Marrying Ember (9 page)

“Yeah. It’s a short drive though,” I assured her.

Ember picked up her guitar case and hooked her messenger bag on her shoulder. “Regan, I’ll fill you in once we get settled at the park and can get away for a while, okay?”

“Sure thing.”

With baited breath, I entered the RV after Regan and Ember. Ashby started the vehicle as I ascended the stairs. His eyes flicked to mine for a second. I attempted a reassuring smile, placing a firm hand on his shoulder as I walked by him and to the back of the RV. Ember and Regan had taken their seats at the table we’d sat when this journey began. Raven was in the middle, perched in a lotus position on a cushion, meditation music blaring from her earbuds. The irony made me chuckle.

Regan put his earbuds in and rested his head against the window, and Ember sat next to him, plugging hers in as well, and closed her eyes. For a few minutes as we rolled up the highway, I watched the colors of the sunset paint their way over her face and hair.

I took a deep breath, trying to ground myself as I felt the weight of my changed plans. A hard lump of hopefulness formed in my throat as I watched her head tilt to the side as sleep overtook her. Her cheek landed on Regan’s shoulder, who looked startled for a moment before looking at me curiously.

“What’s going on?” he whispered as quietly as he could.

“I’m gonna marry her,” I whispered back, even quieter.

Regan smiled, looking down at his sleeping friend—the love of my life—before glancing back at me. “Perfect.”

T
he amount of downtime that faced us filled me with anxiety. We had two days until the Vallejo show, and a whole week after that before the next set of shows in Napa.

The night we got to Vallejo, Ember, as promised, caught Regan up on everything. The following day, everyone kind of went their own ways, rambling around Vallejo for the day. Ember skillfully avoided both her parents, and any conversation about them.

“You’ve been weird today. Is everything okay?” Ember asked as we wound through the end of a trail at the edge of the park where we were staying.

There was a large rock to my left. I stopped at it, pulling Ember with me and making her sit. I was on edge about Monica’s arrival, hoping she’d get here with words of wisdom, but in the meantime, I had to try.

“What’s going on?” Ember asked.

“I need you to hear me here, okay?”

She shrugged. “Sure.”

“You know I wouldn’t say this if I didn’t fully mean it with everything I have. I don’t use it as a social crutch …”

“What are you talking about?”

“Ember … you have both of your parents. And you get to spend every day with them doing exactly what you all love doing—”

“Stop.” Ember stood and started walking toward the head of the trail. “You don’t get to make me feel guilty. I’m sorry my parents are still alive, but that doesn’t mean I never get to be mad at them.”

“
You
stop.” I caught up to her and grabbed her upper arm, spinning her around. Her lips parted, seeming breathless at the forcefulness in my voice. “Listen. You
know
I don’t mean it as a guilt trip. We’ve been over this for almost a year. Just because it now applies to you doesn’t mean you get to go back on your word, Ember. I’m trying to tell you how much your dad loves you. He’s the only man in the universe who loves you more than I could ever dream of. And that’s a fact.”

“Why are you pushing me?” She closed her mouth and clenched her teeth.

“Pushing you? I haven’t said a
thing
. You asked me to run interference with them, and for the last two days I’ve done just that. It’s time to move, Ember. It’s time to face it.”

In a second, her facade deflated like a balloon. Her shoulders sank and her face paled. “What if I can’t?” she whispered, looking up at me through wide eyes.

I lifted her chin with my index finger. “You can. I’ll be there with you if you need me to be. Or I’ll wait in the woods if that’s what you want. Every day of your life, Ember, I’ll be there when you need me. And, when you think you don’t, I’ll still be there. Just in case.”

She shifted her lips, kissing my finger. “I need you every day.”

“Let’s go, then.” I nodded to the trailhead, where I knew the group was likely returning to the campsite.

As we reached the edge of the trail, a shrill sound that could only be described as
girl
pierced my ears.

“Ember!” As Ember and I made our way to the clearing, Monica sped at lightning speed toward us, nearly tackling Ember to the ground with her hug.

“Monca?! You’re not supposed to be here for another week!” Ember shrieked and the friends jumped up and down.

“Just a
hi
will do.” Walking toward us, next to Regan, Georgia spoke dryly, with a smirk.

“Georgia? What the hell?” Ember ignored Georgia’s request, and gave her a hug as well. One that Georgia graciously returned.

“Well, I hired someone to help my mom with the bakery because I was tired of missing all the fun. Monica called me and told me about her travel plans, so I jumped on board.”

Ember looked between Monica and Georgia. “You guys haven’t met before.”

Monica rolled her eyes. “Jesus, Ember, do you think I’d trust my best friend around any old female? Hell no. I got to the bottom of that shit, and quick. Georgia and I have been chatting for a while …”

As the girls walked toward the lake in a cackle of giggles and erratic hand motions, Monica looked over her shoulder and gave me a wink. When they disappeared out of sight, I turned to Regan, who looked as shellshocked as I felt.

“What was that?” I asked.

“This is what I gathered when I picked them up from the airport.” He took a comically deep breath while he looked to the sky. “Apparently, once you talked to Monica about discussing the engagement with Georgia, Monica looked up the bakery phone number and gave Georgia a thorough interrogation regarding her friendship credentials.”

I scrunched my nose. “How’d Georgia handle that one?”

“Well, apparently she told Monica to back the fuck off, and Monica told her that she passed the test. They both laughed, and that was that.”

“Okay,” I sat down at the nearest picnic table, “that doesn’t explain how they both ended up here at the same time.”

Regan sat next to me. “Oh, right. Well, once I got the story on everything the other day with Ember, I called Georgia. She’s my girlfriend, I get to tell her stuff.”

“Of course.”

“Apparently, then, Georgia called Monica to make sure she knew what was going on, because they both know that Ember can be oddly reserved. Even with people she loves.”

I nodded in approval. “Score one for Georgia.”

“Right? Anyway, I guess since Monica had already talked to you and Ember, they knew what was going on …” Regan looked up reluctantly.

“What …”

“See … Monica told Georgia that she thinks you’re going to marry Ember like asap. Maybe even before Napa. And I couldn’t deny it, even though I don’t know what the hell is going on ever, so Georgia told me she wasn’t missing any of this for the world, the girls arranged their flights and … well … here we are.” He gave an overstated, toothy smile at the end of his sentence.

I leaned forward and put my head in my hands. “Can Georgia keep a secret?” I realized how ridiculous the question was right when it came out of my mouth.

“Dude …”

“Dumb question, I know … None of this is going to happen until I can: A. Get Ember on speaking terms with her dad again, B. I ask him for permission to marry her. According to Monica I can’t do till right before because
he
can’t keep a secret. Which, by the way is the most ironic statement of the year, and C. Ember has to say yes and go through with it.” I wiped my hands over my shorts a million times, but couldn’t dry them as panic rose.

“Let’s, uh, slow it down … shall we?” Regan left the table and ran into one of the RVs, returning with two miraculously chilled bottles of beer.

I took a few large gulps and sighed my relief. “Thanks, man. Sorry.”

“We know she’s going to say yes. We know her dad is going to say yes. One of them is ordained, right?”

“One of who?”

“The Six. Isn’t Journey ordained?”

I pulled my eyebrows in. “How the
hell
do you know that?”

“I was trapped in an RV with them the other day, remember? I know more than I’ll ever repeat, dude.” He lifted his eyes to the sky and shook his head with a comical grin on his face.

“The only problem with involving her is it’s one more person who needs to keep it a secret—” I cut myself off and stood, slapping Regan upside his head.

Regan ducked back and put his hand to his head. “What the hell, bro?”

“I’ve got it!” My heart raced as I formed the plan in my head. “Tonight. It’s happening tonight. Text Georgia, tell her to keep them all away until its dark. Like … stars out, dark.”

Regan pulled his cell from his pocket and typed out a quick text. “Done.”

As if I needed more proof that what I was doing was right in the perfect time, Journey, and the rest of The Six returned from their hike.

“Bo? What’s up? You look … hyper.” Raven studied me curiously.

I took a deep breath, looked to Regan who gave me a thumbs up, then I addressed the group.

“Journey, we need to talk. Walk with me?”

“G
uys, come on, we’ve been out all day. Can we
please
go back now.” After a full afternoon in the sun with Georgia and Monica, including drinks on the pier, I was exhausted.

“I guess, but I’ve never been here before. Cut me some slack.” Monica looped her arm through mine as we made our way through the streets heading back to the campground.

Georgia was on my other side, and I linked arms with her, too. She shot me a surprised look, then took a step closer to me as we continued our walk.

When Georgia spoke, her voice was softer around the edges than I was used to. “Thanks for including me.”

I nudged her with my shoulder. “Of course. You’ve been a huge part of my life for the last several months, and you make one my best friends wicked happy—“

“I know,” she smiled, “but I’ve also never had close girlfriends before. And we didn’t really get off to the best start.”

“The good news is, it doesn’t end where you start, unless you quit. We didn’t quit each other.”

Monica stopped in her tracks and tugged my wrist.

“What?” I asked, studying her serious expression.

“Unless you quit …”

“Yeah?” I drew out, looking around.

Monica shot a look to Georgia before addressing me. “Look, Em … I wasn’t going to bring this up right now, but …” She looked down, biting her lip in an uncharacteristic show of restraint.

“Spit it out, Monica.”

“Don’t quit your dad.” She finally looked up and I immediately wished she’d look away, but she wouldn’t.

My cheeks heated and I felt dizzy. I leaned against a nearby stone wall.

“So you have a sister …” Monica shrugged and sat next to me.

“Half sister,” I corrected.

Georgia rolled her eyes and sat on the other side of me. “Fine. Half sister. There are worse things in life than having extra family.” Her eyes fell along with her shoulders.

“Yeah,” Monica continued, “Willow was the only person from your childhood I ever heard you mention with any frequency while we were in college. You said it was like you were sisters. Turns out you actually are.”

I stood, facing my girlfriends. “I can’t believe you two. My dad
lied
to me. And not about Santa Clause or the Tooth Fairy. Not only did he lie, but so did my mom and Willow’s par—whatever.”

Georgia stood, not looking one ounce sympathetic. “Right. And you still got to grow up with two loving parents who taught you it was okay, and, in fact, necessary to love hard and all the way to your core or whatever the fuck terminology your mom uses. You’re allowed to feel railroaded, and to ask questions, and feel everything, but, please, don’t you think given how you feel, your dad probably feels it more?”

I threw my head back in defiance. “How could he possibly?”