My mind is scrambled like eggs, unable to even hold a thought together.
“So you wouldn’t mind if Lola dated him?” Poppi challenges.
I don’t dare look at them. “Nope, not at all.”
“No, it’s ok,” Lola says. “I was only teasing.”
Honestly, I’m kind of wondering if Ellis is single too. Damn traitorous mind. I hate that I’m wondering about this.
Poppi gathers our glasses and throws them in the trash. “You better get moving if you’re going to meet Henry for dinner,” she says.
“Henry?” I ask, absentmindedly. “Oh, right. Henry.” My fiancé. We have plans at an Italian restaurant, because spaghetti is my favorite. I remember when he and I made the plans, I suggested a new little Thai place, but Henry said Italian is always the best selection.
Now that I think of it, I compromised and said we could try Thai next time. I’m always compromising. We gather our things and I can barely focus on my friends chatter as I lock up.
Wonder if Henry will bring Ellis? No, stop that right now, Kiki. No more of this. I need to tell Henry the kiss bandit was his friend.
My mind keeps replaying how Ellis’ eyes appeared sad when he found out I was Henry’s fiancée. I hate to admit it, but I was a little sad to have him find out too.
“Any word from the farmer, yet?” Lola asks, on our way out, reminding me I’m still waiting on a goat to poop out my ring.
“Nothing yet. I guess my ring made him constipated.”
“I’m sure he’ll poop soon,” the always optimistic Lola singsongs.
“If he doesn’t, does that mean the wedding is off?” Poppi asks.
We laugh, but as I drive away, a minuscule part of me finds myself hoping Peter won’t poop it out.
Ellis isn’t with Henry when I arrive at the restaurant and I can’t believe there’s a small ounce of disappointment settled in the pit of my stomach. I shrug it off as I pass by the candlelit tables covered with checkered tablecloths.
My resolve strengthens to tell Henry as we weave between the diners. I can’t go into a marriage full of lies.
Henry stands and kisses my cheek. Why does he never kiss my lips? He goes to pull out the chair for me but then stops when he’s distracted by a chime from his phone. He sits. “Did everyone enjoy the dog thing?” he asks, tapping away to whoever sent the message.
I pull out my own chair. “They did.” Henry glances up and smiles. “Listen, there’s something we need to talk about.”
He’s back to his phone and I try to think of the best way to tell him about Ellis and me.
“I think you should know that, well, it wasn’t my fault.” Ugh, I’m botching this and Henry still hasn’t even looked up from his phone. We can come back to this topic.
“Sorry.” He sets the phone down. “Did everyone enjoy the wedding?”
My stomach twists tighter than the garlic knot in the bread basket.
“They did,” I repeat. “I actually just said that. Listen, we need to…” my words fade away as Henry answers a call. He holds his finger up, and then rises and steps away from the table.
With a sigh, I pick up a buttery garlic knot and stuff a large chunk in my mouth. As I chew, I glance around at all the other couples. Most of the men here are in suits, like Henry, and are all more occupied with their phones than the person with them.
The women all look like me, trying to make small talk with a man who can’t disconnect from the lifeline in their hand.
Henry returns, and I just don’t have it in me anymore to tell him about the kiss. It was one senseless kiss that wasn’t my fault, and if Ellis tells him, so be it.
“Sorry,” Henry says. “Just need to take care of one more thing.”
I give him a tight smile, not that he’d notice since I’m not a phone, and debate the best way to ask him a few things about Ellis.
There’s a million questions circulating in my head. Like for starters, who the heck is he? And how does Henry know him?
And I do need to find out if he’s single...for Lola, of course.
Maybe he’s mentioned him all the times I’ve drowned out his work stories. Ok, from here on out, I promise never to drown out anything Henry ever says again.
But, it’s no use because Henry put his phone down and is now saying something to me, and I have no idea what it is.
Whatever he said, he finds my smile and nod acceptable. I probably just agreed to have spaghetti every day for the rest of our lives. Pull it together, Kiki.
Henry picks up the leatherbound menu and studies it. “What are you going to have?”
I can’t even think about food right now, but I open my own and skim the entrees, waiting for an item to pop out at me. “Panzanella, maybe.”
“But spaghetti is your favorite,” he says, his voice raising an octave.
“Well, don’t want to over do it,” I throw back with a smile.
“Ok, I’m getting the chicken piccata.”
The waiter arrives to take our order and when he’s gone, now is my chance to ask about his friend while Henry is electronic free.
“So, that man, Ellis, how do you know him?” I ask in a very blasé way. Or at least what I hope is blasé.
“Old friends from high school.” He shakes his head with a smile as if he’s remembering the good old days. “He moved away right after graduation.”
“Why?”
Henry shrugs. “Business. He lives in Atlanta and is only here for a little bit.”
I shake off the momentary—inappropriate—sadness and remind myself I’m getting married to this man before me. “So, is he single?” My heart flutters inside my chest. That was so hard to ask, even though I know I’m asking for Lola. “Lola had her eye on him.” Come on, I know she didn’t. But, that was such a hard question to ask.
“I don’t really know, but I’m thinking yes.” Henry appears like he’s on board for Lola and Ellis dating. I wish I could be right there along with him, but for some reason something is holding me back. “We can have a double date,” Henry says.
I need to think of ways not to be around Ellis, not for more ways to be around him. As soon as the food arrives, I launch into the story about how happy Darlene was with Georgia’s wedding, but most of the conversation falls on deaf ears. Henry is back to tapping away on his phone, and is only half-listening to me again.
As soon as dinner is over, Henry leads me out of the restaurant with his arm around my shoulders. “It’s still early, why don’t we see what Ellis and Lola are up to now?”
Every part of me wants to just go home and call it a day, but I send a text to Lola, and of course, she’s up for going out.
After a few minutes, it’s settled—we’re all hanging out at a tiki bar on the water.
Henry holds my hand as we make our way the few blocks to the beach and toward the neon sign of Rum Forest Rum. Inside, we squeeze through the people to the back patio where we find a table, surrounded by tiki torches, and wait for Lola and Ellis to arrive. Henry orders our drinks and when my daiquiri arrives, I suck down a healthy portion. Worse comes to worst, I’ll grab a torch and tell Ellis he’s voted off the island.