“I hate when he does that,” Caroline said. She had wound down on the booze and switched to sparkling water.
Zoey had slowed down as well. Jonathan noticed she had a couple inches left of wine she hadn’t touched sitting on the coffee table. Jonathan sat one cushion away from her while Brady was now passed out face-down on the couch and snored like a garbage truck. Brady had taken some cinnamon whiskey shots even though Jonathan warned him he might be sorry. It was seven fifty-two p.m.
When Dan excused himself to go to the bathroom, Jonathan saw his chance.
“Can I talk to you?” Jonathan said with a nod of the head to Zoey.
Zoey looked around and Jonathan noticed Caroline give her a slight nod. Brady was still fast asleep, smacking his lips.
“Okay,” she said. She stood and followed him. He could hear Instagram videos playing from the bathroom and Dan cackling.
“Let’s go in here,” he said, going into her bedroom and closing the door. Jonathan moved closer to the bed and Zoey plastered herself to the wall.
“This is a really nice room,” Jonathan said. He looked around at the art on the walls, depictions of Lake Tahoe and different points around the lake. His palms were sweating. Maybe this was a good time for his long-overdue apology. To tell her that he had done a terrible thing and he was truly sorry he had hurt her.
“What do you want, Jonathan?” Zoey asked. She looked back at the door and bit her lip. Her large eyes sat wide.
“Look, I…” Jonathan said. Then, a loud banging on the door caused Zoey to jump and screech out.
“Are you already having sex in there? I mean, I thought it would happen, but not this soon…” Dan shouted through the door. The door opened a sliver, and Dan stuck his head in. “Oh fuck, you’re both clothed.”
“Dan…” Jonathan said before Dan shushed him.
“I know you’re having a heart-to-heart and all, but we have another puker. I need your services,” Dan said to Jonathan.
“Who now?” Zoey asked.
“Our groom. Caroline was fast and got a bucket in time,” Dan said. “I’ll get the right arm, and you get the left.”
Jonathan’s mouth fell open as he looked at Zoey and then at Dan. Fuck it, if Dan heard him, so be it.
“I know you said no to the walk today, but can I take you to lunch tomorrow? Just as friends? I promise I won’t ask you again if you say no,” Jonathan said. Zoey crossed her arms tighter.
“I don’t know,” Zoey said. She looked down.
Caroline shouted something from the front room. Dan hit Jonathan on his arm. “She’ll think about it. Let’s go,” Dan said.
“Please think about it,” Jonathan said
“I will think about it. No promises.”
“That’s good enough for me.” He grinned at her as he left the room and walked down the hallway with Dan.
“Progress,” Dan said, clapping Jonathan on the shoulders.
Brady sat up on the couch with a red bucket on his lap. Caroline rubbed his back as he spat into it.
“She said she would think about it,” Dan said. Caroline and Brady looked up, confused, and Dan continued, “Jonathan asked her to lunch.” They nodded as Brady let his chin droop into the bucket.
“Yaaay,” Brady said.
“Don’t worry,” Caroline said to Jonathan. “I’ll make her go to lunch with you even if I have to drag her there by her hair.”
5
The next morning, Brady, Dan, and Jonathan sat around a round table on the patio of a local bar and grill restaurant that served champagne brunch every day in the summer. The patio jutted out over a marina with expensive hobby boats bobbing in their port. Brady’s sister, Makenna, had recommended it when he texted her that morning for the name.
The day was flawless with a shining sun, no clouds at all, and the sky one shade lighter than the lake. A light breeze floated through the air as the server dropped off the drinks. Dan was the only one to order bottomless mimosas, and they brought him a full bottle of champagne with three kinds of juice in mini carafes on a platter.
“They do know it’s just you, right?” Jonathan asked.
“Shh,” Dan said. “No one has to know.”
“To Brady,” Jonathan offered as a toast, and Dan held up his champagne flute. Brady held up his ice water and still wore his sunglasses. Brady had puked into the night, claiming it was all Derek’s fault since he’d brought the whiskey. Caroline apparently slept through the whole thing and awoke around six to find her fiancé splayed out on the fuzzy bathroom rug.
Dan had chugged three tumblers full of water in between drinks and ran at the crack of dawn to sweat out the alcohol. Jonathan naturally woke up early back home, so he saw Dan just as he was getting back and suggested scraping Brady off the floor and taking him to breakfast. The girls wanted to get a run in, too, and told the guys to go ahead without them.
Jonathan saw Zoey briefly that morning, and she didn’t say a word to him. She joined him in brushing teeth, even using his travel toothpaste. He snuck glances at her as he brushed his teeth as the water ran. She spat out her toothpaste, dotted her mouth with a towel, and left. It felt domestic and comfortable and not at all like they hadn’t seen each other in eleven years. It felt, well, like they were married. And he couldn’t get that out of his head.
At the restaurant, Jonathan had ordered an extra-spicy Bloody Mary, and it did not disappoint. The bartender was heavy-handed with the vodka, and the tomato juice was the perfect level of spice. He needed it after being turned on by toothpaste.
“I want to fill a bathtub with this and swim in it,” Jonathan said.
“That sounds disgusting,” Brady said, staring straight ahead.
Dan grabbed his champagne flute. “I, for one, am enjoying myself.”
“You look like an affluent housewife,” Jonathan commented.
“I long to be a kept man.”
Jonathan laughed and took another long swig of his drink.
“How are you going to get Zoey to agree to this lunch?” Dan asked. He clasped his hands in front of him.
“I don’t know. Hopefully, Caroline will convince her.”
“She can be very convincing,” Brady said. He rubbed his temples. “I hurt all over.”
“I just want to smooth everything over.”
“It’s funny you think buying her a meal will fix all of your shit. I had to take you to Palm Springs for you to forgive me after I broke up with Zoey,” Brady said, putting the sunglasses back on.
“You broke bro code, man,” Jonathan said. “I needed at least a thousand-dollar value. This is different. I was up front with her. I was honest.”
“Didn’t make it less hard to hear,” Dan said, mixing the guava juice with the champagne.
Jonathan stopped with the Bloody Mary almost to his lips. “You weren’t even around then.”
“Caroline cornered me and told me not to do x, y, and z, which is all shit I assume you did.”
The guys were not alone on the deck for long. A large party occupied a long table on the opposite side of the patio. Jonathan noticed a slender woman with long dark hair and blunt bangs set her purse down.