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chapter sixteen
A few hours later, Mrs. Hanson, Zoë, Avery, and Jessica emerged from the mall exhausted. They had spent most of their time in the large bridal shop, but had made stops to the department stores to register and the food court for lunch and snacks.
“Jessica?” Mrs. Hanson asked.
“Hmmm?” she replied thoughtfully.
“Why don’t you come home for a while and we can do some more things there?” She smiled.
“Sure. I could even spend the night, I suppose.” Mrs. Hanson smiled.
“Great.” Jessica smiled back. But as they headed for their cars, Avery could tell there was something wrong. She hadn’t mentioned Alex since that morning, and she didn’t seem too worried about him right now. Besides, Avery had heard her sister lie before, and this seemed like a lie. But she wasn’t about to but into her private business. But still, there was that lingering thought that something wasn’t right.
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When they got home, the foursome began discussing the guest list and the bridal party. They had gotten a lot done at the mall. They had decided on bridesmaid’s dresses and found a dress for Jessica. That alone had take most of the time. Jessica had also decided that she wanted pink and white. They discussed the guest list until almost midnight. Then, Mrs. Hanson, Zoë, and Avery headed up to their rooms, where the rest of the family already was. Jessica went upstairs also. She took a long, hot shower and changed into her pajamas. She padded downstairs to the kitchen. She picked up the phone and dialed 0. She asked for the number of the Holiday Inn. She thanked the operator for it and hung up. She called it and asked for their room number. Alex answered.
“Hello?” She could tell he was tired. She didn’t hear or see Avery come in. Upon seeing her sister on the phone, Avery shrunk back into the corner. She remembered another time she had listened to her sister’s conversation so long ago. She shook the memory off and listened.
“Hi, Alex,” she said stiffly. Avery perked up. Alex!
“Jess? Listen, I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean anything this morning. I was just tired and-,”
“Save it,” she snapped a little too harshly. She could hear his breathing on the other end.
“I’m not in the mood, Alex. I just called to tell you that I’m staying at my parents’ house tonight. I’ll be back tomorrow. Bye.” Before he could reply, she hung up. Avery scampered quickly up the stairs ahead of Jessica. She hurried into her room. She caught her breath as she thought. She was right! Jessica was fighting with Alex! There was no book writing involved!
Jessica went into her old room and looked around. Things hadn’t changed at all. It was exactly like she had left it. It was almost as if it hadn’t been touched. She shivered involuntarily. It was freaky. Suddenly, she was very cold. She climbed into her bed and pulled the covers around her chin. She relaxed, and within minutes, was asleep.
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Alex hung up the phone through which a dial tone was pulsing through his ear and sighed. Jessica was really mad this time. They had had their share of fights and arguments, but this was a bad one. And right before the wedding, too. He sighed. There was only one thing to do. He grabbed his address book from his things, picked up the phone, followed the instructions to make a long distance call and dialed. His sister stayed up late with her little kids. Besides that, they lived in New York. It would only be around eleven or midnight there.
“Hello?” a voice that was way too cheery for it to be one in the morning said.
“Lauren?” Alex asked. “It’s Alex.”
“Alex? Is that you?”
“Yeah,” he said chuckling a little at his big sister. He had three older sisters who had been obsessed with Hanson. This wasn’t going to be easy.
“Wow, you sound different,” she said.
“Yeah,” he said again. “Listen, I um, have something I hafta tell you.”
“Well, what?” he could hear kids in the background.
“Well…” he couldn’t think of how to say it. “I’m getting married,” he said bluntly.
“Wow!” she said. “When, and who?”
“Well,” he said, “we um, haven’t set a date yet. But her name’s, um, Jessica. But I’m not going to tell you her last name; you’ll just have to wait. It’s probably going to be here.”
“Where’s here?”
“Oh yeah, um, Tulsa. Oklahoma.”
“Why are you there?”
“Cuz this is where she lives. Or, used to. Her whole family lives here.”
“Oooooh.”
“I gotta go. Don’t tell anyone, I wanna tell them myself, okay?”
“Okay.” They said their goodbyes and hung up. Alex flipped through his address book and called his other sisters, Courtney and Jennifer. Jennifer was the oldest, then Courtney, then Lauren, and finally, him. His sisters were all married. He was the last. After he had made those phone calls, he picked up the phone to make the hardest one.