On closer inspection she didn’t look dazed, she looked dreamy.
“Jet,” I asked, “are you okay?”
“I’m okay. I’m way okay. I’m so okay it’s worth the f**king f-word. I’m f**king, f**king okay.”
“What’s going on?” Ally asked.
Jet turned to her. “Eddie told me he loved me tonight. That’s why we’re late. I, um… kinda pounced on him when he did it.”
Everyone stared.
My stomach twisted further. Hateful jealousy I wished I didn’t feel causing the pain even as my heart warmed for Jet.
Daisy let me go and hugged Jet. “That is so sweet,” she said when she broke the hug. “Champagne! We need champagne! Right here!” she shouted though who she was shouting at I did not know, there weren’t any waiters, it was a help-yourself kind of deal.
“I’ll get the champagne,” Indy offered with a hand squeeze for Jet and a quick, worried look at me.
I ignored the worried look. I didn’t need any worried looks. I needed this night to be over.
Jet moved beside me as Tod, Daisy and Roxie formed a huddle close by (likely to talk about me, I ignored that too) and Ally wandered away (scarily in a direction that would lead her to Vance, I ignored that too).
“Did you tell him you love him?” I asked Jet.
“I told him that ages ago when I tried to break up with him.”
I couldn’t help it, even with all the emotion what she said made no sense and thus made me smile.
“As you know I’m no expert but that sure as hell doesn’t sound like the way to break up with someone,” I told her.
She grinned at me, still in her dreamy daze. “It wasn’t though I didn’t know that. I moved in during my troubles and he didn’t let me break up with him when they were over and never let me move out. This past weekend I even painted his bathroom this really cool shade of deep, deep lavender, a really rich color but Ally said Eddie’d lose his mind to have a purple bathroom. Still, he told me he loved me. Even a purple bathroom didn’t faze Eddie.”
She was gazing across the room while she talked and I followed her gaze. I looked across the room and saw Eddie, his eyes on Jet, his lips twitching, his thoughts clearly private but in a seriously sexy, public way.
I put my arm around her waist and she did the same with mine. “I think you could have painted the bathroom flamingo pink and it wouldn’t faze Eddie.”
She looked at me, her face had settled, lost its daze and was now just plain happy.
“I know,” she said softly.
Don’t ask me why but I touched the side of my head to hers and gave her waist a squeeze. She squeezed me back.
Then May came out with a birthday cake loaded with lit candles singing happy birthday and everyone joined in.
* * * * *
A couple of hours later, the party was winding down and Nick walked up to me.
With a polite smile, he pulled me away from talking to Zip and Heavy.
“I’m leavin’, Jules,” he said to me, walking me to the door where he stopped.
“Did you have fun?” I asked, smiling up at him.
“Yeah. They’re good people.”
He was right, they were.
“Got somethin’ to say, Jules.”