I didn’t think all that much of it at the time, but I didn’t see him for the rest of the afternoon, either.įrom that day on, he’s been nothing but disdainful and prickly with me. Ethan looked at me, then down to my delicious basket of fried cheese curds, frowned, and immediately turned away, mumbling some excuse about needing to go find the homebrew competition. I came back to find the group near the livestock display. We had stopped just past the entrance to make a game plan for our day, and I slipped away to get a snack-there is nothing more glorious than the food at the Minnesota State Fair. Suffice to say, I felt anything but sisterly interest.īut then apparently I made the cardinal sin of being a curvy girl getting a basket of cheese curds. He looked me squarely in the eye, shook my hand, and then smiled a dangerous, uneven smile. Up close he had more eyelash than any man has a right to. In the parking lot at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds, Ethan climbed out of his car, with astonishingly long legs and eyes so blue I could see them from two car-lengths away. Things between my sister and her boyfriend were starting to get serious, and Ami wanted to introduce me to Dane’s family. It’s hard to believe there was a time when I couldn’t wait to meet Ethan. And now here I am, about to come face-to-face with my nemesis, Ethan Thomas, while wearing the shiny, flayed pelt of Kermit the Frog. In the past few weeks, I’ve interviewed at no fewer than seven companies and haven’t heard back from a single one of them. Even then, I overextended what I thought I could afford on my own and-as my patented bad luck would have it-got laid off from the pharmaceutical company where I’d worked for six years.

Chronic bad luck aside, the last two months have genuinely sucked: my roommate moved out, so I had to find a new, tiny apartment. But it’s still hard to buoy myself fully, especially in these solo, quiet moments. It’s my twin’s wedding, and I really am so happy for her I could burst. I give myself ten deep breaths to delay the inevitable. Even party-loving Diego was willing to risk his hearing and respiratory health to hang with the bridal party instead. The tranquil figurine hides what is no doubt a weed-and-beer-fueled pre-wedding rager happening inside. It’s so peaceful, in fact, that I don’t want to leave the moment to go find the door down the hall with the cute little groom caricature hanging above the peephole. As soon as I’m out in the hallway, the noise, chaos, and fumes of the bridal suite seem to be vacuum-sealed away it is beautifully silent out here.

The unhoneymooners