“Not helping, Dennis!” I whine.
He grunts as Max elbows him in the ribs.
“Ok, that helped. Elbow him again.”
Jaime immediately jumps up, shouting, “I got next! I'll elbow him!”
“I’ll hold him still for you, baby,” Isaiah grins as he flexes his impressive biceps towards her.
Dennis' protests only make us laugh harder.
A few hours later,after we've all had dinner and dessert – which was indeed the red velvet cake I suspected Elle had made – we move to sit out on the patio. It may be June, but the nights are still on the chillier side, so Dennis gets a fire going in the chiminea for us before the guys head back inside to watch football and give us some privacy.
The kids are inside watching a Disney movie with drinks and snacks, so we shouldn't be disturbed for a while.
The full moon is clear and bright as it starts to crest over the tops of the trees, and the only sound I can hear is the fire crackling before us. Inhaling the rich scent of the wood smoke, I finally feel a sense of peace wash over me.
“So, jokes aside, do you even have Brad's number to be able to tell him about the baby?”
Goodbye peace, it was fun knowing you for that thirty seconds. I'll never forget our time together.
I brace myself, because I have been keeping a secret from them, and they're going to be pissed.
“Well, about that. It's a funny story because I didn't just spend the festival weekend with him…” I trail off for the shouting to begin, and I'm not kept waiting long.
“You, what?!”
“I knew you were seeing someone!”
“What. The. Actual. Fuck, bitch??”
I hold my stupid decaf coffee in front of my face as if it might protect me from the onslaught.
I knew Jaime would be the most vocal. “Are you fucking kidding me? You've been seeing him this whole time and didn't tell any of us? Not one of us? Why!”
“I haven't been seeing him this whole time. I spent two more weekends with him in the last six weeks. When I was working in Topsham. He only lives, like, twenty minutes from site.”
“Wow, this is such a big thing for you?—”
“That's what she said!” Jaime shouts with glee for the second time tonight.
“—I’m not gonna lie, it sucks to think you didn't want to tell us, but I'm happy you've been enjoying yourself for once. Or thrice,” Max adds with a smirk.
I pick at a loose thread on the edge of the ochre cushion in my lap. “I guess, I dunno. I just wanted this fun little secret for a while. I didn't know if I was ever going to see him again after the last time, and if we had made plans for another hookup, I'd have told you. And if we never did speak again, I'd have eventually told you about the fun little sordid affair I once had with a younger man.”
“Much younger,” Jaime mumbles into her rosé. Guess she's still a bit sore I kept this from them.
I snort. “Yes, much younger. Ugh!” I flop back into the rattan armchair and hang my head over the back to stare at the stars.They’re winking at me from the black canopy above, as if to tell me they have a secret that I’m not privy to. “What am I gonna dooooo?” The last word comes out in a staccato of whines. Well, at least I know how toactlike I'm younger than my baby daddy. “I think I'm going to be sick.”
“Oh shit, morning sickness? I do not miss that.”
“No,” I sigh, “just my situation really starting to sink in.”
Elle grabs my hand from the chair next to me and I roll my head to look at her. “Tell us about him. What's he like, what does he do?—”
“How old is he?”
“—how do you think he'll take the news?” she continues, side-eyeing Jaime's interjection.
