“Did you tell him you love him too?”
I nod, dropping my gaze to the glass in my hand.
“Awww, that’s amazing,” Steph says quietly, and maybe a little wistfully.
Aaaand, I think I’ve reached my quota of sappiness for the night so to inject some levity back into the conversation I add, “Also, you guys, his ass looked so tasty in his dress pants this morning. Ugh! I just wanted to bite it!”
Piper rolls her eyes, but the look she gives me is understanding. She knows there’s only so much of this lovey-dovey sharing I can take and that I’m ready for it to be done.
Steph chuckles and takes another sip of her sweet pink drink which prompts Piper to raise her glass again.
“I have another toast!” she declares. “Cheers to Lucy getting her ‘H-E-A’!”
My happily ever after.
We all drink to that, but I’m not sure how I feel about it, to be honest. Things are going great and I’m frankly ecstatic, but I can’t help having a little twinge of fear. Like maybe things are a littletoogood to be true.
“Two down, one to go!” Piper sings, pointing at Steph.
“It might be a little early to declare this a happily ever after yet. I don’t want to jinx anything …”I hedge, just as Steph starts with, “I already told you, I’m not … I don’t–”
Piper’s gaze softens in consideration as she takes us both in. “Okay, okay, I hear you,” she says, looking at me. “We won’t get ahead of ourselves, but things are going in the right directionandNoah’s a great guy,andyou have a baby on the way! Let’s just focus on the good stuff and not analyze things too much. I truly believe it’s all going to work out and youwillbe able to say you got your ‘H-E-A’.
“And you,” she turns to Steph. “I know you feel beat down by life and love … but that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve a second chance–”
“You mean third chance?” Steph cuts in skeptically.
“Whatever,” Piper waves her hand dismissively. “You can have as many chances as you need to get it right. But you have totakethem. You have towantit!”
Steph sighs. “I’m happy with my life the way it is. All I need is my boys.”
“Your boys are growing up,” Piper reminds her. “Matty will be in college before you know it and Alex isn’t too far behind.”
“I know,” she says, refusing to make eye contact.
“Well, we don’t want you to be lonely. You know the boys would want you to be happy, to find someone to share the next chapter of your life with. Just … stay open to it, okay?”
Steph sighs again. “Okay,” she replies. But it doesn’t sound convincing.
“What’s the deal with you and Riley, anyway?” I ask her, but she tenses up at the sound of his name and I immediately regret the question.
Piper’s eyes widen. “Oh, we’re going there? I thought …” She glances at Steph and then back to me. I cringe. “Well …” she continues, “what I mean is, there was a lot of tension at Thanksgiving …” she trails off.
Steph bites her lip and shakes her head, her eyes trained on the table. She folds and unfolds her cocktail napkin nervously.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she murmurs, then grabs up her glass and downs the remaining liquid in a single gulp as though it were alcohol and she needed the boost.
I bet she’s regretting that whole virgin drink solidarity thing now.
Steph continues to fiddle with that damn napkin so I reach across the table and rest my hand over hers, stilling her movements.
“When youareready to talk about it, we’ll be here,” I say softly.
She nods again and I know it’s time for a subject change. I’m still casting around for something else to talk about when Piper comes to the rescue.
Sort of.
“We should discuss Lucy’s baby shower.”
