“Since when are you a kid expert?” I ask with a grin.
Skyler makes a show of buffing her nails on her t-shirt. “I’ll have you know I’m very in with the young-ins. The teens love my games.”
Rylee snorts. “That would be the most Boomer thing I’ve ever heard you say if you hadn’t mentioned video games. The teens? Okay, granny.”
Skyler shoots Rylee the bird. “Shush, you. Don’t be jealous.”
“Not in front of the baby!” Stacey pretends to be horrified, shielding her son from Skyler’s cringe.
We’re interrupted when her phone suddenly starts buzzing. She digs it out of her sweatpants pocket and her eyes go wide.
“It’s Hadley!” she exclaims, smiling as she answers the video call. “Hey, Had! Your timing is perfect. All the girls are here, including Sutton.”
Hadley Sullivan smiles at us through the little screen, her shoulder-length brown hair held back by a silky purple headband and her chocolate brown eyes wide with excitement. Hadley is Coach Sullivan’s twenty-year-old granddaughter, and since everyone else was introduced to her a few weeks ago at the game where Stacey ended up giving birth, they’ve stayed in contact. Since Hadley unexpectedly was a huge help when Stacey gave birth to Henry, the two have apparently gotten close andStacey has started bringing her into the friend group. So far, the others seem to like her a lot.
“Hey, girls!” Hadley’s cheerful voice fills the room. “Hi, Sutton! Good to meet you. I’ve heard so much!”
“It’s good to meet you too,” I grin at the phone. “And don’t believe half of what you’ve heard!”
Hadley lets out a laugh.
“So, Sutton,” Grace suddenly says, snagging my attention. “You going to finally tell us why exactly you’re in Denver?”
“I’m here for work.” I can’t maintain my excitement at the thought of the potential project I could be taking on. “I’m putting together a proposal for Jackson Romero. His company is one of the biggest multi-media companies in the country and he just bought the convention center downtown and wants to totally redo it.”
“Oh, sick!” Skyler exclaims. “That would be so cool if you landed that!”
“I know, right?” I’ve been brainstorming ideas and studying schematics of the current structure ever since Aunt Delilah got me the meeting with Jackson. I’m going to know that place like the back of my hand when I make my pitch. “If I land it, I’ll win a long-term exclusive contract with his company for Holloway Architecture, and I could be in Denver for quite a while overseeing things.”
“I manifested this!” Rylee declares.
I frown. “What the hell are you talking about?”
She smiles, looking high and mighty with her nose in the air. “I put it out into the universe that I wanted all of us to be together, and here we are! Manifested!”
“Burn the witch,” Skyler hisses.
Rylee throws a pillow at her.
Rolling my eyes, I reply, “Well, could you manifest for Leon to get off my back?”
Rylee scowls. “You’re still dodging that fuckface?”
“Baby present,” Stacey groans.
“Oh, he can’t understand me,” Rylee scoffs.
“It’s the principle,” Stacey insists.
I run a hand through my hair. “He’s acting like we’re already engaged.”
“Ummm, who’s this now?” Hadley asks through the phone.
Skyler nods. “Right, we need to add Hadley to the League of Extraordinary Bitches group chat so she can stay up-to-date on all the drama.”
“The…what?” Hadley asks.
Grace chuckles. “Skyler named it.” She turns to me. “Do you feel comfortable talking more about this, or…?”
