception.”

  Becca looked over her shoulder and saw Nick sitting on an empty pew, alone amongst the last stragglers leaving for the banquet hall.

  “And don't screw it up. Logan and I need a beach house, dammit.” He shoved her shoulder good-naturedly and left.

  Walking up behind him, Becca caught Nick off guard, and when he turned towards her his face was weak with uncertainty. A deep wave of love and compassion overwhelmed her, and Becca ached to draw him into a hug. She squeezed her fingers into tight fists instead.

  “Hi.”

  “Hi.”

  She sat tentatively at the end of the pew. “The wedding was beautiful, wasn't it? You looked very handsome up there. Not like a dentist at all.”

  Nick looked at her, his eyes somber. “Come here.” He pulled her into a tight hug, and after a moment Becca found that she couldn't let go, so they nestled together and she breathed in his fresh scent. “This feels kind of weird,” he said after a moment.

  “Why? What feels weird?”

  “Just...seeing you again.”

  Becca pulled away then, and crossed her arms over her chest. Nick sat up straighter, taking his cue from her serious posture.

  “Nick, I...God, if you only knew how much I hate saying this.”

  “What?” He looked almost nauseous with dread.

  “I was wrong.”

  “About what?”

  “Everything. Absolutely everything. I made it all up because I was scared. We can work our schedules out. I can move to LA. I can stop eating so much junk food, and get my bills paid off.” She took a deep bre
ath. “All along I thought it was like gambling, Nick. Too risky, too much to lose. But you and me...we're a sure thing, I know that now. I can chuck everything for you. In fact, if I haven't screwed everything up beyond repair, I'd like to.”

  He scooted sideways and took her back in his arms. “I've missed you, Becca. I've missed you so much.” He placed a kiss on the edge of her mouth then began a delicious slide to her parted lips. The kiss became hungry and desperate, and his hands clawed her hair until she broke away and leaned back an inch so she could look into his eyes.

  “I just remembered what else I was wrong about. What I was the most wrong about.”

  “What?”

  “You can totally fall in love in nine days. Nine days is the perfect amount of time to fall in love, I'm sure of it.”

  He grinned and kissed her with so much hunger it took her breath away. In the distance, she heard the crowd applauding in the banquet hall as the couple was introduced for the first time as Mr. and Mrs. Jordan Caufield. But all Becca could hear was Nick telling her that he loved her, over and over…

  p>