Page 89 of Dr. Sexypants

“You didn’t even kiss?” Lainey’s words echoed off the brick in the near-empty bakery, causing the few remaining customers to look over at us.

“Shhh!” I hissed. ”And, no we didn’t. I thought he was going to, but instead he did that stupid, long forehead kiss that I used to love so much. Then he sent me home.”

“Those are pretty great,” my friend conceded.

“Did you miss the part about him kicking me to the curb?”

“I think you’re probably being a little dramatic.”

“No, I’m not! He literally called Dora from where she was sleeping in—get this–a bed he bought her! Then he walked us to the door.”

“After basically telling you that the ball’s in your court.”

“Yeah, but he also told me not to take too long because he wouldn’t wait forever.”

“Sounds like you’ve got some things to figure out, babe.”

I let out a big sigh. “I know. I’ve got my work cut out for me.”

If I screwed this up, I only had myself to blame.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Justin

I’d just gotten home from work and realized it’d been a minute since I’d gotten my mail. So, when I got out of my Jeep, instead of going inside, I went to the mailbox. As I flipped through the mountain of credit card offers and political flyers while walking up my driveway, a light blue linen envelope caught my attention. As did my name and address written in calligraphy.

The return address read “Beaumont/O’Brien,” and there was a cross on the back envelope flap.

Ah, Conor’s baptism.

Apparently it was a huge fucking deal. I’d even gotten a “Save the Date” postcard back in April when the kid was maybe a month old.

When I’d asked Jade about it, she’d said that once Lainey agreed to let Conor be baptized in the Catholic church, the O’Briens ran with it. Lainey thought it was to make it harder for her to change her mind.

That included planning a party afterward that rivaled a wedding reception.

Jade continued, “They’re even letting me be his godmother, even though Lainey and I grew up the P word.”

My mind had immediately gone to the gutter, but I knew that couldn’t be what Jade meant.

“P word?”

“Protestant,” she whispered with a grin. “But we’re not practicing. I think if we were, Granny O’Brien would be sneaking Conor off to Mass every week and dunking him in holy water.”

I’d laughed. “You sure she’s not doing that anyway?”

“No.”

I opened the envelope and read it over. The baptism was in a little over two weeks; October fifth, with the RSVP date in two days. Fortunately, if I decided to go, I could do it online.

Because they had a fucking website for that.

The question now was—did I go, or skip it?

I wouldn’t lose any karma points, socially anyway, if I didn’t attend. I was sure I could arrange to be working that day.

Conversely, I also knew I could get the time off if I asked for it.