Page 67 of Always Alchemy

Having a toddler is exhausting, but I have a feeling that it only gets more complex the older they get.

23

THE SPA-CTACULAR SISTERHOOD

MADDY

‘Is it weird that we had a couples massage with each other instead of our husbands?’ I ask Belle. We’re lying out in a small, sunny courtyard that’s exclusive to the resort’s spa, both relaxed and glowing from our treatments.

‘Nah. It’d be weird if the boys had one together, but not us. Anyway, I wanted to be able to fall asleep and drool without worrying about whether I’d look attractive.’

‘You snored, too,’ I tell her.

‘I’m pregnant. Leave me alone.’

‘You’rethreemonths pregnant. Not enough to justify snoring. Did Darcy snore, Nat?’

Nat and Darcy have just had their couples massage, as have Aida and Gen. We all grin at each other in smug satisfaction from our loungers in this lovely little sun trap. This is the life. No husbands. No kids. Just the girls.

‘Like a warthog,’ Nat says cheerfully, and we giggle.

‘I passed outsohard. They put me on one of those pregnant-lady beds with a hole for my face and one for my belly. It was epic.’

‘Yeah, but you’re seven months gone,’ I say. ‘Snoring is allowed.’

‘You’re giving me my first nephew,’ Belle says. ‘Everything is forgiven.’

I sit bolt upright and look at her in outrage. She waves a dismissive hand.

‘Relax. My firstbloodnephew. Jonny’s the OG, obvs.’

I collapse down against my lovely mattress. ‘I’m a little jealous that you guys have enforced sobriety. I feel like shit.’

‘That Whispering Angel was going down far too well last night,’ Gen says.

‘It’s lethal,’ Aida agrees. ‘Drinking it feels like drinking water.’

‘The sobriety stuff is fun,’ Darcy says, ‘except when everyone else is drunk. Like tonight. By the time we get to ten o’clock I’ll just want to escape to bed and avoid all the boring, repetitive drunks.’

‘Do it,’ I tell her. ‘That’s why we made a weekend of it—it’s not just about this evening. And if anyone calls you out tomorrow, just tell them you were there the whole evening. They’ll never remember whether you were or not.’

As she laughs, the door opens, and Athena comes out. Like us, she’s in the spa’s signature white fluffy robe and slippers. I don’t know Athena well at all, but I have a definite girl crush. She isgorgeous.The boys are close to her husband Gabe, who is hot as fuck. They know him through Adam, I think. Or Anton. Or both, maybe? I know Nat’s grown close to her, and Darcy has hung out with her a fair bit, too, but I haven’t had too many interactions with her.

My only real knowledge of her is that she was Anton’s assistant back in the day, that she was shagging him, and she was a part ofthatorgy in his office. She’s young, though. Probably around the same age as me and Belle.

‘Hey,’ Gen says warmly. ‘Come and have a seat.’ She points to the empty lounger next to her.

Athena hesitates. ‘Are you sure? I don’t want to interrupt.’

‘Of course! Come and chill out. It’s lovely out here,’ Gen insists. She does a quick round of introductions as Athena drops elegantly down onto the lounger, though we all know her to say hi to.

‘Did you get a facial?’ I ask her, because her face looks all glowy and gorgeous.

‘Yeah,’ she says with a sigh. ‘It was so heavenly. I wouldn’t let my therapist do any extraction—I wanted all of the bliss and none of the pain.’

‘Now I wish I’d had a facial,’ I say with a pout. ‘It was so hard to choose. Though my couple’s massage with Bellewasvery erotic.’

Everybody laughs.

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