Page 72 of Gone for You

“Oh! So you’re James’s sister?”

“Guilty.”

“Wait, Tess?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re the one who found Samantha a job!” I dart over, give her a hug, which she accepts without question, even though I’m a bit weird doing it.

“You know Samantha?”

“She’s dating Ethan,” Lily says.

I throw her a look and she shrugs.

“Oh he’s a cutie. I mean, way too young for me. Not Christine, she’s the cougar in the family…”

“Hey!” Christine shouts.

“…but too young for the rest of us.” Tess continues without acknowledging Christine’s protests.

“I can’t believe I haven’t met any of you,” I admit, feeling a little out of place.

“Trust me, I was doing you a favor. We don’t let them out in public very often,” Lily teases.

Hazel pipes up, “That’s ‘cause they get crazy when they have the margaritas.”

“It’s a sad day when your daughter calls you out on your shenanigans,” another woman says, coming around the corner. I recognize her, though. We’ve met a few times when I was with Lily. Though, last time I saw Bri, she wasn’t carrying a teeny tiny little bundle of cuteness. Bri is the wife of the Warriors head coach, Grady, and wasn’t at the bachelorette party last weekend.

“Hey, Olivia. It’s been a while,” Bri says, smiling my way.

“It really has. Congratulations. How are you feeling?”

She smells her son’s head and closes her eyes. “Good. Tired. But he makes it worth it.”

“He’s beautiful,” I say, reaching out a hand and cupping the back of his little fuzzy head.

“Thank you. We’re pretty smitten.”

“I can see why. What’s his name? I don’t think Lily ever told me.”

“Jackson Cole,” she says, smiling at him. I want to ask if I can hold him, which is new for me. I’ve never been one to want to be around babies. Kids, sure, but not babies. I’m not even sure if I want kids.

After a few minutes of chatting, Lily pulls me aside to where they have a coffee bar set up and pours a cup of coffee and hands it to me then pours one for herself. “Seriously, is everything okay?”

“Yeah. I promise.”

“You can be honest, you know. I’m so anxious that it’d be good for me to have the distraction.”

“Are you conning me?”

“Little bit,” she admits.

“You stayed at Ethan’s all week?”

My nails are suddenly really interesting. “Mm hmm.”

“And?” She nudges my shoulder.

---