Em
On Thursday evening I went to the airport to pick up Abby and Mason. It had only been ten days since their wedding, but so much had happened in the meantime.
Abby, who now made a decent living as a real estate agent, still had a pathological aversion to paying for airport parking. So I had to wait in the car at the pick-up zone, avoiding the frowns of the airport concierge.
Finally I saw them, popped out of the car and waved furiously.
“Em! It’s so great to see you,” Abby squealed. Both of them hugged me with all the enthusiasm of people who hadn’t talked to anyone but waiters and hotel staff for days.
We loaded up the car. I smiled at the concierge and pulled away. “So, how was Paris?”
Abby sat beside me, with Mason in the back. He looked jet-lagged.
“It was amazing. So beautiful. The lights along the Seine were magical. We went everywhere, and it wasn’t too crowded. I don’t know why people complain that Parisians are not friendly—everyone we met was so nice,” Abby enthused.
“Abby did all the talking,” Mason said. “Her French sure came in handy.”
“Aww, you’re so sweet.” Abby reached back and squeezed Mason’s hand. The honeymoon had not changed their ranking as the world’s most supportive couple.
“Em, you never told me that Paris has the world’s most amazing flea market,” Abby said.
“As if I would know. That would be the last place I’d go.” I turned onto Hunt Club Road. “You didn’t have to go, did you, Mason?”
For Abby’s girls’ bridal trip, we went to New York City, where she insisted on visiting far too many vintage stores. It was torture by dust mites and musty smells.
He shook his head. “I went to the Air and Space Museum that day.” Smart man. He worked at the Canada Space Agency.
They told me about the delicious meals they’d eaten in France. Abby had researched cheap and chic bistros, but Mason had insisted on a few high-end restaurants, which sounded even better.
It didn’t take long to get to their townhouse in suburban Barrhaven. Mason departed immediately to pick up their dog from his parents’ condo downtown.
“Who was looking after Oscar?” I asked as Abby’s one-eyed, half-eared tabby appeared.
“Oh, Mason’s parents did that too,” Abby said. “They would have taken him to their condo, but last time there was an unfortunate incident with a Chinese silk cushion.”
I eyed Oscar, who did look like a destroyer of furniture, and he one-eyed me back. Abby picked him up, rubbed his furry belly, and cooed some baby talk. “Did weetle Oscar miss his momma?”
“I once read that cats would prefer to stay in the same house if their owners move,” I said. Oscar did not react to this aspersion on his character.
“That’s ridiculous. Oscar moved from my old apartment, and he loves it here,” Abby said. She planted a kiss on his head, then put him down and filled his bowl with kibble. He began crunching noisily. “Okay, before Mason gets back, how did everything go with Ian? I couldn’t stop wondering about you two,” she asked.
“Well, the holidays went okay. But my scheme was a total failure. My parents love Ian.”
Abby raised a dramatic eyebrow. “And how do you feel about him now?”
“First you have to promise not to say ‘I told you so,” I said.
“Oh my God! You like him!” she shrieked. Oscar put his ears back, and I wished I could close mine too.
“He’s a lot nicer than I thought. But he’s not interested in me.”
Abby’s expression could have been the dictionary illustration of skeptical. “What makes you think that?”
Was it too embarrassing to admit he had rejected me? Well, Abby was my bestie. “I made a pass at him, and he turned me down.”
Abby fell back against the counter. “I think I need sustenance for this conversation.” First, she texted Mason and told him to bring home dinner. Then she rooted in the cupboard and found a package of cookies. She made coffee for herself and poured me a mineral water.
We sat in the dining room. Abby took a bite of cookie and swallowed. “Ian said no to sex. With you. I’m finding this hard to believe. Also, since when do you offer to have sex with men you haven’t been dating for 2.5 months?”
“I know. It was very out of character for me. Maybe it was because we were pretending to be a couple? Or maybe because...um, have you ever seen Ian without a shirt? He has a very well-developed body.”
Abby snort-laughed. “I have never noticed that Ian has broad shoulders, narrow hips, and the most amazing pecs because he is Mason’s best friend. I also did not watch from behind sunglasses as he hauled his glistening half-naked body onto the dock last summer.”
We had a moment of silence in salute to Ian’s musculature.
“Jesus, if you do nail him, I want all the details. How far did you get?” she asked.
“We, uh, kissed. More than once.”
“And did he give you a reason for not wanting to do the deed?”
“Yes. He says he won’t have sex with women who want to get married.”
Abby’s hoot of laughter was even louder this time. “You two are kind of opposite. All you want to do is get married. And he’s all YOLO, single life forevah.” Oscar jumped onto her lap, and she patted him absentmindedly. “What happened to what’s his name? Tim? The guy this was all about?”
I frowned. “Oh, Thomas. I told him I didn’t want to keep seeing him. After all, we weren’t really serious yet. If I could get so easily distracted by someone like Ian, it wasn’t going to work out.” I’d felt guilty because Thomas was so surprised, but it was better to break things off before we’d really gotten involved. After all, we’d only gone out a few times; Thomas hadn’t even crossed the 2.5-months threshold.
“Wow. Things are happening around here.” Abby reached and patted my hand. “Maybe this is a sign. You need to stop looking for a husband.”
“How did you jump to that conclusion?”
“Well, something inside you just wants to have fun or you wouldn’t have made a pass at Ian. Remember, you went straight from living with your high school boyfriend to two fairly serious relationships.”
“But what about the timing? I’m almost thirty. If I want to have kids...”
“Em, you wouldn’t want to marry the wrong guy, have kids and then get divorced, would you?”
“No. But I don’t think that would happen.” I would persevere and make things work.
“When you’re an old lady, do you want to look back and regret that you didn’t do more crazy things when you were young?”
“I’m not like you, Abby.” My idea of risk was riding a bike without a helmet. Then I remembered the sculpted planes of Ian’s chest. “Do you think if I told Ian I only wanted to have fun, he would date me?”
Abby’s mouth twisted. I couldn’t tell if she was trying not to laugh or scowl. “Okay, don’t take this the wrong way, but I feel like Ian’s a little advanced for you.”
“What does that mean?”
“Well, Em, for someone your age, you don’t actually have a lot of experience with men.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake. You make it sound like I’m a virgin. I was with Lucas for ten years. I’m sexually experienced.”
Abby fake-coughed the words you wish.
She was being ridiculous. Ian did make me nervous, but I wanted to try something new.
“Being with your first boyfriend for years—especially Lucas—would be like having the same type of sex over and over. Probably missionary.”
“I’ve done it lots of different ways,” I protested. Why was this turning into a competition? One which Abby could win by a landslide. Maybe things had gotten too comfortable with Lucas, but there was nothing wrong with quickies, especially on work nights.
“Really? Have you done it in public?”
“Well, of course.” I’d had sex close to a window when the curtains were open.
“Where?” Abby asked.
“I don’t remember the exact geolocation.”
“A park? A rooftop? The bathroom at the hockey arena?”
Alarmingly, I was pretty sure that these were all places that Abby had had sex.
“A car.” Just in time, I remembered that we’d had sex in Lucas’s car in high school.
She shook her head. “That’s not really in public.”
“What is the point of all this? So what if I’ve had different kinds of sex or not?”
“All I’m saying is that dating Ian after the guys you’ve been dating is like taking off the training wheels and jumping on a Harley. There’s a lot of horsepower between your legs.”
Was Abby trying to dissuade me? Because she was only making him sound better.
“He’s already turned me down once. Maybe he won’t even agree,” I said.
“True. Ian never does anything predictable,” Abby said. “Except not get tied down.”
“Why is he like that? So anti-commitment?”
“I’m not sure. I have theories. It could be his childhood, his personality, or maybe it’s financial. The only thing he hates more than commitment is talking about himself.”
The irony of spending so much time thinking about what Ian Reid wanted in a woman was not lost on me. What a difference a week made.
“Do you know anything about Ian’s childhood?” I asked.
Abby’s forehead creased. “All I know is that his grandparents raised him from the time he was three or four. He never knew his father and his mother sounds horrible: neglectful and abusive. But he hasn’t seen her in years. I don’t think he knows if she’s dead or alive.”
I shivered. In retrospect, asking him to come home with me for Christmas seemed even worse. He had to pretend to be my boyfriend because I couldn’t talk honestly to my nice, normal parents. And actually dating Ian meant that I’d never have to tell my parents what a phony I’d been. All I needed to do was backdate the receipts on our relationship.
Abby continued, “But Em, you know that whatever happens with Ian, it’s not going to end in a happily ever after, right? I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“I understand. That’s what casual dating is: having fun with someone you wouldn’t get serious about.”
“Exactly. And whether it’s Ian or someone else, you’re going to discover more possibilities once you stop looking for Mr. Perfect. Guys who will make you laugh and show you a good time. I think you need this, Em.”
“All right. I’ll try out ‘fun dating’ for a trial period of six months.”
To my surprise and Oscar’s too, Abby leaned forward and hugged me tightly. “Don’t ever change, Em.”
Then Mason walked in with a bag of burgers and an overexcited dog. Mason and Abby hugged like they’d been apart for weeks. The quiet pleasures of married life struck me again, but Abby was right. I should take advantage of being single now.