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“With who? You were my wingwoman, and now you’re married and knocked up.” She shakes her head. “Besides, I don’t have time for everything a night at a bar entails. I need a man to agree to fuck me good and hard, then leave just as quickly. In and out. Quick and painless. No strings attached.”
A familiar voice inserts itself into our conversation before I can reply. “I’ve heard that’s what those dating apps are for.”
Ginny and I both turn left to find Patty strolling alongside us.
“Hey, Patty,” I greet her.
“Lennon.” She nods curtly before turning her attention to Ginny. “So, you gonna try those apps?”
Ginny sighs. “I don’t know, Patty. I’ve been considering it, but I’ve heard nothing but horror stories. At this point, though, it seems like the logical move.”
Patty falls into step with us. “Honey, those apps have come a long way, and so have some of the men on the other side. Take my friend Lynette. She joined an app just for people in their forties who want sex and nothing else.” She holds up two fingers as we near the dining hall. “Two weeks later, I’ve never seen her happier. She’s having some of the best sex of her life because both people go into it with the same expectations. Think about the last time you had that.”
Ginny tilts her head from side to side. “Good point.”
“And I know I’m a happily married woman, except for the days when my perimenopause makes me contemplate murdering my husband.” She fans her hand out toward the lake. “But I’m also not a prude, and I think if all you’re after is sex, then you should go for it. No sense wasting away the tightest years of your vagina. Once you have kids, everything changes, including that girl between your legs.”
I nearly choke on my saliva.
Ginny’s mouth drops open. “Okay then. Well, thanks for the advice, Patty.”
She pats Ginny on the shoulder. “Of course. You two have a good rest of your day.”
Ginny and I watch her walk back in the direction we came from, then turn to each other. “Did you realize she was walking with us?” she whispers.
I hold open the food-hall door for Ginny. “I had no freaking clue. But she does have a point. Technology makes your little problem much more efficient to solve.”
“If you were me, would you try it out?”
Her question catches me off guard, but I don’t have to think too long about it. “Probably. But my circumstances don’t really apply to that life anymore, so I can’t say for sure.”
Ginny pats the bump stretching the fabric of my scrub shirt. It’s only a matter of time before I have to order the next size up. “I know. There’ll be a little girl here before we know it, and then you’ll have to teach her the rules of casual sex—and who Perimenopause Patty is.”
Laughing, we head to the counter to order some lunch and then find a table once we have our food.
“I still can’t believe I’m having a girl,” I say around a mouthful of my sandwich.
Ginny smiles. “I can. I had a feeling that’s what you were meant to be.”
“Who?”
“A girl mom,” she clarifies.
“Why is that?”
“I don’t know. Maybe since you grew up with three sisters, and you have one of the most badass moms around. I just feel like you have so much to offer a young woman as she grows and learns about herself and the world.”
Her words make my eyes tear up and my bottom lip tremble. “Are you trying to make me cry today?”
Concern crosses her face as she reaches out for my hand. “What? No. I was just trying to reassure you that you can handle this.”
I reach up and swipe under my eyes. “Well, thank you. I—I didn’t realize how much I needed to hear that right now. There’s been a lot of doubt up here,” I say, tapping my temple. “And I’m having trouble quieting it.”
“What’s going on?”
I pick up a chip and hold it between two fingers. “I don’t know. I spent so much of my adult life intentionally refusing to grow up that now I feel behind in so many ways, like I’m always trying to catch up.”
“You’re only twenty-eight, Lennon. Very few people have their lives figured out by then. Plus, you have so much more life experience than most people your age, so that’s where you’re winning, sweetie.”
