AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“We’re good,” Andrew answered. “We’ll worry about doing a booth next year. We just wanted to enjoy the day this time.”
“Plus, as one of the event’s biggest sponsors, I think our name is getting out there enough,” Silas added.
I looked around to see if anyone was lagging behind them, but didn’t see anyone. “Where is Marcus today?”
Silas smiled at Andrew then back at me. It was a look that told me he still couldn’t believe this was his life even after all these years. “He’ll be here later. Andrew’s mom and my mom are both in town, so they are letting him sleep in and then they’ll all come by.”
“So, things are still going well with your mom?” I asked Silas. He and I had a lot in common since neither of our sets of parents were happy when we came out. Luckily, most of them had come around.
“Things are going great. My mom finally leaving my dad last year was the best thing ever for our relationship.”
It took a while, but after Silas came out, his mom eventually came around. The same couldn’t be said about his dad, so there was a long time his mom kept her support a secret from him. When she finally told Silas’s dad, it didn’t go over well and added a lot of strain to their relationship until things blew up and she told him if he refused to have a relationship with their son, then she refused to stay with him, which brought on the divorce.
“Is your dad still living in the same place? I wasn’t sure since he and my dad essentially divorced too and don’t work together anymore.” After my dad realized the error of his ways, he also didn’t have anything in common with Silas’s asshole father anymore, which led to Silas’s dad leaving the firm they worked at together, after pretty much being exiled.
“I don’t know, and I don’t care. That man is an asshole.”
“You’re definitely not telling me anything I don’t know,” I said with a laugh. “But anyway, let’s talk about something positive. Have you seen the crowd that’s gathering already? I can’t believe it.”
“You can’t?” Andrew asked with a chuckle. “I can. You girls did an amazing job with it. Speaking of which…” He nodded his head behind me, and when I turned around, I found Lisa and Abigail walking toward us holding hands.
“My favorite bitches,” Lisa shouted as she waved her free hand at us.
As soon as they reached us, Lisa dropped Abigail’s hand and wrapped me in a tight hug. “How are you doing, babe? Holding up okay?”
“As well as can be expected,” I answered honestly. There was no use in lying to my best friend since she could see right through me. One of the benefits of being friends forever.
“Do you have plans next weekend?” Lisa asked, still not letting go of me. “I thought maybe just me, you, and Emery could do something since I know this is a tough week for you.”
I swore Lisa must have my wedding anniversary marked on her calendar because she made sure she never missed it, especially since I lost Willow. “That sounds wonderful. Thank you so much.”
Our moment was interrupted by the sound of my phone going off. I pulled it out of my pocket to find that it was my mom calling. I waved my phone in the air. “It’s my mom. That probably means that she and Mrs. Stone just arrived with the girls, so I better go. I’ll catch up with all of you later. Have fun, and make sure there are no fires or any other disasters.” I walked a few feet away from them and picked up my phone. “Hey, Mom. What’s up?”
“Just calling to let you know we’re here,” my mom said cheerfully. “If you have more to do to get set up we can walk around and meet up with you later, though.”
I could hear Emery screaming “Mama” in the background, which made my heart melt. Even if I had more to do, I would have dropped it all to go see her. Obviously, I saw her all the time, but she was still asleep when I left the house this morning, so I missed her already. “Silas, Aaron, Lisa, and Abigail are here, so I’m good. They can take care of things. Where are you?”
“We’re actually parked behind Silas and Aaron’s office.”
I could see their office from where I was standing, which meant I didn’t have too far to go. “Perfect. Stay there. I’ll be right over.”
A few minutes later, I found them all waiting beside my mother-in-law’s mini-van. Emery dropped my mom’s hand and ran over to me, wrapping her arms around my legs as soon as she reached me. “Mama! Grandma and Meemaw made us pam-pakes! They had chocolate chips.”
“Wow, that sounds amazing,” I said as I scooped her into my arms. “Were they as good as Mama’s pancakes?”
A wide, almost malicious, grin spread across Emery’s face. “They were better.”
“Ouch. That hurts.”
Emery looked at me with wide eyes and a pouty bottom lip. “I make you sad?” she asked before giving me a big, sloppy kiss on the cheek.
“No, sweetie. You always make me happy.”
I held her out in front of me so I could take in her outfit. She was wearing the same shirt as me, which was a white T-shirt with the words “Live Like Willow Pride Fest” written with a rainbow going over the words. Floating above the rainbow was an angel meant to represent Willow. She had on bright pink shorts and sparkly, rainbow-colored shoes. It was the type of outfit my mother would have scoffed at when I was Emery’s age, so it made me happy that it was what she picked out for her.
“Ride me on your shoulders, Mama,” Emery said as she attempted to crawl up my body.
I did as she asked and hoisted her onto my shoulders. With how big she was getting already, I didn’t know how much longer I’d actually be able to do this.
