Note: Okay, hello! Extremely sorry for how long this chapter took to finish, but grad school is no joke, folks! But it's here!
Since this is the final chapter, I'd just like to give some special shout-outs to:
-Stevie Wonder's Hotter Than July album
-Say it First by Sam Smith (the song that inspired the title of this story)
-All the versions of For Once in My Life (but Janet's right, Stevie's is the best one)
-my old laptop with the broken L, P, and Enter keys that I wrote most of this story on! Idfk how I managed that, but those were good times lmao.
-To my lovely friends who have made this whole process so much fun. Thanks for sticking through it with me lol
I hope you all enjoy this final chapter. Thank you all for reading and for the kind words you've left. Perhaps I'll see you in the future with another story (one a lot less long-winded lmao)
(Also, again, sorry for typos and also sorry if this isn't good? Idk it's been a while!)
Chapter 17: There's Lots of Scrambling About and A Happy Ending in This One
Things were really coming down to the wire.
Once the bus finally reached their stop, Jack and Terri stumbled off as quickly as they possibly could without disturbing that massive wedding cake they had in tow.
Now hard as Terri tried to convince him to just abandon the cake somewhere, Jack simply couldn't part with it, both because there was a part of him that was afraid Janet and Phillip might still need it and because well! He was so proud of how it turned out, okay! He couldn't just leave it out here on the sidewalk!
They tried to move fast but it wasn't easy, what with Terri complaining that Jack needed to sort out his priorities because this was just ridiculous. Plus, the heckling they got from a group of preteens who were passing by jokingly threatening to crash into them with their bikes certainly wasn't helping either.
Jack was busy heckling the kids back and thus slowing them down even more when Terri cut him off.
"Dog!"
"Okay, Terri. They're just kids. Let's not take it too far now."
"No!" She spoke urgently and jutted her chin in the direction of something behind him. "Dog!"
He turned to look over his shoulder, and sure enough hurdling at them was a giant St. Bernard, leash trailing behind him, and a woman running after him at top speed trying and failing to get a hold of his leash.
"Arthur!" The woman shouted. "No! Leave those people alone! They don't want to play!"
Obviously, Arthur paid no attention to her instructions and continued bounding down the sidewalk excitedly at the people in his direct line of sight.
The kids who'd been bothering them easily sped away on their bikes, but the two adults weren't so lucky. The inevitable happened as Arthur caught up to them within seconds and leapt right on Jack's back. They both yelped as the weight of the dog send Jack crashing forward with the cake going right along with him and Terri falling backwards.
Arthur jumped around them playfully for a moment, but the sight of his owner closing in on him reminded him of the game he thought they were playing and he took off once again. The woman then came speeding past them shouting her apologies, but they were soon left alone to get their bearings.
Though Jack had managed to steer his fall slightly to the left so he wouldn't land directly on top of Terri, the cake wasn't so lucky. Half of it toppled onto Terri and Jack crushed the other half into the sidewalk with his chest.
"Son of a bitch." Terri sat up and assessed the scrapes on the palms of her hands where she tried to break her fall backwards.
Jack quickly leapt up from the ground and covered his mouth with his hands, horrorstruck.
"Are you okay?" Terri asked him before shoving the rest of the destroyed dessert off herself and standing up.
"Janet's gonna kill us."
"No, she's not." She replied with feigned confidence.
"Yes, she is. Look at the cake! Look at us!" He tried wiping cake from his front but that only made things worse.
"Well. What's done is done. You still need to get to that wedding. What time is it?"
Jack looked at his watch. "Nine minutes to five. Dammit." He kicked a chunk of cake into the street. "It's gotta be nearly a mile to the wedding from the gate! Do you know how long it'll take to walk there?"
Wiping frosting from her hands onto her dress, Terri refrained from asking how on earth he thought they would've possibly gotten there on time carrying the cake on foot. "You better start running then."
…
Janet soon found that the stairwell she had snuck into led to a hallway towards the back of the building, and this hall housed a little side entrance into the kitchen. She made this discovery when she opened the door in hopes that it would lead her outside, but instead nearly knocked over a person pushing a tall rack full of bread rolls.
"Oh! I'm sorry. I-" She quickly recognized the person as Chris, one of the employees who worked in Jack's kitchen. "Oh. Hey. How's it going?"
Chris was sweaty, exasperated, and clearly very busy. "What're you doing down here?"
Janet opened her mouth, hoping a convincing lie would come about when a younger guy, Peter, burst through the kitchen's main swinging door. "Yo, Chris." He twirled an empty serving tray in his hands. "You have the rest of the hors d'oeuvres ready to go?"
"Jesus. Already?" Chris grumbled. "That's the third batch we've sent out in 20 minutes."
"What can ya do?" Peter shrugged as he sped over to the counter where the rest of the treats were lined up. "They're a hit though. Boss will be happy to hear that."
He finally did a double take. "Ms. Wood? Why are you in here?"
"Uh, well-"
Another person rushed through the swinging door interrupting Janet once more. "That's it. I think we should all band together and ask for a raise." A college-aged girl announced. "No. Actually, we should demand one. These are the stuffiest most insufferable people I have ever met in my life."
"Maya." Peter warned, watching Janet uneasily.
This Maya was too busy ranting and putting glasses into the sink. "And Jack's got the audacity to leave us to deal with all of this ourselves? Dinner is gonna be a total disaster!"
"Maya!"
"What?" She finally looked up to see her coworkers and her boss' roommate standing towards the back of the kitchen. "Oh, shit. I mean- Hi, Janet!"
Janet just smiled uncomfortably.
"I was just kidding about the stuffy and insufferable part." Maya laughed while Chris began shoveling pans of bread rolls into the oven. "You look beautiful by the way."
"Oh, thanks."
"You don't happen to know where Mr. Tripper is?" Peter ventured to the bride. "I don't know if you can tell, but we're a little in over our heads here."
Janet's face fell. "No. Actually, I was just looking for him myself."
"Ah."
"You mean really haven't seen him around?"
"Last time any of us saw him was a few hours ago when we left the bistro with the catering truck." Chris muttered.
Peter nodded. "Yeah, he was finishing up the wedding cake. No idea what's taking him so long though."
She frowned as she considered this. It wasn't very promising, but at least she finally had some idea of where Jack may be and where she would go once she got out of this place. "Hey, is there a door that leads to the outside from here?"
"Sure." Peter answered, using his tray to point to the other back corner of the kitchen.
"Thanks!" She scooped up the train of her wedding gown in bunches and rushed to the exit.
"Is everything okay, Ms. Wood?" Peter called out.
Janet stopped and turned to see Peter and Maya's faces looking suspiciously back at her. Even Chris, who was prepping more rolls to go in the oven, seemed to be hovering over his station waiting for her answer.
She smiled. "Of course everything's okay. I just thought I'd get some fresh air before the ceremony."
And then without giving them any time to press her any further, she pulled open the back door and slipped outside. Free at last.
The door closed with a loud thud and Jack's employees gave each other knowing looks.
"Do you think we should go tell somebody?" Peter asked.
Maya laughed. "Who are we telling?"
"I don't know." He shrugged. "What's his other roommate's name? The nurse?"
"We don't have time for that right now." Chris reminded them. "We're here to do our jobs."
"Yeah. Yeah, you're right." Peter nodded setting his tray on the counter so he could place the next round of hors d'oeuvres and serve them to the guests.
Maya retied the apron around her waist. "I'd get ready to cough up your money though, boys."
"Wait! She didn't say she was calling it off!" Peter insisted.
"Yeah, not yet. But come on, she needs to get some air at an outdoor wedding?"
…
Out front all was quiet and calm as music played softly over the speakers. Larry walked around lazily filming the crowd as they waited for the ceremony to begin. He was disappointed by how dull the event was and just as he was thinking this would still be the easiest money he'd ever made, he noticed some of the guests were pointing to something in the distance.
Barreling down the big steep hill that eventually leveled out at the front of the country club's main building, and where the ceremony was scheduled to be held, was a golf cart.
Glad to finally be getting some good footage, Larry quickly aimed his camera in the direction of the rogue vehicle. Meanwhile, various guests exclaimed that the golf cart would surely tip forward going that speed at such an angle.
However, it just managed to avoid tipping over as it reached flat terrain, flew past the wedding guests, and skidded to a halt just before the steps to the front entrance of the building.
And out hopped Jack from the passenger's side and Terri from the driver's seat, both hardly aware of the audience.
Though it was a battle he'd lost after the encounter with Arthur the St. Bernard, Jack still tried to straighten out his clothes. "How do I look?"
"Honestly," Terri assessed him. "You've looked worse."
"Good, good." He muttered as he took in the grand building before him. "Well, guess this is it."
She held out a hand for him to shake, which he did quite formally. "Good luck."
"Thanks." He swallowed and began his ascent up the steps.
Terri watched on anxiously for a few moments before she finally felt the ogling eyes of the crowd of guests on her.
She turned around and chuckled. "Silly me. Let me just get this thing out of the way." She gestured to the golf cart before climbing back into it.
…
When Janet stepped out of the kitchen and looked out into the sea of cars before her and even further out into the trees just beyond the parking lot, she thought about how much easier it would be to get to the bistro if she had a set of keys on her. But seeing as that wasn't the case, she'd have to go on foot at least until she could catch a bus or something.
As she was sneaking through the parking lot, the tune playing on the speakers out on the front lawn caught her ear. Something about it was familiar but not quite right. She had to strain her ears to realize it was For Once in My Life. And no, it wasn't Stevie Wonder's version. It wasn't even Tony Bennett. It was Frank Sinatra!
She scowled. He really had some nerve.
Then it suddenly hit her that this was the first time she had thought directly of Phillip at all today. Until now, she hadn't even thought about how he might feel about being left at the altar. She supposed she should feel bad but well, she really didn't feel anything at all when she thought about Phillip (other than an annoyance about his taste in music and weird jasmine allergy). He had always just been there. He was merely convenient and there.
Stealing repeated glances over her shoulder to make sure no one was watching her as she distanced herself from the wedding venue, it really hit her that she had come scarily close to marrying that man. She really let it get this far. She was in the white dress and everything!
And for what? To get over Jack? Or rather to get away from him; the last few weeks proved to her that getting over the idea of what they could be together was much easier said than done.
The stupidity of her actions was truly catching up to her and she let out an audible laugh for making things so much harder than they needed to be. She just had to open her eyes and see things for what they really were, to have a little more faith in Jack, and in herself. After all, they were actually on the same page now, or at least they would be once she found him…
Hearing Frank Sinatra singing that song shifted something within her. Instead of being overcome with anxiety and regret, she felt something similar to that night coming home from her bachelorette party, that rush of just wanting to see him, to tell him. But this time she had the added knowledge of knowing that everything would be alright, once she got over this last hurdle.
…
Jack burst through the open archway of the country club, ignoring the startled stares from the few stragglers trying to get in those last drinks before making their way to their seats outside. He paused just a moment to orient himself but took off towards the grand staircase, skidding a little on his dress shoes, and bumping into Peter on the way. He vaguely registered the loud shattering noise as Peter and his tray of drinks crashed to the ground, but he was halfway up the stairs before Peter could tell him that Janet was just looking for him in the kitchen.
Miraculously, Jack only tripped up the stairs once, but he nearly collided with Josh, Jenny, Ginger, and Todd, who were on their way down, when he reached the landing.
He tried dashing past them, but Jenny grabbed him by the arm. "Where have you been?" She demanded. "And what happened to you?" The four of them were scandalized by his appearance.
Now he had been running on adrenaline since the Arthur altercation in the street, so he twisted anxiously to get out of Janet's sister's grasp.
"It doesn't matter." He craned his neck for any glimpse of Janet in the hall. "I'm here now. Where's-"
"Her room's the third on the right." Josh said, forcing Jenny to release Jack from her strong grip and giving him a slight push in the right direction.
"The ceremony is due to start any minute." Ginger stated the obvious. "You'd be better off changing."
Jack waved a hand dismissively behind him. "Yeah, yeah."
"Wait!" Todd called out. "Where's Terri? I wanted to run another idea by her for the toast!"
Jack ran a hand through his hair. God, of all the things to be concerned about at a time like this. "She's uh… probably parking the cart. I don't know, Todd."
"Okay, everyone." Josh guided the others to keep moving, knowing Jack didn't need an audience. "Let's hurry up and get downstairs."
Jack was so grateful that Josh didn't allow the group to linger that he didn't notice his hand was already knocking on the third door to the right until he pulled his hand away.
This was really it. He didn't know whether it was anxiety or excitement that made him want to throw up. He took a few deep breaths to calm his nerves and tried again to make himself look somewhat decent.
The door hadn't opened yet, so he gave it another more tentative knock.
"Janet? It's me."
He listened to more silence for another 30 seconds and dropped his head so that it rested against the door. "Janet. Please answer the door."
Still nothing.
"I know I'm late. I'm sorry. It was the catering truck. It never showed up." He explained to the door. "I had to take the bus! I'm so sorry."
But her voice didn't reply back to him.
"Janet. Please don't be mad."
"Why would she be mad at you?" Roland's voice nearly made Jack jump out of his skin.
He turned his head to see Janet's father, mother, and little Katie coming towards him from further down the hall.
"Jack, dear. You really should be downstairs getting lined up." Ruth lectured. "It's about time."
Doing his absolute best to conceal the mess of his tuxedo from their view, he kept himself extremely close to the door. "Yeah, I- I just need to talk to Janet for just a minute."
Roland chortled. "I'm sure whatever it is can wait until after the ceremony."
Jack winced.
"Come on, come on!" Katie urged her grandmother along, excited to soon partake in throwing the flower petals from her basket.
Luckily, Ruth made no protest and let herself be pulled down the stairs by the flower girl. But as Roland approached, Jack had to spin his body from the door and out of the older man's way cleverly enough that his attire went unnoticed.
It was Roland's turn to rap lightly on the door. "Janet. It's just about time."
He was also greeted with silence and frowned. "Janet?" He knocked again. "Are you ready, kiddo?"
As expected, no answer.
"Now, Janet. You can't be late to your own wedding!" He chuckled to relieve some tension he thought was there. "We need to get this show on the road!"
More nothing.
"Janet? Janet, I'm coming in." He announced before opening the door.
Jack kept his distance and craned his neck to look into the room as the door swung open.
"Oh, no." He heard Janet's father voice.
His silly little plan to hide his attire was dropped in an instant so he could rush to the doorway. "What is it?"
He found the answer to his question when he gave the room a look over and saw the obvious. Janet wasn't even there.
"Oh, no." Roland repeated, putting a hand to his stomach.
Jack didn't know what to think, but Mr. Wood's reaction sure was instilling a panic into him. His eyes kept scanning the room like she would magically appear out of thin air while Roland continued to pale.
He was about to have a look out the window on the off chance that Janet was somehow out on the grounds, when Roland scared him a second time, this time for the volume of his voice.
"Ruth!" He shouted before thundering out of the room. "Ruth, dear! We have a problem!"
Jack mindlessly followed on Roland's heels. After everything that had happened in the last month, hell, in the last 24 hours, this had to be a top unexpected moment for him (and he fell out of a yacht into the ocean in the middle of the night for god's sake). He and Terri certainly hadn't considered the scenario where Janet disappeared from the wedding.
Though Roland had only called for his wife, Ruth came hurrying up the stairs with Janet's siblings and niece a few steps behind her.
"Roland, what is it?" Ruth asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost!"
"Janet's not here!"
"What?"
"She's not in her room!"
"Roland, that can't be. I saw her in that room just a little while ago."
Mr. Wood just pointed to the now open door down the hall.
Ruth blinked and then quite calmly walked over to the room. Everyone else filed in behind her as she inspected the space herself.
Her sigh confirmed that her husband was right. With the way Janet had been acting these past few weeks, this wasn't a total surprise, but she had some nerve waiting until the very last second to pull this.
She turned and looked to Jack. "Well, where is she?"
"Hey, hold on. Wait." Feeling the rest of the Wood family's eyes fall on him, he held his hands up defensively. "Why should I know? I just got here! I was almost late!"
No one said anything. But Jenny and Josh definitely looked like they didn't believe him, Ruth was still considering, Roland was still panic-stricken, and Katie didn't seem to care at all.
"The last time I saw her was the last time I saw you, Mrs. Wood!" He explained himself further. "Last night!"
Though she was more than certain that Jack was the reason for Janet's disappearance, the look of absolute bewilderment on his face told her he was being honest.
"Okay then." She spoke slowly. "And no one has any idea where she may have gone?"
Everyone shook their heads. Of course, Jenny and Josh were aware that Janet wanted to talk to Jack but kept that bit of information from their mother in sibling solidarity. Plus, technically, Janet didn't tell them she was going to run away from the wedding entirely. At least that's what Josh told himself. Jenny was more so impressed that miss reliable perfect Janet actually ditched this thing and was responsible for all this chaos and confusion.
"I suppose we should begin looking for her then." Ruth concluded.
Jack nodded along readily, but he seemed to be the only one who liked this idea.
"Look for her? Where?" Josh asked. "Mom, she could be anywhere."
"Well, we could start here. It's a big building. It's possible she's here somewhere."
Jenny let out a little snort of laughter.
"What?" Jack asked.
"There's no way she's still here. What bride who runs out on her wedding sticks around to hang out?"
Being the only adult member of the family unaware that there was more to Janet's disappearance than they were discussing at the surface, Roland looked like he was going to be sick and brought the attention back to himself. "Oh, no."
Katie was also quite clueless to anything gone wrong and figured this was how weddings were supposed to happen. "Grandpa, do you need milk?"
"You know what? That's a good idea, Katie." Ruth said. "Roland, why don't you two go to the kitchen and get some milk and relax." She said pointedly to her husband with a gentle hand on his back. "Because everything is going to be just fine."
"But-" He protested.
"It's okay, Grandpa." Katie insisted, copying Mrs. Wood's tone. "Time for milk."
"Ruth."
"Go on, dear. We can handle this just fine."
Katie grabbed his hand. "Let's go."
So of course, he had no choice but to be ushered out of the room.
"And in the meantime." Ruth spoke again. "The rest of you can start looking for Janet."
"Ah yes. I'm sure we'll find her shooting pool downstairs or something." Josh quipped to Jenny, who smirked. Jack was just happy to have a mission.
"Start looking." Their mother ordered. She saw Jenny looked ready to ask what the point was. "On the small chance that your sister is still here. I'll go and let everyone know that there has been… a slight delay."
Jenny rolled her eyes but exited the room with Josh anyways.
"Jack." Ruth stopped him before he could follow Janet's siblings. "Could I have a word?"
She examined Janet's roommate hovering by the door, sweaty, clearly exhausted, and somehow looking like he had gotten into a food fight. This was the person her daughter was walking out on the promise of a comfortable wealthy life for.
She wanted to say something to him, to tell him that he better be good to Janet, that he better make all of this chaos worth it.
Jack felt incredibly self-conscious under Mrs. Wood's piercing stare. "I'm sorry about this mess." He gestured helplessly to himself. "We had a little accident with the cake."
"I can see that."
But if her suspicions were also right about the way Jack felt, the love he had for Janet certainly was enduring. Sure, she could tell there had been some upsets along the way, but to stick through this and help her through the very stressful wedding process was something. And she didn't know if she could honestly say the same for Phillip.
Taking in what Jack standing there looking a mess fully meant, Ruth decided she really didn't need to say any of those things to him. Because the conversations had and letters exchanged with her daughter for nearly eight years told her it was all worth it. This was what made Janet happy. It was the person who had been by her side all these years, who she could laugh with and count on for anything.
Again, she didn't know if Phillip would have done half the things Jack had done in the last month or eight years. And just that uncertainty compared to Jack's unwavering loyalty helped solidify her acceptance of what would soon happen.
He shifted back and forth on his feet. "Uh. Is there something you wanted to tell me?"
She tilted her head and gave him a tiny hint of a smile. "Go and find Janet."
Not quite understanding the weight of her repeated instruction he nodded. "Yes, ma'am." And he darted out the door.
…
Terri was in her stolen golf cart, driving it down a heavily wooded path, trying to remember where exactly it was that she had taken it from the two older men playing a game of golf. She sincerely hoped everything would be resolved by the time she made it back to the building.
Now, she didn't know if it was simply because her roommates were on her mind, but she could've sworn she saw a flash of white in the trees in her peripheral vision. But she shook the notion from her head and chuckled at the thought of Janet out here running through the woods.
But then again, after the month they'd had it wouldn't be so far-fetched.
She chanced a better glance in the direction of the trees that lined the dirt path she was following just as a woman in white broke out of the greenery and stumbled into the path some 50 feet behind her.
Terri's mouth fell open. And then she was promptly reminded she was at the wheel when she felt the front left side of the vehicle lurch forward, successfully getting itself stuck in a ditch.
"Ah, shit." She muttered to herself.
In the distance, Janet vaguely registered that there was someone else on the path, but she was too busy thinking about how she should've grabbed better shoes for her getaway.
Terri tried to get the cart unstuck but soon realized she was only getting spinning wheels and dirt flying in the air. She turned to look behind her and saw that the bride was hurrying away in the opposite direction!
"Hey! Wait!"
Janet decided not to wait and kept on walking. If this had been under any other circumstances, she would've gone and helped the poor sucker and their golf cart, but she had a wedding to run out on after all.
"Hey!" The voice shouted more forcefully when the person realized she wasn't going to stop for them. "Janet!"
Now that made her take pause. "Terri?"
There was a great deal of distance between them so they both had to yell to make sure the other could hear.
"What do you think you're doing!?"
"Oh me?" Janet replied.
"Would you mind giving me a hand? Since you're out here and all."
"Seriously?"
She saw Terri throw her hands in the air. "Please?!"
Janet sighed as she resolved herself to helping Terri. Of course she had to be out here at the exact time that she was. At this rate she was never getting out of here.
"You mind telling me what you're doing?" She questioned on her way over as the blonde climbed out of the golf cart to assess how stuck it really was.
"Well, I'm trying to return this golf cart to the poor old man I took it from." Terri answered like this was a totally normal part of her daily routine.
Janet's eyes widened as she got closer to the scene and she almost forgot how pressed she was to get off the country club property. "What happened to you?"
"Oh…" Terri's demeanor faltered as she looked down at her own dress, still covered in destroyed wedding cake. "Oh, Janet. Please don't hate me."
"What?"
"Your wedding cake…"
"Yeah?"
"This is all that's left of it." She said pointing to herself anxiously.
Seeing Terri so worked up over a cake made her want to laugh. In the grand scheme of things, it felt so trivial.
"Really?"
"Well, there's some on Jack too. And out in the street by the bus stop."
"Jack?" Well, maybe the Terri roadblock would turn out to be a good thing. Maybe she was the person who could finally give her a solid answer as to where he actually was.
But Terri was too busy feeling an overwhelming surge of guilt. "I'm so sorry, Janet. The catering truck never came back to the bistro to get Jack, so I had to go help him. And we had to take the bus to get the cake here, and then we were attacked by this huge dog, Arthur. It was a mess!"
"Terri."
"I swear it wasn't on purpose! Look, I really did fall!" She held out her hands to show Janet her injuries as evidence.
Janet scanned their surroundings thinking maybe Jack was hiding in the trees or something ridiculous. She tried to speak again, but Terri cut her off.
"And then Jack and I had to walk all the way to the ceremony. Walk. And we were already late, and there just wasn't time! And well, he- he really needs to talk to you, Janet." The blonde took a second to inhale before she continued her tangent. "Then we forgot which path we were supposed to take to get to the building, and we found these guys playing golf and this golf cart was just sitting there with the key in the ignition and everything!" She explained. "So I… I thought we might as well borrow it!"
Janet opened her mouth again to speak but Terri somehow still had more to say. "And Janet?"
"What is it?"
"I'm sorry for not telling you the truth about all of this, and for everything being so weird lately. Jack just didn't want anyone to know. There were no bad intentions whatsoever. Really."
Though exasperated by this longwinded explanation slash apology, Janet smiled a reassuring smile at the frazzled blonde. "It's okay. Seriously, don't worry about it, Terri. About any of it."
Terri ran a hand through her hair and laughed at her luck. "Even though the cake's gone and I'm definitely late to the wedding at this point?"
"Eh." Janet shrugged. "Who cares about any of that. And you know what, actually? I'm sorry. I know I've made the last few weeks so difficult. God, I must have been such a pain."
"Yeah." Terri agreed teasingly. She crossed her arms and leaned against the golf cart. "But you've been under so much stress."
This was the most women had said to each other in days because of their spat earlier that week and Janet's subsequent silent treatment. It was nice to be back in each other's good graces.
"Janet." Terri said quietly. "You need to talk to Jack before you get married. Please just hear him out. He deserves that at the very least."
Janet smiled again. "I will if you would tell me one more thing."
"Sure. Anything."
"Where is Jack? I have been looking for him all day!"
"Oh. I dropped him off at the wedding a while ago." Terri answered readily.
Janet facepalmed. Of course. She'd gotten lost trying to get to the main road and had gotten blisters from those stupid shoes, and he'd been back there this whole time!
"So…" Terri ventured. "Are you going to tell me what you're doing all the way out here or…?"
"Ah," Janet said smoothing out her dress. "Well, I've decided marrying Phillip isn't such a good idea after all."
"Oh?" Terri replied. Thank God.
"Yeah. Oh."
"Well." Terri uncrossed her arms. "If you help me out here, I can give you a free lift back to the wedding so you can tell Jack that yourself."
…
Jack was sure he was close to covering every inch of the building. He looked through every doorway and said her name a thousand times. Jenny had to have been right. Janet simply wasn't here.
He decided to look in one last place before he would allow himself to admit defeat, the place he had unintentionally abandoned as the day got away from him.
He pushed through the kitchen door and saw there was a full house.
Roland and Katie were still there. Roland, seated on a stool with a glass of milk in hand, still looked stressed out. Meanwhile, Maya was trying to teach Katie how to fold napkins into swans.
Peter was nursing a cut in his hand (a result of his collision with Jack). And he saw that Josh and Jenny had beaten him to the kitchen. Jenny was sat on the counter eating a bread roll fresh out of the oven, engaged in a conversation with Chris, and Josh was pacing the length of the kitchen.
"Jack!" Katie was the first to notice him. Did you find Auntie Janet? Is it time to walk down the island?"
"No. I'm afraid not." He smiled at her. "But it looks like I'm the only one trying to find her." He said more to Janet's siblings than her niece.
Jenny shrugged. "I'm not gonna run around looking for her when I know she's not here."
Josh was much less nonchalant. "Tell them what you told us." He said to Peter.
"Ms. Wood left like." Peter looked at his watch. "Nearly an hour ago at this point?"
Jenny made a gesture that said, 'See?'
"Why are you all just standing around then?" Jack asked. Weren't they pressed for time? Did they not feel any sense of urgency?
Giving him an exasperated look Josh was the one to answer him. "Well, I tried finding you, but you were so dead set on looking for Janet, I didn't know where you went off to. I was starting to think you left yourself!"
"...Okay." Jack said. "Why didn't any of you tell me? Peter? Maya? Chris."
Maya stuck the napkin swan in her hands into Katie's flower basket. "When exactly we were supposed to pass this information off to you? When you never showed up or when we were busy in here trying to get everything ready for the reception without your help?"
"To be fair." Peter piped up. "I did try to tell you, but you threw me to the ground instead."
"Wha-"
"Look, it doesn't matter who did or didn't tell who about what." Josh cut to the chase and took Jack by the shoulder to push him in the right direction. "Apparently, she went out the back here." He even opened the heavy door for him.
Jack looked outside and as outsides tended to be, it seemed so big and endless.
"Wait, hold on." He turned around to face the kitchen staff and Janet's family. "Why aren't you all out there looking for her?"
"I was told to sit down and relax." Roland sulked.
"It's not part of my job description." Chris stated.
"And she didn't leave just for her sister or her dorky brother to be the one to find her." Jenny called out, unmoved from her spot on the counter with the bread roll.
"I don't understand!" Jack exclaimed. "She's missing!"
"Janet's looking for you, Jack." Josh said. "It should be you who finds her." With a significant look, he gave Jack another push out the door.
He took one step outside but turned once more to ask how the hell he was supposed to find Janet out here all by himself, but Josh had already let the door shut on him.
Some help they all were.
He genuinely had nothing to go on. He didn't know where Janet was planning on finding him because nothing had gone to plan today. Nothing ever went to plan where he was involved. Nothing.
However, Janet was looking for him. She'd caused this whole scene of leaving her wedding because she needed to see him! That was enough for him to step out into the parking lot and begin shouting her name. Maybe by some miracle she would call back.
…
For the second time that day, Larry's camera caught a golf cart moving at top speed (well, top speed for a golf cart, that is). This time it wasn't moving downhill, but driving the length of the hill seemingly towards the parking lot out back.
It took some muscle power and an acceptance that they'd be covered in dirt and grass, but Janet and Terri had managed to get the front end of the golf cart out of the ditch with relative speed.
The scrambling about and exhilaration brought on by Terri's tearing through the confusing grounds reignited Janet's excitement to see Jack and tell him.
"Can't you make this thing go any faster?" Janet shouted over the cart's loud rumbling over the terrain.
"Janet, how fast do you think golf carts are made to go?" Terri reminded her, but she pressed harder on the gas anyways.
"Wait!" Janet leaned forward. "There he is!" She pointed out in the distance.
Terri slammed her foot on the breaks. "Where?!"
"Why are you stopping? Keep going!"
Exasperated, Terri stomped on the gas again. "Sorry, I didn't want to hit our roommate with a golf cart. And would you please sit down?" She stressed, looking all over for Jack but not seeing him.
Janet didn't listen and instead shrieked Jack's name so loudly that Terri swerved the cart.
…
When Jack shouted out Janet's name in that parking lot, he was so startled to actually hear his own name shouting back at him that he thought he surely must have been hearing things.
"Janet!?" He called out.
"Jack!"
Okay, yeah. That was definitely real. He spun around, trying to locate the voice's origin, but he didn't see her anywhere.
"Janet?"
"Jack!"
Finally, he realized her voice was coming from somewhere up the hill that separated the grounds from the forested area. And he supposed it had to be her in that lone golf cart moving along the hill's edge.
"Janet." He breathed. And he took off in the direction of the cart.
…
"Oh! There he is! I see now." Terri said. The figure in the distance that Janet had somehow identified as Jack was looking more and more like him the closer they got to each other.
"Pick up the pace!" Janet ordered.
"I'm going as fast as I can!" Terri exclaimed. "You'd get there faster on foot at this rate!"
It seemed Janet agreed with her because she then leapt off the moving vehicle.
"Janet! Oh my god!" Terri shouted from the wheel.
She needlessly slammed on the breaks a second after Janet stumbled to the ground. Luckily, she seemed to be okay because she quickly picked herself up and broke out into a run in Jack's direction.
She was running as hard as the wedding dress and heels would allow.
And she didn't care that the whole crowd of guests were probably watching. She didn't care that her parents were probably losing their minds wondering where the hell she had gone. She didn't care that she'd nearly just given poor Terri a heart attack.
All she cared about was getting to Jack. That's all that mattered now. She had been putting this off for years. She was just so glad she finally realized it was okay to want this before it was too late.
Jack was running towards Janet like it had been eons and not mere hours since he last saw her. He had never been happier to see anyone in his whole life. It was always going to be her; this he was certain of.
But the best part about this moment for Jack was that she was running towards him too. All those fears of feelings that weren't mutual were fading as they got closer to each other.
Quickly closing the distance between them, Janet's pace picked up speed as she ran down the steepening hill and Jack really had to put in more effort as his legs carried him uphill.
Then of course, as it tended to happen with these people, just as they were within arm's reach of each other, Janet took a wrong step and ended up tripping over her dress. And then, of course, she fell on top of Jack, sending both of them tumbling back down the hill from which Jack just came up.
Though keeping their distance, most of the guests had moved to get a better view of the scene at this point. Many gasped as the bride and the caterer rolled to level ground.
Once they finally stopped moving, Janet sat up to look at Jack who had landed flat on his back. "Are you okay?" Janet asked breathlessly.
It was quite a question to ask because well, Jack was now covered in wedding cake, grass, and dirt. Plus, he was still sporting those stitches in his forehead from the unfortunate bachelor party incident. But he grinned. "I'm so good. You?"
Janet looked down at herself. "I'm so glad I decided not to wear my mom's dress."
"Yeah. Well, you're better off than me. This is a rental." Jack said.
And then they both laughed, because they looked both looked a mess, and their bodies were most definitely going to feel that fall down the hill tomorrow. But it really didn't matter because here they were, together at last.
When their laughter died down, they looked at each other with soft smiles, Janet's head tilted adoringly.
"I didn't think you were going to show up." She confessed.
He let out another short breathy laugh. "For a while there I didn't think you were either."
"Yeah…"
It was finally time for what once felt like a seemingly never-ending game to finally come to a close. No more dancing around what they really wanted because of commitments to things like silly little house rules, which told them how things were "supposed" to be and who they couldn't be with. Because what did that rule made in 1977 know about Jack and Janet of the present?
He reached out to take both of hands into his. "Hey."
She looked down at their hands intertwined and then back into his eyes. "Hey."
"Janet, about last night. Those things I said. I meant every word of it." He said in earnest what had been running through his head since she left the apartment last night. "Nothing has even been just a ploy to get you into bed for a night."
These were unnecessary clarifications to an already knowing Janet. "I know." She whispered.
"You mean so much more to me. You always have."
Her eyes shined with tears that didn't spill.
"I just. You and I- what I'm trying to say is that you are- the- the thing is-"
Janet laughed and blinked her tears away as he rambled on. Deciding to help him out, she leaned forward and kissed him full on the mouth. Though taken by surprise, Jack quickly warmed up and responded enthusiastically.
…
The guests were all babbling about what was going on with various questions and concerns going around such as, "That isn't the bride with the caterer, is it?" and "Do you think they're okay? Should someone call for an ambulance?" and "I wish they'd hurry up so we can get this thing started. I have places to be!"
Having abandoned the golf cart at the top of the hill to join the rest of the crowd to watch the long-awaited reconciliation from a distance at level ground, Terri sidled up next to Larry and Mr. Furley.
"You glad you brought your video camera?"
"Sure am." Larry affirmed, concentrating on keeping the camera steady. "The zoom on this thing is incredible."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. You should see this. They're really going at it."
Terri frowned and craned her neck. "Don't tell me they're fighting again."
"Have a little faith, Terri." Larry said. "They're making out."
She couldn't help but laugh at this and all she could bring herself to do was swat lightly at his arm. "You shouldn't be filming that."
The usually out of the loop landlord, was more out of the loop than he had ever been and took a while to process what was just said. "What do you mean they're making out!?"
Larry took his eye away from the camera to exchange an amused look with Terri.
"I mean Jack and Janet are kissing, Mr. Furley."
"But that can't be!"
"Well, of course it can." Terri replied.
Mr. Furley sputtered. "But- but Jack's gay."
"Oh, Mr. Furley." Terri put a sympathetic arm around his shoulder. "It'll be okay."
…
If they could have, they would have made this moment last forever, but there was still something Jack needed to say so he was the first to break from their embrace.
"Janet?" He asked breathlessly.
"What?"
"I love you."
Her sparkling brown eyes smiled into his twinkling blues and she whispered back to him, "I love you."
Just like that, what seemed like the most complicated, totally impossible thing in the world not even 24 hours ago, now was so simple and right.
He put a hand to her cheek and gently pressed his lips to hers once more.
"Well." Janet's father's voice broke apart their second kiss. "I can see you found her."
They looked up and there stood Roland, still holding his glass of milk.
The two had been so wrapped up in their own little world, that they hadn't noticed Janet's family, other members of the party, and some of the guests had started approaching the scene.
"You found Auntie Janet!" Katie squealed, running towards them and tossing a fistful of petals over their heads, before she skipped away to sprinkle more on someone else.
Jack spit out a flower petal that had flown into his mouth and finally stood up.
"Yeah. He sure did find her." Jenny smirked.
He helped Janet to her feet and they both brushed at the dirt and grass that still covered them.
As was somewhat of a running theme of their relationship, Janet didn't even notice Phillip was there until her mother cleared her throat and nodded her head in his direction.
Janet groaned so quietly only Jack could hear, while the man who came very close to being her husband just sort of stood there looking mildly confused.
"Hey, Phillip." She said awkwardly.
"Yes?"
"Uh, I think it's pretty clear things aren't going to work out between you and me."
He blinked. "Is this because of the Stevie Wonder thing?"
Janet nearly laughed but then she realized that he was being serious.
"Uh… sure it was."
"Oh." Phillip took this in. "Well, that's too bad."
She nodded. "Yeah."
Thankfully, he only made everyone feel awkward for a few more seconds before he said he'd better get going.
Once Phillip's back was turned, Jack turned to look at her and mouthed, "Stevie Wonder?"
With a shake of her head, she rolled her eyes, indicating that it was a whole thing simply not worth explaining.
Instead, she slipped her hand into his and let her head rest on his shoulder, and they watched everyone move about and discuss the scandal that had just happened.
Janet's mother and father were close by in an involved conversation, both frequently stealing glances at the couple. Larry seemed to be consoling Mr. Furley about something, they didn't know what. Jenny was seated in the grass with her daughter, playing a game with the paper swans and flower petals that only a four-year-old could concoct. Josh was stuck listening to the complaints of one of the guests from Phillip's side of the family. Off to the side, Jack could see Peter and Chris had their wallets out and were putting cash into Maya's outstretched hand.
Then, the only other person here who stuck out like a sore thumb, purely because of how messy she looked, was approaching them.
Terri beamed as she said, "I think I can speak for all of us when I say, finally."
Jack and Janet both chuckled, a little embarrassed. But Terri pulled them into a group hug. A gross cake, dirt, and grass filled group hug.
"Seriously." She spoke. "I'm so happy for you guys."
The blonde released them from the hug. "Now, I hate to cut this short, but I think it's time I tell Larry his car was towed."
Once their roommate departed, Jack and Janet stayed glued together as they dealt with various guests who approached them, some had questions and others offered their congratulations as if a wedding actually had taken place. At one point, Katie had even asked if Janet could marry Jack instead since Phillip had to leave. They had to disappoint the girl by saying no, not today. But they did make a promise that whenever that day did come, she could of course still be the flower girl.
…
A couple of hours later, Jack and Janet were finally back home at their apartment, changed out of their sorry looking wedding attire, away from the crowd, away from Janet's family, away from Phillip.
Whether Terri was still out with Larry retrieving his car or if she'd made herself disappear in order to give them some much needed time alone, they didn't know but were appreciative either way.
The evening was filled with heartfelt conversations about feelings they no longer felt the need to keep hidden, more declarations of love, and more deep lingering kisses that went without interruptions.
And they must have spent a half hour tearing open all of Janet's moving boxes to find that Stevie Wonder record, because it could only add to the perfect night that already was.
The living room was a disaster and there really wasn't any room for dancing, but they didn't care. They danced around the mess, showing off their terrible moves and laughing so hard they could hardly breathe, they danced in a close embrace and shared even more kisses while Stevie serenaded the whole apartment.
It was a night they never wanted to end and one they would never forget. It was the start of the life they had previously thought could only be the stuff of hopes and dreams and what-ifs.
For decades to come, they would laugh about how long it really took them to get their shit together and finally just say those words. But they got there eventually, and every second it took to get them there was worth it because now they had forever.
WOW, THE END.