“She is in ashack, friends! A. Shack.”
“It’s an apartment,” Monica said firmly. “And I’ve come to like it here, so please be nice.”
“Does it have indoor plumbing?”
Monica frowned. “Wait a second. How can you get all of this from the five-second shot of panelling over my shoulder?”
Amira pressed her lips together, trying to look innocent.
Sylvie ratted her out. “Your mom got us all on a group call a couple of hours ago, after a very handsome man kidnapped her. She said if we didn’t hear from her again before the end of the day, that we had to come to her rescue, because she didn’t want to have to call in your father.”
“Oh my God.” Monica scrubbed her hands over her face and sat down at the kitchen table. “Okay, so I have a situation. And I don’t even know why I’m calling you all, because you will not understand, but…”
“You don’t have any friends who understand the appeal of yellow linoleum?”
She jumped up and spun around. But there wasn’t a single good angle in this entire place. “I’ll have you know, this place is very cozy,” she said calmly. “Now, are you going to listen, or are you going to razz me nonstop?”
“Razz,” all three friends said in unison.
She hung up on them.
They called her back, immediately, and between laughs, apologized and promised to zip their lips.
She told them almost the whole story, leaving out the mutual masturbation, the oral sex, and the mutual masturbation and oral sex combo repeat in the shower. All of that was summarized with, “and we’re reconnecting on a… you know. Personal level, too.”
They all stared at her.
She rolled her hand in a permissive wave. “You can speak again now.”
“So…you’re married…surprise, yes?” Sylvie asked.
Monica nodded. “Yes.”
“And you want a divorce.”
“I—” She cleared her throat. Want was the wrong word. “We live separate lives. Wearedivorced, basically. This is just a formality.”
Cathryn frowned. “But the…personal level…stuff?”
Amira leaned in. “Was it good?”
“It was…” Monica poked her tongue into her cheek. “It’s been three years. Of course it was good. And I think we needed it, you know? Like, healthy closure. But that’s all it is. We’re trying to be friends.”
Sylvie cackled. “We are friends, Mon. We’re not reconnecting like that. Doesn’t matter if three years go by, you know?”
Heat licked up Monica’s cheeks. “No, this is definitely just…something. It’s notmore, because I asked him to come to Italy with me and he turned me down.”
“Oh, then ditch him, honey! If he doesn’t want all of you, he shouldn’t get any of you.” Cathryn shook her head vehemently. “Get your mom and get on a plane.”
Monica thought of Josh leaning over and whispering that her family ordered up planes the way other people called a cab. “Can’t do that. We’re having a big dinner tonight.”
“With who?”
She squirmed. “Uh…”
“Monica…”
“His family. His brothers and sisters-in-law. They all seem really nice.” And she never got to spend time with them the first time.
