“Really? Would you? That would be amazing,” Leigh said, jumping to her feet and running to the kitchen. She pulled out a notepad from a drawer and started writing frantically.
“So Gwen, Leigh said you two met in a moms’ group?” Nathan said. He bent down to lift Belle from the lounger, held her against his chest.
“Yes. At the hospital. I just went for my first time.”
“I told you this, Nathan,” Leigh said with undisguised annoyance.
She ripped off the paper from the notepad and handed it to him.
“You’re reminding me that I need to send my husband to the grocery store too,” Gwen said, feeling the need to mention Jeff.
Leigh took Belle from Nathan, and the baby whined her disapproval.
“Right, okay. I’ll run to the store,” Nathan said, turning to collect his wallet and keys from the kitchen counter where he’d left them.
“I doubt I’ll be here when you get back. Have to head home soon,” Gwen said, still desperate to offer him reassurance. “So it was nice to meet you.”
“You as well,” he said, before closing the front door behind him.
Leigh gave Gwen a pouty lip once Nathan left.
“Do you really have to go so soon?”
Gwen didn’t have to go, but she felt like she should.
“I’m sorry,” Gwen said, standing from the couch, transferring June into the car seat.
“I totally made it weird.”
“You didn’t, I promise,” Gwen said.
The situation was objectively a bit weird, but Gwen wasn’t put off. A former version of herself might have been, but now she took comfortin another mother who didn’t have all her shit together, another mother who had made mistakes. These new facts—that Leigh was bi, that she’d had a past “indiscretion”—had no bearing on their budding friendship. It was not like Leigh was attracted to Gwen. Even if she was, Gwen wasn’t attracted to her, had never been attracted in that way to a woman.
“Okay, well, I hope we can do this again,” Leigh said.
“We will. Of course,” Gwen said with a burst of enthusiasm. “At my place next time?”
Leigh’s face brightened. “Yes. Please. I’d love that.”
Leigh opened the door for Gwen and asked if she needed any help to the car. Gwen assured her she was fine, and then she and June took the elevator down. As she put June in the back seat, she glanced up at the terrace, and Leigh was there. Gwen went around to the driver’s side and waved up at Leigh.
“Thank you for coming,” Leigh shouted down. “I couldn’t remember if I said that.”
Gwen laughed to herself and shouted back, “Thank you for having me.”
Then she got in her car and drove home. It was only when she parked in the garage that she realized she’d been smiling the whole way.
Chapter 14
Angeni Luna
What a privilege to have a sleepless night, not because of woes or worries, but because of a sweet baby’s need for love.
Angeni sat on a stool in her master bathroom, watching the comments on her latest post accumulate while Aurora stood behind her, styling her hair in preparation for Angeni’s appearance on the Wellest podcast. News of her book deal was spreading, and people in the healing community wanted to talk to her. She figured it was good to start publicity sooner rather than later. Most of the time, she preferred her appearances to be audio only, but the people at Wellest had requested to have her on camera to boost engagement.
“God, your hair is gorgeous,” Aurora said.
So many women lamented hair loss in the postpartum period, but it seemed like Angeni’s hair was getting thicker and lusher by the day. She had to believe it was something to do with her diet, with the way she nourished her body with hearty organ meats and organic produce from The Land. And also, her own placenta.
