Chapter Twenty-Seven
IT MUST HAVE been a hundred degrees outside, but Joey suddenly felt like she was back in London on a January night.
Betty. Her little sister had kept the letter from her, knowing how much she’d dreamed of going to school for writing. Why would she have done that?
“Stop,” Dan said.
“What?”
“Stop whatever you’re thinking. Maybe she set it down somewhere and it ended up in a junk mail pile or something. You cannot confront her about this. Not tonight.”
“I really don’t think you get to tell me what I can and can’t do,” Joey said haughtily.
“After everything you put me through, I think I absolutely can.” Dan’s tone was icy.
That was a decent point, but this was about her and Betty, so she thought for a minute about ignoring him. Tonight really didn’t seem like the best time for a full-on sister screaming match. And as she had been the one who had abruptly ran away from her own high school graduation, she did probably owe her parents an uneventful one for her little sister.
But inside, she was fuming. Somehow, she knew the letter hadn’t been set aside. She didn’t know why Betty would have kept it from her, but kept it from her she had, and that one decision had kicked off a series of events that had altered her life forever. For better? Sitting next to bizarro Dan made her feel like that was a definite no.
The Dan she knew at this age was broke, but full of joy. Now, here he was, driving a fancy car, maybe even the owner of an actual savings account, and utterly devoid of the happiness and humor she’d come to love in him. And who was she kidding? She had money in the bank, a computer full of completed novels, and she probably looked equally as sad as he did. Maybe she was just projecting.
“Are you happy?” she asked.
“Right now, or in general?” he said, giving her a sideways glance.
“Both, I guess.”
He paused to think. “Yes,” he said. “A year ago, I didn’t think I ever would be again, but I really am. And I’m sorry for getting into all of this today, but I really am happy. It’s a big day and I’m glad you’re here for it.”
Well, that was good news, at least. And leave it to Dan to go full-on big brother for Betty’s graduation. She’d always been a little third-wheely with them and as her sister, Joey was always more annoyed than understanding. But Dan loved Betty and always did a great job of making her feel included whenever he could.
One of the few fights they’d had as teenagers had been about that same issue, now she thought about it. Betty had asked Dan to find her a date to his senior prom so she could go with them. Dan had been willing and knew it wouldn’t be hard to find a guy at his school who would jump at the chance for a date with Betty, but Joey wanted the night to be just theirs. She couldn’t keep Betty from going to her own senior prom at Conquistador because she was a junior there and had her pick of guys in the senior class.
But Dan’s prom was the night Joey had been hoping could be their first time. She eventually changed her mind, but during the weeks leading up to it, she spread the rumor among Dan’s friends that Betty wasn’t available that night. Several of them looked pretty bummed and she felt badly about it eventually, but it ended up being one of the few big events in hers and Dan’s relationship that Betty didn’t get to be at, and she was secretly thankful.
Everyone knew Dan would be crowned prom king and when Betty said she wanted to be there to see that moment, she’d rolled her eyes, while Dan had promised to see what he could do. Alone on the driveway that night, Betty had been petulant, and Dan was annoyed, still oblivious to Joey’s plans of a rose petal covered bed at a hotel. She really thought she was doing him a favor by keeping Betty away, but it wasn’t one of her better moments.
It made sense that Dan would be defending her now. Had they talked about Joey a lot after she’d disappeared? Of course they would have, at first, she assumed. No one else in the world would understand what they were going through, other than each other. And when Joey had called home after a while, Betty had specifically asked if she’d forgive her, one free pass.
The letter. Joey realized in an instant that Betty had been covering her tracks for the letter. Now Joey had gone to the school anyway, Betty must have been ready to confess. Or must have thought it would come up eventually. Maybe the school would ask about it and she’d have to come clean. So it wasn’t a premeditated question after all.
Joey knew she had hurt a lot of people and complicated multiple lives with her decision last year. If Betty was willing to forgive her, she could do the same. This realization couldn’t have come at a better time, as she noticed Dan was exiting the I-17 on Dunlap, and they were almost to the school.
“I won’t bring up the letter,” Joey said. “Not tonight, not ever.”
“Thank you,” Dan said with a sigh. “I really don’t know what happened, but you got there anyway, so no harm no foul, right?”
“I wouldn’t say no harm. And I really am sorry and want to talk to you another time about all of this, but I won’t blame that letter for my decisions. It might have been the catalyst, but the decisions were mine.”
Dan winced but nodded. Maybe it had been easier for him to think there was something to blame for her abandoning him, but he’d found his way back to happiness, and she couldn’t wait to hear all the details. Heck, he’d agreed to drive her here today, and that was already so much more than she’d hoped for.
As they parked, Joey looked again at Dan, trying not to project everything she was feeling. Yes, he was different, but so was she. Maybe there was a way for her to fit into this new Dan’s life. And maybe whatever was going to cause their issues in nineteen years had already come to pass, meaning their marriage could be 100 percent happy, or as close to it as possible. If she had run away in the first place because she thought he’d kept a letter from her and that wasn’t the case, what was keeping them apart now?
She vowed to keep these thoughts to herself until tomorrow and walked toward the football field next to Dan, glad the uncomfortable night she’d envisioned seemed to be very different than the one she was experiencing.
After all, how much could happen at a high school graduation?