The gang's all here

Kristina and Graham, my lovely younger sister and super-cool Australian brother-in-law, flew into the States for a month surrounding Teresa's wedding. We were all looking forward to the opportunity to get the entire Boyd family (including our two new Boyds-to-be) together for the first time.

My parents' church in Wichita Falls, where my sisters and I faithfully attended until we moved out from under our parents' roof, planned to host a shower for Teresa and Matt in early March. My parents would be there, Graham and Kristina would be there, Matt and Teresa would be there... I wanted Justin to be there. Who knew the next time we'd be able to have everybody all together at my parents' house. Besides, nobody likes being the fifth wheel, or in this case, the seventh wheel.

The problem was that Justin's schedule this quarter has been keeping him very busy, including two trips a week down to Austin to intern with the State Supreme Court. I couldn't ask him to add an extra 3 hours to his Sunday evening commute, even though I desparately wanted him to come. The week of the shower arrived and Justin promised to see what he could do. He had a lot of work to finish on top of a national professional ethics exam he was scheduled to take on Saturday morning in Waco. I held out hope until the last possible minute, despite all the evidence to the contrary. But when Justin called me after his exam saying he was going out to lunch with some law school buddies, my hopes were dashed.

I couldn't help but let the disappointment creep into my voice as we chatted, and after saying goodbye I found myself getting frustrated. Why had he let me hold on to the chance if he knew in the end he wasn't going to make it? It would have been better to just say no in the first place. But there wasn't much time to wallow, I had a busy day of shopping with my mom and sisters ahead of me. We were going to try on wedding dresses. I had a lot to do. So I went about my business, texting back and forth with Justin; giving updates on our progress and purchases.

Some time in the late afternoon we finally made our way home. I admit I still had a sliver of hope that Justin would be there. That he had come in spite of his already busy weekend. That he had used lunch with his friends as a rouse to throw me off. My heart started pounding as we neared the street; a short intake of breath as we turned down the block. Justin's car was not in the driveway. I resigned myself to seventh wheel-ness.

As I made my way into the house and back to the den, I noticed Kristina and Graham standing kind of awkwardly in the middle of the room. Why were they just standing there? What were they looking it?... It was Justin! Sitting on my parents' couch, playing wii tennis with Matt. He had been there for hours, playing ping pong with my dad as he texted me pretending to be far away. It was my dad who had thought to move his car to the back, where it wouldn't be seen.

This is the second big surprise Justin has pulled over on me. I wonder how long it's going to take before I'm on to him and his wiley ways.