“Tonight?” she asks.
I try not to smile, but it slips onto my face anyway. ”It's been fun,“ I confess. ”Fighting with him is fun. It lets me forget how he feels about me for a little bit.”
“I bet it's the same for him.”
I nod, brushing the tears from my face
“It’s more than just hate, Livvy,” I whisper.
“I know,” she whispers back. “And that’s why Hollis and I agreed to keep you both in the dark. Wy broke up with Reese and didn’t look back, but when your name comes up, he turns into a Shakespearean insult generator.”
“Oh, great.”
“And you,” she continues, “act like a wet cat stuffed in a bag when anyone breathes his name in your presence. Hol and I love you both and know that you’re both going to be in our lives, so we want you to work it out, one way or another.”
“What if that ends up being a murder-suicide?”
She rolls her eyes. “Drama queen. I’m just saying, if you get a chance to talk to him tonight, really talk to him, take it. And listen when he tries to talk."
"Tell him that," I mutter.
“Trust me, my man is on it.” The walkie-talkie on her hip squawks, and before I ask why I didn’t get one of those, she shushes me. “It’s time!”
Max and his band bring the volume down for the next “Twelve Days” verse as eight women walk into the room holding infants. I recognize two of them as friendly acquaintances from volunteering around town, and one of them I know from my short work on the Sounder audit before I got booted.
"What are they—" I start, and then clap my hands over my mouth in delight when all eight women calmly sit down at the empty table in the center of the room, unbutton their shirts, and start breastfeeding their babies.
"Eight motherfucking maids a-milking," I say slowly.
"Even better," Liv says smugly. “It’s a protest against Sounder.”
I gasp. “That’s right! Howard shortened the parental leave last year and removed the lactation room, right?”
“Welcome to the nurse-in,” she says as a dozen more Sounder employees distribute fliers to the guests. Liv darts out of our hidey-hole and grabs one for me.
“Incredible,” I breathe as I review the sheet with their concisely stated concerns and the request that Sounder return to the humane policies from before. “Good for them.” If I wasn’t already so damn conspicuous, I’d grab a stack of flyers and help them wallpaper the room.
“Want to guess whose idea this was?"
I look up from the flyer and shake my head. ”Please, no. I can’t take any more.”
Liv pats my cheek. “Then I won’t say it.”
“Fuck. He’s such a good guy.” I press my hands to my heart to hold in the confusing swirl of emotions.
“You should go get changed into that gorgeous dress,” Liv says.
Oh no. Now I’m picturing Wyatt seeing me in it, his eyes darkening with?—
“Dammit,” I mutter. “Okay. I’ll need help with the zipper, though. Can you do it, or send in one of the girls?”
She salutes. “Get going. I’ll send someone in.”
Sixteen
December, Last Year
Wyatt
