“We tried, but it didn’t work out. I want to do a surrogate,” she says.
“But he doesn’t?” Farrah callously asks.
I pinch her arm, but she doesn’t look at me, clearly not caring about the social rules of being with someone you barely know.
“Nope.” The word must taste bitter coming out because Sahara takes a big sip of her champagne after.
“I might do that,” Farrah says, at least making the confessions equal. “It seems selfish, though, to pay someone to have my baby because I’m too busy.”
Sahara nods, and I wonder if that’s her opinion.
“I think you should do what’s right for you. Maybe we can do it all at the same time since I can’t have kids anyway,” I say.
Sahara’s eyes water, which she tries to mask by taking another sip.
“Me too,” she says, prompting me to reach across the aisle and grab her hand.
I want to know more, but unlike Farrah, I won’t push, so we let the conversation change to something else. They start talking about designers, so I tune them out, my mind wondering how things are between Callahan and Charlie.
Charlie is petty and won’t take to losing me well, and Callahan is a fire starter with his humor. Poor Errol has to handle it all, because I know Rowan’s not helping.
I make sure to ask Callahan while we wait for our bags.
“It was fine, love, we mostly talked sports.”
“So he didn’t say anything?”
He shrugs. “A few things here and there, but nothing worth responding to.”
He snatches up my suitcase, and then Rowan’s, taking on the job of carting our stuff around. He doesn’t say anything else on the drive to the house.
Once we get there, Errol shows us all where we are going to be staying. Since he is the single guy, Charlie has to take the pullout couch in the basement. He looks at me and Callahan, probably blaming us for that fact.
He is still looking at us a little sideways when we meet for dinner.
“So, Sahara told us you have been married for eighteen years,” Farrah says. Errol looks impressed, while Callahan and I just look at Rowan. She takes a deep sip of her beer and looks down.
“Yeah, it’s kind of wild when you think about it, especially since we don’t have much to show for it,” Michael says.
Farrah outright gasps, and Errol and I have to put a hand on her arm to stop her from saying anything further. We can’t do anything before Callahan starts speaking.
“Well, maybe you should have done more, then.”
“Yup,” Rowan says, raising her glass.
I look at Sahara, and she is just looking down. All of us are opinionated, but I don’t think anyone knows what to say that’s not going to erupt in a fight, so the table just goes quiet.
Eventually, Michael clears his throat and asks how we all know each other. No one is super enthusiastic in their storytelling; all of our moods are dampened by that one sentence.
“Well, at least now she finally has friends,” he says, really trying to piss us all off.
“It’s easy being her friend. She is amazing. Smart, beautiful, thoughtful, and talented.” Rowan stares at him straight on as she speaks, daring him to contradict her.
He just clears his throat again.
“Hear, hear,” I say.
“Cheers to that,” Farrah adds on.
