Chapter Nineteen

TAYLOR AND JOEY settled back into school with a renewed sense of excitement. Joey was thrilled for Liam and Will, but Taylor was right; they were so young and there were so many other things to focus on. Joey found herself writing with every spare moment and Taylor picked up extra private lessons to hone her skills.

When they were together, they were as happy as ever. Joey knew they both thrived when they could throw themselves into their art and pretended not to mind how little they saw each other. Or maybe she didn’t mind at all?

She certainly didn’t mind how productive she was. She’d never known the thrill of typing “the end” at the bottom of a manuscript and cried the first time it happened. Around the fourth or fifth time, she still welled up with tears, but also marveled at the speed with which she could churn them out. She hadn’t yet tackled the more personal stories Taylor wanted her to write, but she was waiting to get a few more others under her belt. She wanted to know her own voice before diving into the deeper material.

“It’s really good,” Taylor said, setting down her latest novel on a cold, windy morning in early February. “They just keep getting better.”

Joey smiled and leaned down to give Taylor a kiss. “We should pack,” she said, standing back up.

“Are you sure we should go?” Taylor asked.

“They asked us to.” Joey shrugged.

She wasn’t sure, either, but they’d agreed to go with Will and Liam back to Cornwall to announce the engagement. Since Will’s parents were probably expecting him to announce his engagement to Taylor, the whole situation felt terribly awkward. Joey knew, though, that she might have to make a similar visit home one of these days. And since she’d been the one who’d talked Will into saying yes, she felt she owed it to him to be there for moral support in case they needed to make a quick exit.

Taylor began to pack a few basics in the suitcase they shared.

“How did your parents take it?” she said, folding a pair of jeans.

“Uh, I haven’t told them.”

The silence in the room was louder than any reaction Joey had expected.

“I’m going to, soon,” Joey said. “I just thought I should do it in person.”

“Oh.”

The funny thing about dating a woman, Joey realized, was that she knew exactly what Taylor’s “oh” meant. She’d used it on Dan hundreds of times through the years. She knew how she’d want him to react if she said it. She wanted him to be a mind-reader and understand that her “oh” really meant…well, it could mean a lot of things.

The other funny thing about dating a woman, Joey realized, was that even though she actually could almost read Taylor’s mind in that moment, she was going to pretend she couldn’t. She was going to pull a Dan. Or maybe a man. They probably all did this.

Joey kept packing and shifted the subject to her manuscript that Taylor had just finished. She knew Taylor was still upset but appreciated her commitment to pretending like she cared about the manuscript for even a millisecond.

As cowardly as it was, Joey just didn’t want to discuss coming out to her parents. She realized she was the world’s biggest hypocrite, packing to help a friend come out to his parents when she had no plans to do the same to her own, but couldn’t think about that right now. Taylor had done it at such a young age. Of course she was hurt that Joey hadn’t yet been brave.

Joey and Taylor finished packing and bundled up for their walk to the station to meet Will and Liam. As they walked, Joey’s pulse quickened as she imagined what Will’s parents might say. Would they throw them out immediately? Or maybe just get really quiet and pretend like everything was okay because they were British and that seemed like the more civilized response?

The train ride to Cornwall was normally a fun, lively time for the four of them, but the nervous energy seemed to pull everyone’s spirits away from one another and into their own headspace. Joey was normally so good at putting everyone at ease no matter the situation, but she found herself unable to broach any topic other than the one they were walking into.

“Do you want to practice what you’re going to say?” she said when they were about halfway there.

Will looked startled but relieved that someone had broken the silence.

“I like that idea,” Liam said, reaching for Will’s hand. “Shall we give it a go?”

Will nodded but said nothing.

“How about something like ‘Mom, Dad, I’m getting married to Liam’ and then see where it goes?” offered Taylor.

They all laughed nervously, but Will shook his head.

“Actually, I like that,” he said. “Short and sweet.”

“And then they’ll say, ‘how wonderful, son!’” said Joey.

Will laughed, but Liam shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

“No, really,” Joey said. “Let’s decide what they’re going to say and not think about any other options. Because that is the only acceptable response.”

She was being delusional, and she knew it, but Will’s parents had been so kind and loving on every occasion she’d seen them. They adored Will and even though she knew they would be surprised, she couldn’t help but hold out hope for him. And also for her.

“They’re probably only going to be disappointed to not get me as a daughter-in-law,” Taylor said.

“Now that is true,” Will laughed. “They’ll be so jealous of Joey’s parents.”

The tension lifted within the group, but Joey felt it land right between her and Taylor as they both took in what Will said. It implied that they would get married, which Joey knew made Taylor uncomfortable, but it also implied that Joey’s parents knew about them, which would make her livid. But it gave Joey a new resolve.

There was no point in telling her parents anything until she and Taylor had a bigger announcement to make. And she had about three months left to decide if that was something either of them actually wanted.