“It’s exciting that you’ve started the process!” Sarah says.
Lauren nods. “I’ll keep you posted each step of the way.” She turns to Annie. “So what’s going on with you?”
“Not much. Work. Caring for my boy.” She hesitates. “There’s one thing that’s kind of new, but it probably won’t come to anything. I don’t know if I should even mention it.”
“You should,” I prompt.
“Yeah. Tell us!” Lauren urges.
“Well... I’m planning to go to my high school reunion in Mississippi. Did I tell you all that my old high school boyfriend has been texting me and contacting me on Facebook?”
“You most certainly did not!” I say.
“We’ve been corresponding for a while,” Annie says. She suddenly looks shy. “He’s been widowed for two years. He doesn’t have any children, but he’d love to.”
“Why didn’t you tell us about him?” Lauren asks.
“I didn’t want to build it into a big thing if it wasn’t. But now...”
“Now you’re going to see him at the reunion,” Sarah says.
“Yes. So we’ll see.”
“That’s awesome!” Lauren says.
Annie smiles. “It adds a little extra zing to life. But if it doesn’t work out, life is still good.”
“I love your attitude, Annie,” Sarah says.
“Thanks.” Annie turns to me. “And how about you, Quinn?”
Everyone looks at me expectantly.
“I have four pieces of news. First of all, I’m officially in the second trimester. I went to the doctor for my monthly checkup a couple of weeks ago, and everything is going as it should. I’ll get another ultrasound at the next checkup that should tell me the baby’s sex.”
Annie claps. “Oh, how wonderful!”
Everyone smiles and congratulates me.
“Secondly, Miss Margaret is doing really well. It looks like she’s going to get to come home next Friday. So I’d like to have a ‘welcome home’ dinner for her, and I want all of you to come.”
“How fun!”
“I’ll be there with bells on!”
“I’ll text everybody the details as soon as her release date is certain,” I say. My heart is warmed by the smiling faces of these dear friends. “As for my third piece of news...” I pause and draw a deep breath. “Zack’s wife served him with divorce papers, and he’s not moving to Seattle after all. He’s staying here in New Orleans.”
“You’re kidding!” Lauren gasps.
“Oh my!” Annie exclaims.
Oh my, indeed. I nod.
“But there’s a fourth piece of news: Zack is moving into Brooke’s old house this weekend.”
I explain the chain of events amid more exclamations.
“I’ve swapped out the furniture in Brooke’s bedroom with some from my shop to give it a more masculine look,” I say. “And I changed out a lot of the accessories to make it more reflective of his tastes.”
