I do not want to keep talking about this.
“You have a weird way of showing it.”
She’s annoyed, her voice edgy, her arms outstretched. I sit back.
“I know,” I say. I swallow. “I mean, I can see that, that he cares. And I’m happy for you.”
“You are?” she says.
“I am,” I say. “He seems like a good guy.”
“A good guy? Come on, Dannie, that’s pathetic.” She’s petulant, angry. I don’t really blame her. I’m giving her nothing. “I’m really crazy about him,” she says. “I’ve never felt this way before, and I know I’ve said this a lot, and I know you don’t believe me—”
“I believe you,” I say.
Bella sticks her elbows on the table and leans forward. All the way. “What is it?” she says. “It’s me, Dannie. You can say anything. You know that. What do you not like about him?”
All at once my eyes sting up with tears. It is an unusual reaction for me, and I blink, more in surprise than in an effort to stop it. Bella looks so hopeful sitting across from me. Naïve, even. So full of the possibility she purports to feel. And I have a giant secret I cannot tell her. Something profound, terrible, and strange has happened in my life, and she doesn’t get to know.
“I guess I’ve had you all to myself for a really long time,” I say. “It’s not fair, but the idea of you being with someone for real makes me feel, I don’t know.” I swallow. “Jealous, maybe?”
She sits back, satisfied. Thank god I came up with something. Bless me for being a lawyer. She buys it. This makes sense to her. She knows I have always wanted the space closest to her, front position, and she has given it to me.
“But you have David, and it’s fine,” she says.
“Yeah. It’s just always been that way, so it feels different.”
She nods.
“But you’re right,” I say. “It’s dumb. I guess emotions aren’t always rational.”
Bella laughs. “I genuinely never thought I’d hear you say those words.” She reaches across the table and squeezes my hand. “Nothing is going to change, I promise you. Or if it does, it’ll be for the better. You’ll see me even more. You’ll see me so much you’ll be sick of me.”
“Well then, cheers—I look forward to being sick of you.”
Bella smiles. We clink glasses. Then she waves a hand back and forth in front of her face. “So you like him, sorta. Maybe. You’re jealous. We’ll leave it there. Okay?”
I shake my head. “Sure.”
“But he really is—” She starts, and her voice trails off, her gaze with it. “I don’t know how to describe it. It’s like I finally get it, you know? What everyone always talks about.”
“Bella,” I say. “That’s wonderful.”
Bella wiggles her nose. “What’s new with you?”
I take a deep breath. I blow some air out of my lips. “David and I got engaged,” I say.
She picks up her water glass. “Dannie. That’s decades-old news.”
“Four and a half years.”
“Right.”
“No, I mean. We’re going to get married this time. For real. In December.”
Bella’s eyes widen. Then they flit down to my hand and back up again. “Holy shit. For real?”
“For real. It’s time. We’re both just so busy and there’s always a reason not to, but I realized there’s a really big reason to do it. So we will.”
The waiter comes over, and Bella turns to him abruptly. “A bottle of champagne and ten minutes,” she says. He leaves.
“He’s been asking me to set a date for a long time.”
“I’m aware,” Bella says. “But you always say no.”
“It’s not that I say no,” I say. “It’s just that I haven’t said yes.”
“What changed?”
I look at her. Bella. My Bella. She looks so radiant, so high on love. How can I tell her that it’s her? That she’s the reason.
“I guess I just finally know the future I want,” I say.
She nods. “Did you tell Meryl and Alan?”
My parents. “We called them. They’re thrilled. They asked if we wanted to do it at The Rittenhouse.”
“Do you? In Philly? It’s so generic.” Bella wiggles her nose. “I always saw you doing something very Manhattan.”
“I’m generic, though. You always forget that.”
She smiles.
“But no Philly,” I say. “It’s just inconvenient. We’ll see what’s available in the city. “
The champagne comes, and our glasses are filled. Bella holds hers to mine. “To good men,” she says. “May we know them, may we love them, may we love each other’s.”
I swallow down some bubbles.
“I’m starving,” I say.