Chapter Seventeen

THE TRAIN FROM London to Paris takes about two and a half hours. Joey spent approximately one and a half hours trying not to think about Dan, and the rest of the time actively thinking about him. She felt terrible and wanted nothing more than to talk to him, but as the only thing he’d requested was that she not do just that, she decided to respect his request.

She did talk to her parents and Betty on Christmas Day, all three of whom sounded happy, but eager to hang up. She guessed they’d all been together when Dan had opened his present and the initial fallout was even worse than the icy message she received.

How could she have been so stupid? An expensive gift after seven months apart was a terrible idea. Worse, it was cruel. She knew him better than anyone. It didn’t matter if someone spent $5 or $500 on a gift for Dan; he was like the poster child for “it’s the thought that counts.” And even though she’d thought a little about how sending him a nice watch would make her feel, she’d completely ignored how it would seem to him.

As the train pulled into Paris, Joey vowed to leave all thoughts of Dan and the watch fiasco in 2002. They were here to celebrate a new year, and she could be anything she wanted in 2003. Heck, maybe new Joey could actually think of a way to get her life sorted in a way that left everyone around her happy and settled.

Or maybe she could drink enough to stop thinking altogether.

They grabbed a taxi and left the logistics to Taylor. Her French was apparently good enough, because thirty minutes later, they pulled up in front of a gorgeous hotel where men in crisp uniforms appeared immediately to help with the bags. After checking in and sending the luggage to the rooms, Joey suggested a quick stop at the bar to kick off Operation Drunk NYE.

A few glasses of champagne later, Taylor announced that she wanted to take a catnap before getting ready for the evening.

“Brilliant,” Joey said. Or maybe she slurred. Either way, she was excited for having such a smart girlfriend.

They made plans to be ready for dinner by seven and stepped into their rooms, where Taylor and Joey both ran to the balcony to check out the view of the Eiffel Tower, kissed because it seemed like the romantic thing to do, then set an alarm and quickly fell asleep in each other’s arms.

They awoke bright-eyed and refreshed, as only eighteen-year-old girls can do after a two-hour nap, and popped up to get ready. Joey’s other present for Taylor was a shopping trip where they both picked out gorgeous evening gowns for the party, which was listed as black tie. Taylor was better with hair and Joey was better with makeup, so they each helped the other primp until Joey was positive she’d never been so beautiful in her entire life.

As Joey zipped Taylor into her navy-blue Oscar de la Renta, they heard a knock at the door separating their room from the boys.

“My God,” Will said as he took in the picture Joey and Taylor made. “Stunning. Both of you.”

Liam came in behind him and also gushed, before pretending to be hurt that the girls hadn’t commented yet how dapper he and Will looked in their tuxedos.

“It’s like we have our very own James Bonds,” Joey said. “One for each of us.”

“That’s better,” said Liam. “Just because we can’t be all sparkly like you both tonight doesn’t mean you don’t get to tell us we’re beautiful.”

The four of them took last looks in the mirror and made their way into the hallway. Liam was talking a mile a minute and Joey shot Taylor a “what’s up with him?” look as they got into the elevator. Will seemed to pick up on it, too, and gave him a quick kiss before they entered the lobby.

“Sorry,” said Liam. “I guess I’m just a little excited. New Year, new friends, new city, you know.”

Joey nodded but had a sneaking feeling something else was up. That suspicion and Liam’s jitters quickly abated as they each took a glass of champagne from one of the waiters circling the room. The event began with drinks and appetizers in the ballroom while a band played something jazzy. The whole thing felt very grown up and stood in stark comparison to where Joey had spent this same day the first time around.

Joey and Dan had both picked up jobs at Scottsdale Fashion Square during their first semester at school, and since the holidays are the busiest shopping days of the year, they jumped at the chance for extra hours and overtime pay. They’d both worked until stores closed on Christmas Eve and spent a busy Christmas Day together with their families, leaving little time to catch up on sleep before facing shoppers with arms full of returns the next day.

Joey was exhausted from being on her feet all day, but when a friend who worked with her at Banana Republic mentioned that her dad’s company needed a few extra servers for a New Year’s Eve party he was throwing, she said yes before thinking it through. And that’s how she found herself carrying trays of steaming hors d’oeuvres at a fancy house in the Arcadia neighborhood of Phoenix. She was loading up her tray in the kitchen about an hour before midnight when a frantic, waving hand caught her eye from the back yard.

“Dan!” she nearly yelled in surprise. “Er, damn!” she said, quickly, as the other servers looked over at her. “Stubbed my toe. I’m just gonna catch some fresh air for a sec.”

No one was listening to her babble, but she still felt like she should say something before opening the back door and slipping outside. It was cold, but Phoenix-in-December cold, so not too bad. She shivered for a second as she looked around for Dan, but soon felt him wrap her up in one of his trademarked hugs.

“It’s almost midnight,” he said. “I couldn’t let us start a year without a kiss.”

“It’s not even eleven!” she pointed out, laughing, but turning to face him.

“You didn’t let me finish. It’s almost midnight…in part of the country. And since I knew you’d be too swamped to get away during Arizona midnight, I thought we’d better have our kiss now. So, I parked down the street and jumped their back fence.”

“Well, I don’t actually have time now either,” she said. “They’re going to miss me if I don’t hurry back.”

“Not a problem,” he said. “I’m a super-fast counter. “Tennineeightseven sixfivefourthreetwoone, Happy New Year!”

He kissed her and held her face in his hands, holding her steady as she giggled and tried to catch her breath.

He pulled away, said, “There’s more where that came from in 2003,” then ran away, presumably to jump the fence again.

When she’d arrived at the apartment later that night, well into the early morning hours, he was asleep on the couch, the videogame controller still in his hand. She laid down on the couch with her head in his lap and felt completely content.

Now, a world away, Joey looked around to see how far she’d come. She wasn’t a server at this party; she was a guest. And not at some house back home, but in Paris. Again, she felt like such a grown-up, not at all realizing that only someone who is not a grown-up would call themselves a grown-up.

But yes, very adult things were happening all around her. Taylor could have easily passed for a Parisian woman as she glittered, both figuratively and literally, making polite conversation in French. And now Joey had put on a little weight thanks to their frequent pub visits, she even filled out her evening gown like an actual adult. She was beginning to wish she could do something a little childish to even things out, but it was too late.

A proposal is a very grown-up thing, indeed.