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“Well, you’re an adult. I can’t stop you. I wish your dad were here.” That causes a pinch in my chest. She leans closer, lowering her voice. “He always thought Jude was the one for you. He told me he spoke to Jude once?—”
“We’re gonna be late, Sadie,” Jude says, interrupting. “We’re going to the football game,” he says to my mom.
My mom winks at me, straightening in her chair.
I’d really like her to finish that sentence. She alluded earlier to my dad talking to Jude and now again.
“What a great night,” she says. “I’ll have to make it to one one of these days. I heard Gillian’s boy is really good.”
“Yeah.” Jude stands there with his hands in his pockets. “He’ll probably follow in Ben’s footsteps. He’ll play in college at the very least.”
“That’s great. You two go.” She waves me off and winks again.
I’m unsure if our conversation is over or not, but I guess there isn’t much else to say.
“Maybe we can have Bruce over and talk logistics,” my mom suggests.
Yeah, I’ll be handling it all and telling my mom what needs to happen because there’s no way I can see her sadness at not hosting the big wedding we used to talk about all the time and not having my dad here for it.
“We’ll see. We’re going to talk to Romy about when we can get The Knotted Barn and go from there.” I kiss her cheek. “Bye, Mom.”
“Bye, sweetie.”
Jude walks over and kisses her cheek. She whispers something to him, and his smile falters before he draws back. It reemerges, but it’s not Jude’s usual smile. It’s his forced and fake one. A lot of people don’t notice the difference. It’s hard to tell, but his lips don’t tip as high, and he doesn’t show his teeth.
“Go Wildcats!” Mom puts up her arm, then grabs the remote.
We say one more goodbye and walk out of the house. Jude walks me to the passenger side of his truck, opens the door for me, and I climb in. He closes my door, rounds the front of the truck, and gets into the driver’s seat.
“What did she say?” I ask.
No smile creases his lips anymore. He doesn’t look at me, just starts his truck. “She just said she was happy for us.”
For the first time tonight, Jude’s inability to lie shines bright. As convincing as he was to my mom, he just lied to me. But the question is why? What am I missing?
Chapter Twelve
Jude
I park my truck in the high school parking lot. The lights on the football field I used to play on light up the night. The sun had set in the time we drove here from Sadie’s. I’m relieved that both our parents know about our engagement and didn’t question us to the point that we broke. Mrs. Wilkins seemed to suspect something, but she didn’t push.
The worst part about telling Sadie’s mom was how excited she was to plan the wedding and buy Sadie’s dress. That about killed me, and I’m sure Sadie felt the same way.
I turn off the engine and look at Sadie.
All the Wildcat fans are parking and walking toward the entrance of the football stadium. This is the second part of our plan. Announcing us as a couple to the town of Willowbrook since almost no one misses a game. Once we do this, there’s no going back.
“This is it. We’ll hold hands. I’ll pay for you to get in.” It feels hard to speak, as though someone has a grip on my neck or something, and I clear my throat.
“You pay for me every time,” she says, smiling.
Sadie trusts that everyone sees the good in people, just like she does. But there will be people studying us tonight, looking for signs that we’re fake.
“We’ll go up to the bleachers and sit by one another.”
“You realize the only difference will be the hand holding, right? Everything else is what we do every game.” She unbuckles herself and grabs her purse. “Let’s just play it by ear.”
I lightly take her arm to stop her from exiting the truck. “If we play it by ear, we’re going to mess it up.”
