Page 55 of The Moment They Can Never Forgive
“Thanks, and we couldn’t be friends if you didn’t,” Libby said with a smile. “And seeing as this bunch likes you, I have to too.”
“Is that a rule?”
“Absolutely,” Birdie confirmed.
Leah liked the idea of having more friends, even if she wasn’t really good at interacting with them. More friends meant more people looking out for Hudson too.
“Ladies. How the hell are ya!”
“Dee!” everyone greeted the woman who stepped behind the bar.
“So there’s a pink punch that has champagne and vodka in it, with lemonade and pink shit too,” she said, flicking her platinum blonde bangs with a long, pink-tipped nail.
Her pink baby doll shirt was open to the navel, and she wore a white leather bustier beneath. With her long eyelashes that Leah was sure she felt a breeze from when she blinked and a full face of makeup, the woman looked as she always had: Exactly who she wanted to be.
“Hey there, Leah, I heard you were back,” Dee said, reaching over the counter to pat one of her cheeks. “Good to see you, honey, and I’m real sorry to hear about Cassie.”
“Thanks, Dee.” She didn’t flinch, wince, or cry, which Leah took as a win.
“You need to bring Hudson in to enroll him in my practice, plus I’ll need your full medical history from the past seven years.”
Leah turned to find Dr. Hannah behind her, sipping on her peachy keen. She still wore her standard uniform of plaid skirt and knitted beige cardigan, but she did have a pink scarf wrapped twice around her neck. Short and solid, Lyntacky’s doctor was not someone you ever messed with.
“If you could tell me who your doctor was, I’ll get your notes sent over,” she added.
“I’ll get on that, Doc.”
“Next week,” the woman said, waggling a finger at Leah. “Get it done,” Dr. Hannah added before wandering off.
The woman had set her first bone, and taught her about contraception. The sex talk she’d then delivered was something Leah would never forget.
“How old is she now?” Leah whispered to Nina, who had been hotly debating with Red the pros and cons of which shots they should drink first.
“No clue. Ninety maybe?”
“What? She’s in her late sixties at the oldest,” Zoe said. “She was young when she gave us those sex ed talks but just looked old wearing all that tweed and wool.”
“So,” Red said loudly, clearly out of patience with the shot selection happening.
“Right. Let’s go with tequila,” Cill said.
Red muttered something they didn’t hear.
“Hey,” Nina said, which had him looking at her. “If you really are an honorary woman, you would have said that out loud.”
“Thank fuck they’ve finally made up their mind,” Red said with a grin. “Who knew there were some benefits to wearing this shirt?”
A row of glasses was lined up on the bar and filled with tequila. Zoe counted down, and they threw them back. The firewater burned Leah’s throat, and she only just managed to bite back the gasp.
“For this round, no hands,” Nina said.
“Ah, what?” Libby asked.
“You can’t use your hands,” Cill added.
Leah smiled. They’d often done this in their youth.
“Hands behind your backs, ladies,” Red said, pouring more tequila into the shot glasses.
