Chapter Forty

“WHAT ARE YOU doing here?” Joey said, pulling herself away from Dan and knocking over one of her candles. She stomped it out before it could catch the blanket on fire.

“Dan said he needed to come up here to check something out for a minute,” she said. “But I didn’t realize you were the thing he had to check out.”

“Betty, I can explain,” Joey said.

“Oh, I bet you can,” Betty said, storming away from them, before turning on her heel to come back. “You two always do this. You always do this to me.”

“We always what?” Joey said, unable to compare their current situation to anything that had happened before.

“You always go behind my back and leave me out of everything,” she said. “It’s Joey and Dan and I’m just an afterthought. Even now we’re supposed to be getting married, you run back to her. Her! The one who left you last year and didn’t even care.”

“Betty, listen,” Joey said. Dan hadn’t believed her story about their lives, but since lying and pretending everything was okay clearly wasn’t working, she decided to try again.

“Dan and I are supposed to be married. We got married a month ago. We had three kids and you’re the best aunt ever. And we’re really happy. I just came back in time to, er, see about something.”

Betty stopped pacing and stared at her.

“What are you talking about?” she said.

“I know it sounds crazy, but I swear it’s true. I’m actually thirty-eight. I was sent back in time by a fortune teller because she said I married the wrong person.”

“And who were you supposed to marry?” Betty asked.

“I thought it was Taylor, but I think I was wrong,” she said.

“Taylor?” Dan said. “Have you been with Taylor this whole time? Like, been with her been with her?”

Joey turned to face him and nodded.

“You really did cheat on me,” Dan said. “Betty said you were with someone else, but I didn’t want to believe her.”

“We weren’t together,” Joey said. But then she realized they had never officially broken up. She left, but never ended things. And she was immediately with Taylor. Wow, no wonder both the people in this apartment with her were looking at her like she was scum.

“Look,” she said, trying to regain control over the situation. “I know this all sounds crazy. I know you both have every reason to hate me right now. But I’ve been watching you both since I came home, and I don’t think either of you actually wants to marry the other person. Dan, I’m not saying you should marry me, but well, I mean, I am saying that, but I’m first and foremost saying you shouldn’t marry her.”

Betty’s high-pitched scream echoed off the walls. “This is what I’m talking about!” she said. “You threw him away! You left us both behind without saying anything and now you’re back, you come up with some stupid story and tell him he shouldn’t marry me.”

“Betty, I love you, but you wouldn’t be happy with Dan,” Joey said. “You can already tell. You guys are great friends, but you just don’t want the same things.”

“We do!” Betty exclaimed. “We both want to get back at you.”

Joey sighed. There it was. She’d wondered how Betty had talked herself into Dan and out of everything she knew she wanted. After her gap year, she came back even more restless than when she left. She moved to New York then LA and always seemed to find her way into the coolest stories. She’d met Rachel during her adventures, and they’d been roommates and bandmates ever since. Plenty of men had tried to pin her down through the years, but she never let them.

It wasn’t just her own fate at stake here. She knew Betty was happier without Dan than she could ever be with him.

“Is that why you’re with me?” Dan said. “To get back at your sister?”

“No, I…” Betty said.

Joey could see the wheels turning in her sister’s mind. She wanted to speak up and say what it looked like to her, but knew Betty had to get there on her own.

“Maybe I did,” Betty said at last. “I was so angry, and I’ve loved you for so long, and I thought I loved you that way. I think I do. I don’t know. I thought how great it would be to see Joey’s face when she came home and saw us together, but I didn’t expect you to propose.”

Betty began to cry, and Joey instinctively wrapped her arms around her. She knew what it felt like to be eighteen and in love and jealous and a million other emotions at the same time.

“It’s okay,” Joey said, as Betty cried harder on her shoulder.

“Is it?” Dan said.

“Oh Dan.” Joey looked up at him from over Betty’s head.

“You left me to go be with someone else,” Dan said. “She was only with me to get back at you. I need to get out of here.”

“Dan, wait,” Joey said, but he grabbed the keys next to Betty’s purse and walked out.

“Go after him,” Betty said, wiping her nose with her sleeve.

“Are you okay?” Joey said.

“I’m fine. Really. I screwed this all up, but I’m fine.”

Joey hugged her sister again as a thunderclap sounded and scared them both.

“Sounds like a storm is starting,” Betty said. “Go catch him before he drives away in it. I’ll clean up and we can go somewhere nearby until it passes. We all need to talk.”

“Okay, thanks,” Joey said, running for the door.

She cut through a shortcut she knew would lead her to the parking lot, hoping it would save her enough time to catch Dan before he left. It was pouring rain and she could barely see, but she thought she could just make out his profile about thirty yards away.

“Dan! Wait!” she yelled as she ran in his direction.

She didn’t see if he turned around and she definitely didn’t see the small pile of river rocks that had been kicked out onto the sidewalk. Rocks plus sudden rain can lead to a slippery situation.

And that was her last thought before everything went dark.