by Kent, Julia
“Good thing it’s summer, then,” Laura added, walking in behind them, carrying a diaper bag the size of an Appalachian backpacker’s supply pack. “We wouldn’t want her to burn herself.”
“Geez, I’d never thought of that!” Josie exclaimed, looking at her apartment through what felt like new eyes. Childproofing? Kids losing car keys? Tiny toddlers getting burned by parts of her everyday life that seemed perfectly benign?
Parenting sure wasn’t for wimps.
And Alex, she knew, wanted kids. Her heart started to spin in circles and she changed the subject. “Coffee, anyone?”
Three “yeses” later and she found herself gratefully making brews for the group. Jillian was drinking from the tap when Josie returned with the coffee, Laura settled on the couch next to Dylan, shirt pulled up.
“You’re still nursing?” she asked, regretting the words instantly.
“You’re still breathing?” Dylan asked.
“I wasn’t being judgmental. Just…you don’t see too many people nursing a thirteen-month-old. Not where I’m from, at least.” She frowned. “Then again, I never paid much attention. Maybe they did and I didn’t notice.”
“You ever see thirteen-month-olds drinking from bottles and using pacifiers?” Mike asked evenly.
“Yes.”
“Same thing, right?” He had a point.
“How about we switch topics and talk about Laura’s uncle. You said he came to the office?” Dylan’s voice was flat and chilling, making Josie’s heart return to that spinning sensation, like she had a wound top inside her chest that had been released. She’d read Laura’s texts after coming back from coffee with Janet and had texted right back, rushing home.
To her surprise, Laura had wanted to meet here.
She recounted the story with as much detail as possible, careful to convey every subtle gesture, every calculation Frank had seemed to make during their encounter. Laura was, by turns, upset, shocked, chagrined, dismissive, and worried, and it hurt Josie to think that she might have contributed to some sort of growing issue.
“Why now?” she asked. The looks on all three faces told her it was a question they’d been pondering, too.
“Money,” Laura said with a sigh. Jillian popped off Laura’s breast and shouted the word, making them all laugh.
“Wan Bub Gup,” she said, pointing to the television.
Josie gave Laura a perplexed look. “Bub Gup?”
“The only television show she watches. We put on Bubble Guppies once a day.” Laura seemed guilty. Josie couldn’t fathom why. Television had been her babysitter as a kid.
“I don’t know what that is. Is it on PBS?”
Dylan named a different channel.
“Oh,” Josie said apologetically. “Sorry. We don’t have cable.” When Alex had moved in, they’d gone over every single bill each had, an exercise in financial nudity that still left her feeling weirdly vulnerable. Sharing expenses but also revealing debt loads made her woozy. It was one thing to know he had enormous student loans from medical school, but quite another to admit how much she spent on coffee at little shops, or to show him her Victoria’s Secret credit card balance.
They’d cut a bunch of expenses to tighten their budget, and cable had been one of the items to go. As long as they had Netflix, she was fine.
“Ow tide?” Jillian asked Dylan, rolling off Laura’s lap and sinking a chubby shoe into Laura’s midsection as Laura gasped but took the kick in stride. “Ow tide?”
“You want to go outside?” Dylan asked, holding the baby now, who started to bounce with anticipation.
“OW TIDE!” she screeched, making Josie’s eardrum buzz like a sonic boom. Holy hell. The kid had chops.
“I guess we’re going outside.” Mike snickered, grabbing his coffee cup. “Is that a park across the street?”
“Yep. With a baseball field.”
Mike’s brow furrowed. “A playground, though? With swings?”
Josie had to think for a second. She didn’t really go over to that section, but yes—there was a playground. “Let’s go over and I’ll show you,” she said with a nod. The past few minutes had unnerved her. The sudden appearance of Laura’s uncle Frank was unsettling enough, but more than that was the paradigm shift in everything.
Laura, Mike, and Dylan lived their life through the lens of Jillian. She was watching it in slow motion, rolled out second by second, from the layout of her apartment, to how Laura used her body, to where they talked. Parenthood hadn’t just given them a human being to raise, nurture, and love.
It had literally changed how they viewed the entire world.
And Josie didn’t have that.
Yet.
She felt like they breathed a different air, spoke the same language but did so with different meanings. Like they were living in the same physical space but in a slightly altered dimension. It felt weird. Alienating. So jarring that Josie’s brain split into a thousand little pieces of ribbon that started floating aimlessly, blown by a growing wind of discontent.
Dylan carried Jillian as they crossed the street, while Laura managed two coffee mugs, her shirt and bra back in place after the nursing. Mike tagged along, ambling slowly, enjoying sips of coffee as they passed the famous No Parking sign where Alex had hurt himself.
Laura giggled as she read it. “Dr. Perfect recovered from his wound?” It was a rhetorical question, because that had happened ages ago. Eight months or so, but still… She and Alex had been broken up and Darla, Trevor, and Joe had been on the porch with her, drinking coffee and talking. Alex’s apartment had been a few blocks away and—he later confessed—he had taken to going for runs around the park in hopes of catching a glimpse of her.
On that fateful morning he’d caught a glimpse, all right. Of her touching Darla’s boyfriend’s bare chest, a heart surgery scar Darla insisted Josie check out.
Slam! Alex had been so distracted he’d run full force into a parking sign.
That damn sign was responsible for a wicked daring scar on his eyebrow and their reunion.
Thank God for glimpses.
“Ha ha, Laura, you know he is.”
“You recovered from having him move in?”
Josie opened her mouth to answer back with a wisecrack and found herself wordless. The correct answer was “no.”
“Ummm…”
Laura nodded as they reached a set of baby swings Dylan had rooted out as if powered by parent echolocation. He was lowering a squealing Jillian into the little seat.
“Ting! Ting!” she crowed. Swing!
Josie couldn’t help but smile. Dylan, her ever-faithful servant, did as ordered.
It must be good to be the queen. And Queen Jillian grinned and giggled, shouting, “Mo! Mo!” with the assurance that her daddy would, indeed, give her more.
Josie couldn’t help but tear up, suddenly.
Laura’s reassuring hand was on her shoulder, rubbing her back lightly. “You okay?”
Josie nodded and gulped hot coffee quickly, doing anything to break through this strange emotional state she floated in. “Yeah. Fine.”
Eyes bouncing between her daughter and Josie, Laura looked at her friend, settling on an expression of compassion. “You guys talking about kids yet?” Before Josie could answer, Laura interrupted, “No. Wait. Let me guess. Alex is talking about kids and you are still hyperventilating because he uses your towels to shower.”
“Something like that.” Josie stared glumly at the bottom of her empty coffee cup. A change of subject was desperately in order. “Let’s talk about Frank.”
“Let’s not.” Mike walked up behind Laura and placed a long, strong, protective arm around her shoulders, careful not to jostle her and spill the coffee she carried.
“Let’s not what?”
“Talk about Frank.”
Mike’s jaw tightened and his face turned worried. For no clear reason, Josie’s heart squeezed and she wished Alex were here. He’d called earlier—a birth had turned
into a messy surgical case—and there was no hope of seeing him for at least eight hours. Which normally was fine and no big deal, but this Frank business was turning into a big deal.
“Why would he come and see you, Josie, and not Laura?” Mike asked. She knew he already had his own ideas, but was trying to tease it out. They could analyze Frank’s actions all they wanted, but answers were fleeting.
She shrugged. “No idea. But when I go over that conversation, he was clearly fishing for information on Laura.”
Laura’s grip on one of the coffee mugs tightened, and her hand was shaking as she lifted it to drink. Mike unwrapped his arm from her shoulders and wordlessly took Dylan’s mug out of her hands. She gave him a grateful look.
Laura sighed. “He wants money, just like he did after my mom died. Mom told me he did the same thing after my grandparents died. He just does this.”
Mike seemed to struggle with whether to say anything. Josie felt for him. A million questions swirled through her disjointed brain, but she couldn’t find a tactful way to ask any of them.
Fortunately, Mike did. “And did anyone give him money?”
Nodding as she sipped more of her now-lukewarm coffee, Laura answered, “Sure. Mom and Frank split everything after Grandma and Grandpa died. Fifty-fifty, even though my grandparents left more to Mom. Mom said it was easier and more ethical that way.” A pained expression clouded her face. “But a bunch of family heirlooms went missing. Mom always wondered…”
“You think he stole them?” Josie asked.
Laura gave her a tiny shrug, tentative but clear.
“And after your mom died, he put the thumbscrews on you,” Mike said in an angry voice.
Josie just looked at Laura with as much compassion as she could. “Really? You never talked much about it.”
Laura’s face reddened. “I wasn’t sure how to talk about it. Mom died and between insurance and whatever assets she had, there was a small amount. A little more than five figures. But Frank came along and pushed for me to sue for pain and suffering and a bunch of issues related to her asthma attack and the car accident.”
“But you didn’t. I would have heard about it,” Josie said, frowning.
This time, Laura’s red face came from anger. “Frank…well, bullied is the wrong word, though it’s the first one that comes to mind. He shamed me. I can see that now, but I couldn’t understand it then. He told me this was private, a family affair, and I shouldn’t talk about it with anyone. That there could be legal ramifications.” She gave Josie a pleading look. “So I didn’t. Not even with you.”
A big lump formed in Josie’s throat. “Laura, I’m so sorry.”
“No, I’m sorry. I should have shared.”
A ragged breath escaped Josie. “No! No! I understand why you didn’t talk about it, and I’m not hurt or offended or whatever. I mean, I’m sorry Frank did that to you. Your mother’s death was hard enough on you, but to have him do that to you on top of it all is so disgusting!”
Mike and Josie shared a look of well-defined righteous anger on Laura’s behalf.
At that exact moment, Dylan called out to the group, “Help? Can I have someone take over? My arm’s about to fall off and I am in need of a caffeine injection!”
The three of them walked over, Mike taking on the onerous task of pushing Queen Jillian over and over as she leaned forward in the baby swing and chomped happily on the black plastic edge.
“Oooooh, gross,” Josie exclaimed, unable to help herself.
All three parents didn’t react. “Whatever. She teethes on anything. At least it’s not the toilet brush handle,” Dylan said casually. Too casually.
“What?” Mike and Laura said in horror. Josie couldn’t even speak.
“That was a joke,” Dylan hastily replied.
“Better be,” Laura muttered under her breath.
“Speaking of things that live in toilets, are you guys talking about Frank?” Dylan asked, then gulped the entire mug of coffee down in an impressive display of throat muscles and desperation. “Ah…coffee. My mistress,” he added with a wink to Laura.
She gave him a wan smile. “Just telling Josie about how Frank convinced me to give him money after Mom died.”
His face contorted. “That bastard. I wish I’d been there. Wish I’d been part of your life…”
“I was part of her life, and it sounds like he manipulated her so badly,” Josie declared.
“I’m not the same person I was back then,” Laura said softly. “I made mistakes. I undervalued myself.” She pulled herself up to her full height. “I let myself think I was lesser than other people, that I was inferior.”
Dylan pulled her in for am embrace, kissing her cheek. “You’re anything but.”
“I know that now. But I didn’t know it then, and Frank has this…way about him. A charm. A manipulation or, like, a—”
Josie nodded. “A pull. Like he’s your friend. Like he’s the—”
“Nicest guy in the world,” Laura and Josie said simultaneously.
Laura shot Josie a shocked look. “You felt it, too?”
“Yep. He’s smooth. Too smooth. But even a jaded old bitch like me started to find him intriguing. Alluring. Like he made me feel important even as he picked my pocket. He’s one hell of a something.”
Laura just nodded.
“What did you give him? And did you sue?” Josie asked.
Laura’s shoulders slumped at Josie’s question. Peals of laughter came from Mike and Jillian, and an involuntary smile spilled over Josie’s face. A flash of a tiny, dark-haired little girl, a blend of her and Alex, hit her be-ribboned brain like a lightning strike.
That made her smile even more.
Set her heart a’spinnin’, too.
“I looked into suing. Took Frank with me to a few attorney consults, but they were clear: I could sue, but there really wasn’t cause for wrongful death. She had an asthma attack and lost control of the car. It really was that basic. And Frank spent most of the time trying to find a way to get the attorney to tell him how he could sue.”
“Why would you sue, though?” Dylan asked. “I’m no lawyer, but I testified sometimes as a paramedic for some nasty car crashes. And the only way a family member can sue is, well…” His brows knitted. “I don’t remember the details, but you can’t just sue. You have to have a good reason.”
“That’s what the lawyers all told him. He got more and more upset, less and less smooth as each appointment led to more of the same.”
“And then…” Josie said.
“And then it’s like he just stopped. Not so much gave up, but pivoted. Changed his mind. He told me he’d been secretly helping Mom financially for years, and asked for some—later, half—of her estate.”
“You gave it to him?” It took everything inside Josie not to scream the words with incredulity. Only respect for Laura and love for the woman who’d been is no much pain held her back.
“Yes.” Forlorn and embarrassed, Laura gave Josie a look that begged her to stop judging. “I just wanted him to go away.”
“And now he’s back.” Josie sighed. What a mess.
“He’s back, and you have us to make sure he never takes advantage of you again,” Dylan said.
Laura’s eyes filled with tears. “Don’t you see, Dyl? That’s the problem. You two and Jillian, I mean.”
Dylan flinched. “We’re problems?”
“You and Mike have trust funds totaling $2.2 billion. Maybe even more now. Back then I had a little over $11,000. He went away after a while.”
“And you don’t think he’s going away this time?” Dylan swelled, his thick chest seeming to grow with a long, deep breath of anger and protectiveness that made Josie feel secure, and she wasn’t even his partner.
Laura’s words punctured that security.
“Not easily.”
Chapter Two
Laura
“Three plates of fried food?” Madge asked with skepticism, but scribbled th
e order on her electronic device. “And three pieces of cheesecake? Or more? How many of you are coming?”
“Just me and Darla,” Laura peeped.
Madge’s mouth twisted into an apprising frown, as if she were impressed. “That’ll do. You need to talk about your threesomes, huh?” Sunlight flashed on a small ring on Madge’s hand as she placed the order on her handheld electronic device, making Laura blink.
“Excuse me?” Laura choked.
Madge thumbed toward the door, as if there were some meaning Laura was supposed to get from the gesture. “You two didn’t get a chance to really talk when you had that posse of men in here, stumbling over themselves to prove how cool they all were.”
“Right.” Laura’s body went hot and cold, and she froze. Now she was talking about her personal life with Madge?
“We have a new specialty. Maple jalapeño—”
“You can stop right there and just bring us a plate,” said a voice Laura recognized, bushy blonde frizz invading the space between her and Madge. Bright green eyes, same color as Laura’s but so different, perfectly round and constantly evaluating everything she saw, sharp and calculated, met Laura’s.
Darla.
“Howzitgoin’?” she said to no one in particular and yet to both Laura and Madge at the same time. It was a neat trick. Making people feel comfortable seemed to be embedded in Darla’s DNA.
And that was exactly why Josie had hired her. Laura understood now that it wasn’t just that Josie wanted to help her niece—which was perfectly understandable if that were the only reason to hire her. It went deeper. Not only was Darla in a permanent threesome, like Laura, she also possessed a gift of being so real. A little too real sometimes, but if you had to err in a direction, it was always better to tip toward the awkward than to be aloof.
Darla reached around behind Madge and began to fill a carafe with coffee, plunked it on the table, and snagged two mugs.
“You want a job as a waitress?” Madge asked with arched eyebrows.
“That can be my fallback,” Darla said with a wink.
“I said that too, honey. Sixty-six years ago…” Madge’s cackle sprinkled the air with something that made Laura smile as the old woman put in their order, yelling something to the cook in the back.