“Pregnant!” Mrs. Pawloski screamed. “You’re pregnant, aren’t you?”
Margo’s expression deflated. “Yes. Yes, we’re pregnant.”
Mrs. Pawloski jumped up with a squeal, and suddenly the entire table erupted in cheers and hugs and congratulations. Knightley left his seat to go give his brother a pat on the back, Mr. Woodhouse kissed Margo on the cheek, and Fran stood by the island, tears welling in her eyes.
Emma watched it all from her seat. She was smiling too, but it felt brittle. A fragile mask forced on as the scene unfurled before her; something she watched with joy, all while feeling very much alone.
The news of a baby was almost enough to distract Emma from the otherwise awful dinner. Things continued to look up when Zane texted two days later to reschedule their weekend plans in Brooklyn after an audience member fell off one of the suspended bridges at his friend’s art show and almost drowned. The show closed immediately. Of course, this now meant that Emma needed to come up with a different activity for Saturday night to bring Zane and Nadine together—something that would also keep her mind off Knightley. So she made an executive decision: they were all going to a karaoke bar downtown.
“I’m so excited!” Nadine squealed as Emma held up another top—this one a light green, silk blouse—to Nadine’s small frame.
The bed was littered with different outfit options for her friend, and Emma wanted to make sure they picked the perfect one. Afterall, tonight was about Nadine. How spoiled could she be, putting the needs of others in front of her own?
“I love this for you,” Emma said.
Nadine turned to the mirror. “Not too much?”
“Definitely not. I bought it at Saks a few years ago with my friends Lulu and Haydie and haven’t worn it in ages, so you should just keep it. It’s made for you.”
Emma paired it with a short brown suede skirt and her favorite gold Lanvin necklace, the one with the little lipstick pendant on the end, to pull the entire outfit together.
Nadine stared at her reflection, eyes wide and voice suddenly timid. “I’ve never done karaoke at a bar before… In front of people.”
“No?” Emma asked, straightening her new pale pink Rixo minidress. It was covered with little red rosebuds that she just adored. “Well, you’re going to love this place. I used to go all the time when I was younger since they never carded.”
“Are you a good singer?”
“Pretty good,” Emma said as she lightly dabbed on some lip-gloss. “It’s all about confidence, Nadine. Commit to your song. Own it. Youarea rock star.”
Nadine laughed. “No pressure.”
“You’ll be great.” Emma linked her arm with Nadine’s as they started downstairs. “Zane’s going to be even more obsessed with you after tonight.”
Nadine’s steps faltered. “You think he’s obsessed with me?”
“Oh, definitely. The more time you spend with someone, the more you start to read the signs,” Emma said as they reached the foyer. “He’s meeting us down there at ten, so if we leave now, we should be a casual twenty minutes late.”
“God, Marty used to hate it when I was late.”
Emma let the sentence sit between them for a moment as she slipped on her silver Stella McCartney cropped bomber jacket.
“He called me the other day, you know,” Nadine continued.
“Oh?” Emma replied, trying to sound nonchalant.
“Yeah. I was at work ringing someone up, so I asked Mateo to grab it. But when Marty heard a guy pick up my phone, he got pissed and hung up.”
Emma whipped around. “He hung up?”
“Yeah. I tried calling him back a bunch of times, but he never answered.” Nadine shrugged, her eyes looking dangerously glassy. “Mateo was really sweet about it. He bought me a cupcake from around the corner and told me I was too good for him anyway, but… I don’t know…”
“Mateo is absolutely right. And that’s what we’re going out to celebrate,” Emma said, grabbing her friend’s hand and heading toward the door. “New freedom and new opportunities and the entire catalog of nineties pop music!”
Their cab arrived at the nondescript hole-in-the-wall location right at Emma’s calculated time. It was on a dark street on the Lower East Side, and barely drew any attention until the doors opened and the slurred lyrics of “Oops! I Did It Again” wafted out. Inside, people were packed tight, illuminated by the red Christmas lights on every surface. Everyone’s attention was on the low stage in the back, where a group of women, clearly part of a bachelorette party, did their best Britney impressions.
Emma and Nadine maneuvered their way through the crowd to where Zane was already at the bar halfway through his drink. Helooked like he had just come from work, or maybe that’s just how he always dressed. Today it was a threadbare Joy Division T-shirt and a pair of well-worn jeans.
“Aren’t you both adorable,” he purred, greeting them with hugs. “What do you want to drink?”
