Page 62 of The Fine Art of Faking It
“I can feel them congregating at the service bar while food gets cold,” Emma insisted.
“Too bad you can’t drink to take your mind off of it,” Joey said cheerfully as she sucked down the last of her Long Island iced tea.
Emma tossed a wadded-up beverage napkin at her friend and stuck out her tongue.
Eden picked up her pilfered beer and drank.
“Now that we’re all here, I move that we discuss exhaustion levels,” Eva said.
“Exhaustion level conversation is how we start our nights out,” Summer filled Eden in. “We talk about how tired we are from all the crap we have to do—”
“And all the crap wethinkwe have to do,” Gia added, pointing a finger.
“We bitch and moan about it for five or ten minutes and then drink and talk about sex,” Joey interjected. “That’s my favorite part.”
“I’ll start,” Emma volunteered. “You guys were not kidding about this pregnancy exhaustion. I went to bed at seven last night and didn’t wake up until nine this morning.” Emma was famously a night owl. She and her husband Niko had started their relationship with late-night workouts at the twenty-four-hour gym.
“Just wait until that baby gets here,” Gia said. “Lydia is getting her molars or growing a second head. All week, she’s been waking up at two and again at five. Then I have to be on my A-game to make sure Aurora wears pants to school and Evan…”
“Yeah, try to come up with one complaint about Evan,” Eva teased her sister. Evan was known as Mini Mayor around town. He and his stepfather, Beckett, were cut from the same cloth.
Joey snorted. “It’s the smart ones you have to watch. They know how to act like a good kid.”
“Oh, like you’resooooworried about Reva,” Summer said, elbowing her.
Joey and her husband Jax were in the process of adopting seventeen-year-old Reva and her six-year-old brother, Caleb.
“I’m smart enough to remember what seventeen felt like.”
“Seventeen with Jackson Pierce is different than seventeen with Arnie Einhorn,” Emma snorted.
“I’ll drink to that,” Joey grinned.
“Back to exhaustion, I have twins,” Summer reminded them. “And they’re two. And I’m afraid I’ll never be able to turn my back on them.”
The women around the table laughed.
“Eva, we know you’re probably exhausted being a newlywed and all,” Gia said fluttering her lashes at her younger sister.
Eva turned a pretty shade of pink and beamed.
“Awh,” they cooed.
“Iama little tired,” Eva admitted.
“That sheriff would wear any woman out,” Summer said with a long, slow wink.
Eva studied the gleaming bands on her left hand. “I still can’t believe we did it. Got married, I mean. I can totally believe we have all the sex.”
Eden laughed. Lila, the pierced-nosed, pixie-cut server popped up next to her. “Sorry it took me so long, Eden. Busy night! Can I get you a drink?”
Eden ordered a glass of Chardonnay, and they placed their dinner orders.
“How about you, Eden?” Joey asked. “What exhausts you?”
Eden picked up Eva’s beer. “Life,” she told the table. She had a business that required twelve-hour days usually seven days a week, parents who were too irresponsible to be left alone for long, and a revenge plan that depended entirely on the man who had broken her delicate, squishy, teenage heart.
“I’ll drink to that,” Joey said, lifting her glass.
