41
Ziggy
I have to pee again.
Ialwayshave to pee again.
We’re barely inside Give Two Sips, where we’re meeting Goldie and Fletcher and Goldie’s friends and half the team for a holiday dinner, and I’m not going for the banquet room.
I’m going for the bathroom.
This is what it’s like being seven months pregnant.
I burst through the restroom door, and Odette and Sheila look up from the sinks, surveying me in the mirrors. Odette’s touching up her lipstick and Sheila’s washing her hands.
“It’ll get better, hon,” Sheila says.
“After the baby’s born,” Odette adds. “And I’m gonna get you the name of my physical therapist. That’ll help even more.”
“You’re the best,” I call as I dash into the stall.
“Is physical therapy why you don’t have to pee as much as the rest of us?” Sheila asks.
“I keep telling you, and you all don’t want to listen. That’s on you.”
I love these ladies.
And Goldie.
And Miranda.
And Tater Tot.
And Holt.
Oh my god, I love Holt so much.
He’s waiting for all three of us near the dark cherrywood bar when we leave the bathroom together a few minutes later.
But he’s not alone.
He’s—no.
My heart sinks and then races.
He’s smiling and chatting with Abby Nora and her husband, Josh.
“What’s wrong, sweetie?” Odette asks.
Abby Nora’s gaze flies to me, and she flinches.
“He’s talking to my former BFF and I don’t think he knows it,” I whisper to Odette and Sheila.
He doesn’t.
Does he?
I’ve refused to go back to the Heartwood Valley Owners Club for anything, because fuck them.
