Me: And guess what? Apparently they’re cousins. And Jim knew all along, so there’s that.
Jenna: Double, oh shit.
Me: And the worst part? I’m in love with Jim.
Lainey: Oh noooooo
Jenna: Alright team, grab your sweatpants. Meet at Lainey’s in 10.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Itake a swig of my margarita, coughing as soon as the liquid burns my throat. I pull the glass back and inspect it with a sniff. “Oh my god, Lainey. I thought you were making margs?”
She takes a deep breath in, grimacing as she takes her first sip. “Well, I’m out of margarita mix, but I had some lemonade. Added a splash of cherry juice since Jenna decided to eat an entire jar of maraschino cherries. So think of it like a margarita and tequila sunrise had a baby, minus the orange juice.”
Jenna smirks, tossing a cherry in the air and leaning to catch it with her mouth. She misses, terribly, the cherry hitting her protruding stomach and bouncing onto the coffee table.
All three of us have settled in on Lainey’s giant sectional. She’s passed out the throw blankets and pillows for each of us to get comfortable, and I’ve already decided I’m not going to move from this spot the entire night. I take another drink, and now that my tongue is pretty much numb, it goes down a hell of a lot smoother.
“Just wait until one of you bitches gets pregnant, I can’t wait to pick on you about your cravings.” She stabs her fork into the jar of cherries, spearing two at a time. She pulls the fork out, bringing the jar to her lips for a sip of sugar water before eatingthe cherries. “This shit is so good.” She offers some to me, and I decline.
“Although, I’d take her eating cherries over bread and butter pickles straight from the jar like she did with Soph. That smell got real old real fast.”
Jenna nods. “I still can’t eat those to this day after hammering them during my pregnancy. I don’t know what it is about being pregnant that has me craving sweet, crunchy foods.”
“And at least this time around you don’t carry jars of cherries in your purse.” I turn towards Lainey. “Remember when we went to the movie theater? The lights went out and Jenna rifles around her purse like a little trash panda, pulling out a jar of pickles and a fork?”
Lainey laughs so hard her drink sloshes over to the side and onto the carpet. She looks down at the mess, waves it off and turns back to Jenna. “So when are you going to tell us the genders?”
Jenna slows her eating, keeping her focus on the fork trying to dig out the last of the cherries from the jar. “Well…we kind of know the genders.”
Lainey and I sit up immediately, both turning to face Jenna, waiting to hear if she’s having boys, girls, or one of each.
And we wait.
Jenna fishes out another cherry, pops it in her mouth and sets the jar back on the table. She licks her fingers one by one, taking her precious time ignoring us.
“Oh,” she says sweetly, “did you guys want to know the genders of my babies?”
“Yes!” Lainey squeals, slapping the couch cushions at her sides. “Oh my gosh, it’s girls isn’t it. You’re having two more girls. No!” She holds a finger in the air. “I think it’s one of each. Emmett needs at least one boy. And they will be best friends.”
“All of my kids will be best friends with each other.” She turns to me. “Care to guess?”
I look at her belly, trying to compare the shape and size to her first pregnancy. The symptoms seem the same, but besides the one maternal health class that was required in nursing school, and my experience watching Marissa and Jenna go through their pregnancies, I know very little about the whole aspect, so I shrug.
“Boys. We’re having two boys!” She runs a palm over her giant belly. “Which explains why I am huge and barely through the second trimester. If I have two Emmett-sized babies growing inside me, good Lord I’ll be bed bound any day now.”
Lainey crawls over to Jenna, wrapping her arms around her neck. “You’re gonna be a boy mom! I can’t wait!”
I climb on the couch, crawling over to Jenna on my hands and knees to join the hug. “You are going to be the best boy mom ever. I don’t know much about raising a girl, but boys are so fun.”
“So, you will have two of each, four freaking kids total, how do you feel about that?” Lainey adjusts back into her spot at the end of the couch, blanket draped over her legs. “I assume you’ll have a C-section, are you going to get your tubes tied after that? Or have Emmett get the old snip-snip.” She raises her fingers in cutting motion.
To my utmost surprise, Jenna shrugs, reaching for her jar of cherries again.
“Jenna Alissandria Owens.” I opt to use my best mom voice to get her attention. “Are you really telling us, that after you pop out four kids, you—”
“For the record, I’ll have only popped out three, but we will have four total. But continue.”
