The man, Subhi, waves and smiles. “Welcome. How old is your boy?”
“Ten months,” I tell them. “Yours?”
“Eighteen months,” Jameela tells me. “I’m so glad he’ll have another little friend in the club.”
Mushroom seems determined to do the same elaborate introduction for all of her friends, but it all starts to melt together after a while - real names, jobs, road names. Psycho, Kate, Eyeball, Hammer, Teach, Cotton…
Luckily, Hawk and Mushroom talked a lot about people in the club, so I have some context for all this information that’s being thrown at me.
“Have you settled in yet?” Jameela asks me. “Are you staying at the clubhouse?”
“No, we’re with Hawk for now,” I say.
My eyes find the man we’re talking about, but when he looks up, I pretend to examine DJ’s nails.
“I’ll start work as soon as I sort out childcare,” I add, needing to justify myself for some reason.
The tall, pale young man with curly brown hair, whom Shroomie introduced as Cotton, excuses himself and goes off to a corner of the yard to smoke.
Judging from how often she mentioned him to me in the last two months, I strongly suspected he was her crush, but seeing them interact in person, it’s glaringly obvious that she more than likes him. Is Cotton only pretending, or is he truly oblivious to it?
I look at Shiner questioningly. He looks heavenwards in exasperation.
“There’s a few more people who live in the clubhouse full time, but they couldn’t be here today,” he tells me.
“Do you mind if I steal our new friend for a moment?” Lucy asks as she approaches the group. “There is someone I want her to meet.”
She walks me over to the food, where a cute brunette is arranging some bowls. Another woman, darker in both hair and mood, is standing next to her.
“This is Dana,” Lucy tells me, “she runs the Friendly Fork. And this is Monica.”
“Nice to meet you,” Dana tells me warmly.
Monica only nods at me, but gives DJ a big smile.
“Thank you for putting me in touch with your niece. I look forward to meeting her.”
“No problem. I hope it’ll be a good fit.”
A man getting food next to her says, “Is there no more mac and cheese?”
“Nope,” Dana says with a stiff smile.
“Should’ve gotten here earlier, Cash,” Lucy tells him, and he makes a stink face.
“There should be food, regardless of when I get here.”
“There is food, just not the kind you like. Besides, the party is to welcome our new members, not for you to stuff your face,” Lucy says, pointing at me.
I want the ground to open up and swallow me. This is the first unfriendly person here, and although he’s not saying anything to me directly, there’s an unsettled feeling in my stomach. I turn DJ towards me so he can look over my shoulder, and I press my cheek to his.
“This is Cash,” Lucy says after no one else speaks. “And this is Marissa.”
“Hi,” I tell him with a small smile.
He nods. “Call me if you bring out more mac and cheese,” he tells Dana, then goes back into the clubhouse with his plate.
Dana shakes her head disapprovingly.
