Friday, August 24
Good luck.
Jason picks us up from the airport in Idaho Falls. I haven’t seen him since his wedding, since he left on his honeymoon for Hawaii.
“You look happy,” he says to me.
“Me? You’re the one who looks happy,” I say.
And he does. Happier than I’ve ever seen him.
“Spending two weeks in Hawaii will do that for anybody,” Jason says.
Miranda’s parents paid for their honeymoon. And the wedding. Everything. They’re pretty well off, I’m not sure exactly just how well off, but I know they have a very nice house and Miranda drives a car that costs about twice what mine does. Not that it matters. I love my car.
“I got some really good news at the doctor yesterday,” I tell him. “I wanted to tell everybody at lunch today, but I’m so excited that I literally can’t wait.”
“What is it?” Jason asks.
“I’m cancer free,” I tell him.
He actually stops the car. “Are you serious?”
I nod.
Somebody behind us honks their horn. We are in the middle of a parking garage at the airport. But it’s a small airport. The person waits a few more seconds, then races around us.
“Are you gonna drive?” I ask him.
“Yeah, I just... I’m really happy right now,” Jason says.
“Me too,” I say.
Jason looks back at Kale. “I guess that means you’re gonna be stuck with my sister for a long time. Good luck, man.”
“Hey,” I say, pretending to be offended. “I’m not so bad.”
“She snores,” Jason says.
“Her snore is cute,” Kale says.
I roll my eyes. “I don’t snore.”
“Yes, you do,” Kale and Jason both say.
“I’m never sleeping again,” I say.
“Good luck with that one,” Jason says.
“Fine. I’ll just have to sleep in the other room,” I say. “We do have a guest room now.”
“It wouldn’t work. I’d just climb into that bed with you,” Kale says.
“This is so weird,” Jason says. “Can we not walk about you sleeping in the same bed as my little sister?”
“Jason, we’re married,” I say.
“I'm still mad about that, by the way.”
“You are?” I ask.
“Maybe,” he says. “Fine. I don't blame you guys for doing what you did. If Miranda and I were in the same situation and she wanted to get married in Vegas, I would've done it too. I’m just sad that you stole my best friend.”
I grin. “At least I married a good guy, right?”
“Juliet, if you married a guy who wasn’t good to you, I would kill him,” Jason says.
I know he’d never actually kill anybody. But he wouldn’t ever let a guy treat me badly. I think that is the reason he isn’t angrier about Kale and me getting married. Well, that and the bucket list. I have a feeling if Jason didn’t know about my cancer, he would be a lot angrier.
“I was wondering, what did you think when you saw the video?” I ask Jason. “Of us in Vegas.”
“Miranda showed up at my house at midnight,” Jason says. “I was asleep. And I was pissed when I saw it. I tried to call you, but your phone was off.”
“Yeah, we both turned our phones off,” Kale says.
“I wasn’t surprised, though. I mean, I was surprised about the Vegas wedding,” he says. “Who wouldn’t be surprised by two people who weren’t dating, getting married like that? But I always knew the two of you would end up together. I knew it when I was a kid.”
“How did everybody know but me?” I ask.
“Because, you have always had your head in the clouds,” Jason says. “You’ve been too focused to notice any guys.”
“It’s a good thing, though,” Kale says.
“And Kale has been too in love with you to notice any girls,” Jason says. “I tried to set him up with girls when we were in high school and college. But he wouldn’t even give these girls a second glance. And that is the only reason I’m allowing this marriage to continue.”
Which makes me laugh.
But I know Jason is serious.
“I’m sorry I didn’t invite you to the wedding,” I tell him.
“That’s okay. I know why you did it,” he says. “And like I said, if Miranda and I were in the same position, I’d have done the same thing.”
I feel relief at his words.
The last person on the planet I want to hurt is my brother.
Future plans.
At lunch, I tell my family and Kale’s family that I am cancer free, and they are over the top excited. Especially Kale’s mom. I know she loves me, but she was worried about Kale—what my death would do to him. To be honest, I was worried about that, too. Especially after he told me he loves me.
My parents were happy, too. My mom cried. She always cries. But I know this time, it was happy tears, so I didn’t mind.
“Mom, have you lost weight?” I ask her, after lunch.
“I don’t think so,” she says.
“You look like you have,” I say. “You look good.”
Not that she didn’t look good before—she did. It’s just... I want my parents to be healthy. I want them to be around a long, long time.
“What are you and Kale going to do now?” Mom asks.
“What do you mean?”
“What are your plans for the future?”
“I don’t know,” I answer. “I mean, you know that we are moving into a house this weekend. We’re saving money to buy a house. I’m not sure if we want to buy a home in LA or in Idaho Falls, so we’re probably just going to rent until we know for sure what we want to do.”
“And your jobs?” she asks.
I shrug. “We’ve been very successful with the daily vlogs. People seem to like them. And I’ve grown a lot in subscribers. Since the first of June, I’ve gained almost one million subscribers. I’m getting a lot of views, too.”
“I’m really proud of you,” Mom says. “I know when you dropped out of college I was really hard on you, but I shouldn’t have been. You were always so smart, and you knew exactly what you wanted. I don’t understand the whole YouTube thing, but I know it makes you happy.”
“It does.”
“And Kale makes you happy,” she says.
I can’t help but smile. “I’ve never been happier in my life, Mom.”
“Are there grandchildren in my immediate future?”
“I want to wait a little bit,” I say. “Maybe until I’m twenty-five. That’s six years from now. By then, hopefully I will be six years cancer free. I just worry about the cancer coming back, you know?”
“It won’t come back,” Mom says. “You and Kale are going to make great parents.”
“And don’t worry, if we’re still in LA, I’ll still come visit a lot,” I say. “I might even make you babysit often.”
She smiles. “I look forward to it, Juliet. I love you a lot.”
“Love you, too.”