Page 53 of Townshipped
Lexi nods and practically falls back into her seat. Early motherhood takes its toll on a woman. I’m sure I’ve been around new moms before. I try to imagine them, but come up empty.
I return a few moments later with plastic cups and a pitcher full of what looks like strawberry daiquiris.
The smell of pizza wafts through the room when Jayme lifts the lid.
As if a switch is flicked, I’m right there in an authentic Italian pizzeria, an artisan pizza sitting on the middle of a wooden table. The pizza is topped with our usual: ricotta, prosciutto, caramelized onions, and pears.
A woman with terra-cotta skin and dark hair sits in the booth across from me laughing. What is her name? It’s on the tip of my tongue. It starts with … a J? Or is it a G? She calls me chiquita before she takes a big bite of pizza, covering her mouth with her hand. She’s saying something …
“One slice or two?” Lexi asks me.
“Oh. Uh. One.”
“Are you okay?” Laura asks. “You have to excuse us for being all up in your business. Bordeaux is great, but we’re not known for healthy boundaries. Just tell us we’re overstepping, and we’ll back off.”
“Or not,” Jayme mumbles around a bite of pizza from an oversized chair in the corner where she’s sitting with her feet tucked under herself.
“No. It’s fine,” I say, still trying to grapple with the image of the pizza I had with that fun-loving woman.
My heart clenches with a homesickness I haven’t felt since the confusing first morning Aiden stood in my bedroom doorway.
If only I could manage to find somewhere quiet so I could really focus on the memory. But I don’t want to be rude, so I let the image fade for now, hoping it will come to me later.
“Laura’s good at poking around in others’ business, but she’s not good about others poking in hers,” Shannon says. She blows a kiss in Laura’s direction.
“Who wants all that poking?” Lexi says with a laugh.
“You’re not wrong,” Laura says. “But I draw a firm line at talking behind people’s backs. I ask them straight to their faces. That way I get the facts and not some embellished version of their situation.”
“Good thing since you are the keeper of the secrets,” Shannon says.
“Hairdresser,” Lexi says by way of explanation to me.
She covers her mouth with the back of her hand and yawns.
“Poor thing,” Jayme says. “You could go up and nap on my bed if you want.”
“And miss girls’ night? No way. I’m here for this. And I want all the scoop on what it’s like living with my reclusive brother-in-law.”
The attention circles back to me. I smile, thinking of Aiden.
“That’s what I thought!” Shannon says, using her slice of pizza to emphasize her words.
“What?” I ask, innocently.
“He’s not the only one getting swoony.”
I laugh out loud. “Has anyone ever told you women you are too much?”
“Everyone,” Jayme says.
“All the time,” Shannon adds.
“We’re known for being too much,” Lexi agrees.
“So,” Laura says, a tone of seriousness in her voice. “Has it been friendly … or?”
“He’s been very friendly. Welcoming. Totally makes me feel at home.” I surprise myself by choking up a little. I look down at my plate to hide my face. Studying my slice of pizza like it’s holding all the mysteries of the universe, I say, “I don’t know what I would have done without him.”
