Save the Date(39)

And even though this was entirely Clementine’s fault, it felt wrong to leave this Clay kid with his birthday decorations in a heap. So Bill and I had started decorating the party room for him and hadn’t gotten very far before we’d had a serious disagreement about antipodean animal placement.

“I think he looks good,” Bill said, straightening the cardboard koala cutout that he’d placed near the door. “He’s welcoming everyone inside.”

I shook my head. “He’s going to get crushed. There’s going to be a stampede for the pizza and soda and he’ll be the first casualty. Trust me.”

Bill smiled at me and took a step back. “Are you sure this isn’t just the wallaby fight all over again?”

“I was right about that,” I said as I picked up the koala and moved him so that he was presiding over the gift bags, which we’d arranged in neat rows. “Nobody’s going to get that but you.” Bill had insisted on taping the wallabies over the door so that people would see them as they left. “It’s a walla-bye,” he kept repeating. “Get it?”

“Didn’t you ever go to a birthday party here?” I asked, changing the angle of the koala. “I would have thought you’d be familiar with the pizza stampede.”

Bill smiled but shook his head. “There’s was a place kind of like this in Putnam when I was a kid, so we kept it local.”

“And you said you lived in Albuquerque too, right?”

Bill raised an eyebrow at me. “Good memory.”

I shrugged. “I work on the school paper—it means you get really used to remembering details.”

“Journalism? Is that your major?”

“Well, I’m just finishing up my senior year now,” I said, angling the koala once again. “But next year . . .” Unbidden, an image of the state-of-the-art newsroom at Northwestern flashed into my mind, but I pushed it away. “I’m going to Stanwich.”

“Oh.” His eyebrows flew up. A second later, though, he smiled at me and went back to twisting the streamers with the Australian flag on them, but it was like he’d been about to say something, then stopped himself. It was amazing how quickly you could learn these kinds of things about another person when you’re trapped together in a small room filled with Australian paraphernalia.

“What?”

“Nothing,” he said quickly, climbing down from the ladder and moving it forward a few feet. “Just—J.J. told me you were going to Northwestern.”

I rolled my eyes, wishing J.J. would stay out of my business. “Well, I’m not. I got accepted there, but I’m going here.”

“Got it.” Bill nodded, then reached up and gave the streamers another twist. “Well, it’s too bad. If you were in Chicago too, we could hang out and you could lecture me some more about koalas.” I smiled at that as Bill descended the ladder. “Think we’re good?”

I looked around the room. Basically, it looked like Australia had thrown up on it. There were animal pictures and photos of Australian landmarks everywhere you looked. Who knew why this Clay kid loved Australia so much, but clearly he did, and would not be disappointed when he saw his birthday decorations. “I think we’re good.”

Bill folded up his ladder and we started gathering Linnie and Rodney’s decorations, carefully loading them into a giant Where There’s A Will canvas bag—it seemed like Bill’s uncle sure was into his monogramming. “Thanks so much for helping out, Charlie,” Bill said as he slung the bag over his shoulder. “I couldn’t have done this without you.”

“And if you had,” I said, picking up the two largest blown-up pictures, the ones that hadn’t fit in the bag, “you would have put all the marsupials in the wrong place.”

I heard Bill laugh as he followed me out the door. As we crossed the main Indoor Xtreme floor, I saw how much things had changed since we’d gotten there. It was practically deserted when I arrived, but now the techno music was thumping, there were kids on the skate ramp and bike jumps, and there was a long line for the paintball course. My hands were full and I couldn’t reach into my pocket to check my phone, but I realized school must have let out for the day—which meant I needed to hurry if I was going to make it home and get ready for the Pearce in time.

“I’m going to have to get home before going to the museum—will you be able to get these set up at the Inn?”

Bill nodded. “Not a problem.” And even though he was carrying much more than I was, he somehow managed to pull the door open for me. I’d just stepped outside when my phone rang. I suddenly remembered I hadn’t gotten back to Siobhan when she said she needed to talk to me, and felt a wave of guilt hit me. But it wasn’t Siobhan—my sister’s contact picture was flashing across the screen as I answered the call.

“Hey, Lin.”

“Where are you?” she asked, her voice high-pitched and stressed out.

“Um, I’m heading back now,” I said, exchanging a glance with Bill, hoping something else hadn’t gone wrong with the seating arrangements. “Everything’s fine with the rehearsal dinner decorations!”

“Forget the decorations,” Linnie snapped, and I didn’t respond, even though I had a feeling she would not have been happy if her rehearsal dinner had been Australia-themed. “Did you know about this?”