“Oooh, including Reggie? She came by Mom’s house to drop us invitations to her engagement party and wedding! Like we’d go.” Josie snorts.
“I thought you might.”
“I value my mental health too much. Mom isn’t going either.”
“Reggie wants me to make her an engagement party cake.”
“I hope you shoved a rolling pin up her ass.”
I chuckle softly. “That’d be cruel and unusual punishment…for my pin.”
Josie and Cassie chortle.
“Hopefully, she’ll be a decent mom,” I say.
Cassie looks confused. “Mom…?”
“Oh my God, did she tell you she’s pregnant?” Josie asks.
“Oh yeah. A couple of times. Made a point of rubbing it in,” I say.
“She’s sooooo not pregnant. She just gained weight.”
“How do you know?” Cassie says.
“Because her mom told me. I don’t know what the deal is, but every time she sees me, her verbal filter disappears. She thinks everything she tells me is confidential because I’m a therapist. She doesn’t understand the rule only applies to my patients.” Josie rolls her eyes.
And Reggie acted like she had something I never could. Shaking my head, I gesture at the boxes Cassie has put down on the counter. “Think I brought enough?”
TJ’s girlfriend shrugs. “Probably not. He can never get enough of your apple pies. If yours weren’t so great, I think I’d be insulted.”
“Why? Did you try to bake for him?” I ask with a laugh.
“Yes, and he was like, ‘It’s good, babe,’ and had exactly one slice and put the rest away.”
“Really?” TJ? Putting away uneaten pie? I can’t put the two ideas together.
“Uh-huh. And when I said he could have more, he said he was ‘saving it for later.’ But then when you brought an apple pie over, he ate the whole thing in one sitting. When I asked him about it, he tried to claim it was because you always bring pies that are about to go bad.”
Josie rolls her eyes. “He can’t lie for shit.”
“Yeah, but you want to be with a guy like that. Transparent is good.” If Noah had been more honest, I would’ve been spared a lot of heartache.
“True, true.”
“Who’s lying?” TJ says, coming into the kitchen. His black T-shirt strains as he leans over and kisses Cassie.
“We were just saying you suck at lying,” Josie says.
“I’m an honest man.” He takes out an ice-cold bottle of raspberry beer from the fridge and hands it to me. “Plus, I make up for it by being good at sex.”
I pop the beer open and take a good swallow right about the time Josie makes a barfing sound. Cassie just looks amused.
Buster joins us in the kitchen, nails clicking on the tiles and looking up at us like he hasn’t been fed in a month. I scratch behind his ears, making him smile and wag his tail. Meanwhile, TJ reaches for the baked apples I brought. They’re Buster’s favorite, and I always make sure to bring some when I come visit.
“Here you go.” TJ tosses one to the golden retriever. His eyes on the flying fruit, he jumps up to catch it, bumping the bottle on my hand. The beer spills all over my shirt, leaving a large reddish-brown stain in the center of the cream-colored fabric. Thankfully none of it gets on my shorts.
“Oh crap.” Cassie grabs a fistful of paper towels and hands them to me. I try to wipe off the beer, but it’s too late.
