As with our previous bar hops, we'd arranged our phones on the tabletop. Jamie for her dad. Ruth for work purposes. She was a corporate attorney and, according to her, never off the clock. I had the least compelling reason: waiting on a boy who wasn't waiting on me anymore.
I tapped a finger to Jamie's phone. "How's your dad doing?"
She pursed her lips around the straw. "You mean how's he dealing with not being allowed to shower unless someone's there in case he falls? Or with the diabetes dietitian who won't let him eat a pound of peanut M&Ms before bed? Or the part where he wants a detailed itinerary of what I'm doing and where I'm goingevery day along with a list of phone numbers in case he needs to reach me?"
"Doesn't he have your cell phone number?" Ruth asked.
"He finds this inadequate," she said.
"How areyoudoing with all this?" I asked.
"About the same but I'm sure I'll get over it. I just have too much time to obsess right now." Her shoulders lifted. "My therapist thinks I have some inner child work to do if I'm feeling this much friction about moving back home."
"Maybe I need some inner child work too because I'd sign on as legal counsel to the mafia before I moved back home," Ruth said.
"Is your therapist offering a group rate for this? Because I could use some of that too," I said.
"You're saying throuples therapy is cool but a friendly little threesome is not? Rude." Jamie rolled her eyes. "I'll ask next week."
"Check these two out," Ruth said.
Chloe and Amber finished their set and now Emme and Ines were locked in a battle of their own. No one was keeping score, and even if they did, it would be tied at zero-zero since they couldn't stop laughing long enough to put anything into their throws.
But the trash talk was pristine.
"You couldn't hit the broad side of a bus with that aim," Ines called.
"I know you like to be the best but you don't have to work so hard at missing every bull's-eye," Emme called back.
"Sounds like something you'd say to your husband after a bad game," her stepsister said.
"I just hope your husband knows how to find the target better than you do," Emme replied.
"You throw like you have five percent battery life," Ines said.
Jamie snorted into her ginger ale. "These two have the jokes tonight. Whew. Remind me to hydrate them before tucking them into bed."
My phone buzzed across the table, clattering into the other phones as Emme and Ines kept on with the insults. I reared back when I saw the notification.
Jude: can you give me a call?
Jude: sometime tonight, if possible
"What? What's wrong?" Jamie asked.
I pointed to my phone. "Jude. He texted me."
Ruth rolled her hand. "And what did this text say?"
"He wants to know if I'll call him," I said.
"The answer is yes," Ruth said.
I blinked at her. "Is it?"
Jamie hopped off her stool and pointed to the door. "Outside, children. We're not calling your fella from the middle of a bar with yet another Oasis song blasting in the background and the bride snort-giggling like a piglet over there."
"But what do I say?" I asked as they herded me to the exit.
