Chapter One: Public Embarrassment
This
first chapter has set up Jenna as quiet, demure, and private, and the last bit
of the scene uses all of that against her. First, Alex asks if Jenna ought to
be drinking alcohol (she’s been drinking a Fuzzy Navel, but he asks when she
takes some of Ryan’s beer) and when she asks why not, Alex answers that he
figured they were only getting married because she was pregnant, and he asks
this loudly enough for the entire room to hear.
Jenna was truly offended…. And—on
top of that—in her family, a child conceived out of wedlock would be a scandal. Her grandparents didn’t even
know that she was living with her boyfriend, and even her parents didn’t
condone it (13).
On
one hand, I can see why Jenna would be mortified that after eight years of
dating she only got the marriage proposal because she’d gotten accidentally
pregnant. And it is quite rude of Alex to assume that and far, far worse to
voice it as a joke to a roomful of people. At the time, Jenna’s sitting in
Ryan’s lap, although she doesn’t want to be, and Ryan doesn’t tell Alex to
stop, he simply yells to the entire room that she’s not pregnant. When she goes
off to get beer for Ryan, he says that she can take care of herself, and Nick
frowns, thinking that Ryan should be protecting his fiancée. So the narrative
has begun to set up how Nick might be feeling about Jenna.
When
she returns to the table, Ryan grabs her again and tells her, “God, I need to
be inside of you” (15). This upsets Jenna.
Jenna bit her lip… She needed to
hold back from telling him that he shouldn’t have said that so loud. As much as
she liked when Ryan talked like this, he shouldn’t do so when in earshot of the
bartender and the entire team. It was
just improper and inappropriate (15 emphasis
original).
Again,
you could argue that Jenna is overreacting, that she’s too uptight. But the
fact that the narrative assures the reader that Jenna likes this kind of talk, just in the right circumstances, suggests
otherwise, that she’s not a prude, she simply doesn’t want her private life
made public. Since their leaving early creates “knowing looks” given by Ryan’s
teammates, it’s not like they’re behaving any better. Can you blame her for
being discomfited?
One
last point that doesn’t necessarily have to do with embarrassment. After Jenna
says goodbye to Nick, whom she calls Nicky, she “dutifully followed her fiancé
out the door” (15). Dutifully is quite a word choice here. A few paragraphs
ago, the first reason she bit her lip was to “suppress the moan” in response to
Ryan’s words. She clearly still enjoys her relationship with Ryan in many ways.
So it’s not just “duty” that takes her to Ryan’s bed when they leave the bar.
But it’s still a telling word, foreshadowing a change or realization about this situation.
And by that last "realization" I mean "situation", an error I'll correct when I can.
ReplyDeletePhew. It is fixed. I feel so much better now.
DeleteAlso, if anyone wants a sense of time-line, this book will be our topic through 11/21. (After that, we're moving into another Harlequin).