“Whose karma are we celebrating?” I sat on the sofa between Kona and Darlene, who reached over and gave me a side hug.
“You have to ask?” Loretta asked. “As I understand it, one Felix James recently got what was coming to him.”
I fell back into the cushion and laughed. “I love you, ladies. I should have known you’d be all over that.”
“We’ve got your back, dear,” Kona said.
“We always have,” Dotty called out from the kitchen that was partially open to the living room.
“You ladies are the best,” I said, feeling light and joyful.
“Normally we wouldn’t like to celebrate someone’s misfortune,” Darlene assured me.
“But he’s an evil man, and he deserves everything bad that comes his way,” Loretta said.
“You won’t hear any arguments from me.” I leaned to the coffee table and helped myself to tortilla chips and salsa. “Is this your homemade salsa, Nancy?”
“You guessed it. I brought the mild for some of our weak-ass friends.” She eyed Rosy, then laughed with the rest of us.
“Just because I have a weak stomach does not mean I am a weak ass,” Rosy declared.
“I would say raising six boys mostly by yourself makes you anything but weak, Rosy,” Loretta said. She stood and went to the kitchen, then came back with two glasses of a beautiful bright blue drink.
“What is this gorgeous cocktail?” I asked as she handed one of them to me.
“Tonight’s special is the Karma Fizz,” Loretta explained. “But wait for the rest of us so we can do a toast.”
I took the drink and sniffed it. It smelled sweet and of lime, orange, and gin.
“They look spectacular,” Kona said as Dotty delivered two more.
“Not as spectacular as it would’ve been to be a fly on the wall when Mr. James got his walking papers,” Darlene said.
“Can you imagine?” Loretta laughed as she brought out the last three cocktails. “What I wouldn’t do to see video of that.”
Still standing, Dotty raised her glass. “To karma coming around.”
“Hear, hear!”
“Cheers!”
We clinked and sipped. The cocktail was delicious and a little dangerous, as it would go down as easily as a juice box.
“I’ve got another one,” Rosy said. “To our Magnolia, who has every reason to hate that man, but instead of wasting her energy on anger and hatred, she’s focused on her new life and building it up.”
“Yes,” Dotty said amid another round of hear, hear.
“To resilience,” Nancy added.
We all drank to both, me with gratitude and love in my heart.
“If we’re being sappy, I’ve got one,” I said. “To all of you, for building me up when I was at my lowest, for having confidence in me and helping me build confidence in myself.” My eyes teared up out of nowhere. “I don’t know where I’d be without you.”
“We’re going to be stewed before we get to the appetizers,” Kona quipped.
“You keep drinking,” Darlene said. “I’ll win all your money at the card table.”
“These karma whatevers might be worth it,” Kona replied. “Maybe they should be our signature drink.”
