“Yes, Oscar the Grouch came by,” Magpie said. “We scarred him for life with our cat poses.”
“Very good, Maggie Beautiful!” Tipsy clapped, circling the women on the mats, eyeing them like she was observing poses. I didn’t think she was. Tipsy was only there for the booze. She might have mentioned not keeping any in the house because of her husband’s heart problems. “You remembered the cat pose!”
“How could I forget?” Magpie giggled.
“Yeah, especially when Carmen wasmeowingand saying she was going to get a cat suit and try the pose out in bed,” Juliette said.
“I’m a married woman.” Carmen shrugged. “Sue me!”
“And she’s going through thechange.”Aunt Lola looked at me. “That can make you mad and murderous or hot and horny.”
“Love those alliterations, Aunt Lola!” Scarlett high-fived her from her mat.
“Yeah, and it just depends on the time of day,” Juliette said. “It’s called…the dreaded…swings!”
“And don’t ever…I REPEAT!...ever let them talk you into believing it’s all just hot flashes. Because it’s not.” Carmen plopped down and took a large gulp of wine.
“I knew a woman back home who just woke up one day and…poof!” Juliette made a hand motion to go with it. “Hated her life. Had no idea how she got into the body she was in.”
Magpie moved her head closer. “What happened to her?”
“Was it aliens?” Tipsy whispered. “Those are real, you know.” She looked at me and nodded.
Not sure what else to do, I nodded back.
“No, not aliens.Men-o-pause. She wanted to pause men, or specifically, her husband for a while. She drained their life’s saving and ran off to Aruba for a while.”
“Did it help?” Scarlett asked.
Juliette shook her head. “Sadly, no. But the hormone therapy did!”
A moment of silence, and everyone except the younger women started almost howling with laughter.
Mia looked at me and rolled her eyes. “Geriatric millennial humor,” she mouthed at me.
I grinned, not able to help it. Then, as it usually did, a thought that shouldn’t have caused me so much pain did.
Mom would love these people.
She’d have loved to drink wine and do yoga with them. She would have had such a great time laughing with them.
The conversation took a different turn when Tipsy asked about Mia being pregnant again, and then Magpie told her we were having a wedding soon too—Matteo was getting married tome, her Stella Stellar.
Another sledgehammer to the heart. My mom wouldn’t be around for my wedding or any children we had. I laid back next to Mari and stared at the sky, wishing for a butterfly or something to flitter over my face. To carry off the weight of the hurt and take it someplace else. I closed my eyes when none came, and when I opened them, most of the women were standing and stretching.
A hand seemed to come down from the sky, reaching out for me. I blinked and then narrowed my eyes.
“How about a walk,bebe?” Scarlett asked, wiggling her fingers at me.
I took her hand, and she helped me up. She nodded to the back of the house where a few sets of flip-flops were lined up. “The silver are yours,” she said. “I ordered a variety of colors. Tipsy said she found them in Texas and they’re like walking on air.” She smiled. “We’ll see.”
We both slipped into the shoes, and Scarlett wrapped her arm around mine.
“That walk?” She bumped her hip against mine.
“Yeah,” I breathed. “A walk would be nice.” It was a beautiful spring day, my bones and muscles were still whispering Matteo’s name, and I wanted to find him. It had been a while since I’d last seen him, and it was making me…antsy.
“Matteo and my husband can go for hours in the gym.” Scarlett tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “If Matteo or Brando has something to work through, the other will push until it helps.”
