“Of course.” She rubs my back before walking over to the couch, where she must have been sitting before I got here, glasses of wine are in the middle of the coffee table.
“Where are all the kids?” I look around and listen if I can hear the yelling and screaming they do once they are together.
“Ah,” Zara says, “the grandparents took all the kids to some activity so we can have a mini girls’ day. I stopped listening, to be honest. I don’t know where they are but if no one called me yet, I’m sure everyone is fine.”
“That one had to stay with me since I’m his feeding source,” Ariella jokes. “But so far we’ve been handing him off to each other, so he’s content.”
Gabriella walks over to the couch and then grabs another wineglass. “Okay, I’m going to say it,” she starts as she holds up the glass for me. “You look fantastic.”
“Doesn’t she?” Zoey agrees. “I was going to say something when she walked in but I was like, I hate it when people see me and are like ‘you look fantastic’ and in my head I’m thinking, ‘Wow, did I look like shit before?’”
“The answer obviously is yes,” Zara teases, “but in your case”—she slips her arm in mine—“you did look like shit.”
I can’t help but laugh and it startles Jagger, who pouts and reaches for his mother. “It’s okay,” I soothe, walking with Zara to the couch. “I felt like shit, so I probably looked like it too.”
“I mean, you looked always put together,” Zoey restates, sitting, grabbing her wineglass and tucking her feet under her. “But you looked like you needed a cheeseburger or two.”
I sit with Zara next to me and I don’t want to let her go. She must sense it too because she sits back and pulls me with her. “Well, I’m eating carbs and?—”
“Dick,” Zara interjects, laughing. “That will do it.”
I can’t help but laugh and shake my head. “I want to hear all about everything,” Gabriella says, “but I want you to start at the beginning.”
I inhale and look over at Zara, who grabs her glass of wine and then hands it to me. “Liquid courage,” she urges me and I finish it in two gulps. “Welcome back, Lexi.” She winks at me as Gabriella hands me another glass, and I tell them just about everything. From Trent cheating on me, to the embarrassing moment he gave me an STI. Which took Zoey and Gabriella to the edge of their seats as then their legs went up and down with nerves. I wasn’t sure if they were going to get up and fly to Phoenix or smash something in Gabriella’s house.
“He’s a motherfucker.” Sofia is the one to say what everyone is thinking. “A small-dicked motherfucker.”
Zara grabs my head and puts it on her shoulder as she kisses the top of it. “Anyway, now I have my lawyer blowing up my phone, telling me to take the twenty million dollars for the NDA. It started at twelve and for the past two weeks they’ve increased it.” Zoey stands up and I watch her. “What are you doing?”
“I’m calling fucking Ryleigh,” she hisses out, mentioning Romeo’s sister, “I know you don’t want to get her involved and you want to handle it yourself, but you need the best, and well, she’s a pit bull,” she declares and then puts the phone on speaker, and I can hear it ringing.
“If you are calling me to gloat about your impromptu girls’ day drinking,” she hisses, “I’m going to stop sending you pictures of the kids.”
Zoey laughs. “No, it’s not that. We’re here but we’re calling because Lexi needs your help.”
“Uh-oh,” she says. “Should I start the Bat chain?” She mentions the phone chain our family has. It’s sort of the emergency phone network that people use. “Does she need bail?”
“NO!” I gasp. “I’m here.” I then look at the women around me, who are here to catch me if I fall. “But I might need your help.”
“Tell me,” she says, and by the end of it, she is pissed.
“I am going to make this guy wish he’d never met you,” she grinds out. “He’s going to literally sit down on his little stool and think he should’ve walked away from you when he saw you all those years ago.” Zoey snickers. “One, you aren’t taking that NDA settlement because chances are he’s going to try and hide shit from you. Two, you aren’t taking that settlement because he’s a piece of shit and I said no, and three, you aren’t taking it because you are not going to be fucking silenced. You know if you took that and you even mentioned his name, he could sue you for all of it back.” I can hear the hatred in her voice. “Fire your lawyer and send me a dollar.”
“What?” I ask her, looking around and Gabriella is already on her phone.
“Sent.” I look at her. “We have to pay her a dollar so whatever we say to her goes under client-lawyer privilege. Even though she’s my sister-in-law and it’s a conflict of interest.”
“Send me his lawyer’s name,” she says and then laughs. “The last time I had this much fun was when I took Charlie’s sister-in-law”—she mentions Sofia’s cousin—“Harmony’s ex to the cleaners.” She snickers. “That was a fun, fun day.”
“Send her the name,” Zara urges from beside me. “You got this.” I pull up my phone and send her all the information.
“Just got it,” she confirms. “Okay, I’m off to make a couple of phone calls. Oh, and it’s Friday and it’s almost five. I love ruining people’s weekends. I have to go now. Lexi, I’ll call on Monday unless something comes up before.”
“Okay,” I tell her. “Thank you again. I didn’t want to bother you.”
“Hey, you’re family.” I nod, not able to say anything.
“Okay, now that that is over,” Zoey prods, “tell us about the hot hockey player you are sleeping with.” She claps her hands. “We might have stalked him on social media before you got here.” She looks at the girls in the room. “But it was for research purposes only.”
