It’s been ridiculously hard, even the guys have had the same issue. Jude made a statement last night that enough is enough. It’s time someone host a Sunday dinner, and it might come down tousdoing the hosting. We got into a routine along the way, bouncing back and forth between both our places. The nights I work till almost three o’clock in the morning, we’re at my apartment. Sometimes, Jude will drop me off at the bar, go do his thing, and then come backan hour or two before closing. He sits in what I’ve now dubbed as Jude’s place in the corner, back to the wall, where he can survey the entirety of The Social. All entrances and exits are in his sight at all times.
“I’m so sorry. Inventory took forever. I’m trying to convince my father to do some upgrades in the way of technology, but he’s balking at every turn.” I take my seat between Lennie and Winnie.
“Ignore her. She only got here two minutes before you,” Kenney throws Lyric under the bus.
“Is your dad finally going to let Jude update The Social?” Winnie asks. I let out an exasperated sigh thinking about the words we spoke to one another less than an hour ago.
“Nope, he’s not budging.” I’ve explained to him that while I love working at the bar, it was time to get with this century. It would help with inventory alone, make things more seamless, and maybe I wouldn’t have to come in hours earlier or stay hours later. Dad told me until the bar is mine, it’ll be staying the same. I mouthed off and said the rate he’s going, that will happen sooner than any of us want. I almost cried. When Zane walked in, he took one look at my face and waded in. Our conversation abruptly ended. The only thing I could do was tell them both I loved them before taking my leave.
“I’m sorry, girl,” Macie says, squeezing my wrist.
“It’s okay. It’ll all work out one day. What’s everyone been up to?” I ask the crowd, sitting back in my chair while waiting for a barista to take our order.
“The twins have their days and nights confused, so that’s been fun. Asher’s mom has been a godsend, comes overduring the day to help out so I can nap,” Lennie responds first. I notice the dark circles beneath her eyes that weren’t there the last time I saw her.
“Oh god, I remember when Seb went through that phase. I promise it does get better.” Winnie’s tone sounds ominous for a moment. I’m the youngest in our family. There weren’t babies or children around growing up, I have absolutely zero input to add to the conversation. “Speaking of Sebastian, guess what Johnny came home with last night?”
“I can only imagine,” Kennedy states. “The man buys him anything his heart desires, and it’s not just a sweet treat, either.”
“You’re right. The last time Seb asked for something, Johnny came back with a piano, and that’s on top of the drum set he already has!” We all laugh at Winnie throwing her hands up in the air. “This time, it’s way worse, worse than the drum set,” she says in a whisper.
“Umm, hate to break it to you, but I’m not sure anything could be worse than that,” Lyric says. I lift my eyebrows and look at her. One thing I can say about boys and living with two of them is that the louder, the better in any element possible.
“I think an electric guitar says otherwise.” I shake my head. A lot of the other girls gasp in horror, and a couple laugh.
“Two words: soundproof room, stat. You’ll thank me for it later,” Shae says once we’ve settled down. “I do have some news of my own.” She owns LITHE, a studio for yoga, Pilates, dance, and some children’s classes, too. I’ve yet totake a class, but it’s on my list once I get a spare moment when I’m not sleeping.
“Tell the class!” Macie claps her hands together. Her energy is infectious, it makes it hard to be in a bad mood when you’re around her.
“Coralynn, my sister, is finally taking on the role of co-owner of LITHE with me. We’ve talked about this for years, but she refused until she could afford a buy-in option, and she still won’t do a fifty-fifty deal, stubborn girl.” That’s really freaking awesome news for them. I’ve yet to have a similar discussion with my dad, mainly because I’m good with where things are, well, kind of. It would be nice to have a say in, you know, updating the point-of-sale system.
“I’m so happy for you.” Lyric, who also works at LITHE part-time, stands up, hugs Shae, and then announces, “Okay, what’s everyone’s order? It’s super busy here, and I don’t begrudge them in the least, except time is of the essence, and I told the veterinarian’s office I’d be in at some point today.”
“I’ll go with you. Two heads are better than one, plus an extra set of hands.” Kennedy pops up. “Plus, I have nothing new to share. Life is, well, I’m not going to say it because then it goes into disarray. Briar is doing amazing in school and with dance. Uncle Jude has her watch all set up, and she’ll be texting everyone non-stop, I’m sure, to give you her requests when it comes to desserts.” I smile. Jude told me he used the best of the best for her watch, making it impossible for her to contact others who aren’t on an approved list while also making sure she doesn’t receive unwanted messages. Plus, the tracking system is designed to keep working even when the watch is dead. He added some kind of internalbattery as a backup. It went way over my head, though I listened intently while he talked about it with excitement.
We give our orders to the girls, and I slide some cash out of my purse,
“That leaves Macie. What’s going on with you, and when is Samuel coming back to town?” Winnie asks. I’m lost for a moment. My face most says it all.
“Samuel is my best friend, or my fairy gay mother, as he likes to say. We first met when I started out on a commercial airplane. He now sometimes works with Tys. It’s become few and far between lately,” Macie tells me, catching me up.
“Lucky girl. I bet his style is impeccable, too.” We’ve all met at one time or the other, just not all together at once. Plus, the group chat is always blowing up. Sometimes, it’s a meme, sometimes a picture of an item looking like a phallic object, and sometimes, it’s me asking for advice, like when the whole phone tracker ordeal happened.
When I asked Jude for time to get my head on straight, it took me less than ten minutes to realize I had a built-in advisory board. Each girl piped up, most of them saying that yeah, it comes with the territory, especially when Winnie left unexpectedly after she and Johnny had a big blowup about her sister. Melanie was addicted to drugs and threatened a slew of shit, including her now adopted nephew, Sebastian. They lost years together, and neither one of them looked for the other. When she returned, Jude created an app to track every single person’s phone in the group.
Kennedy and Lennie didn’t mind it, but their men had been up front about it. Obviously, Winnie was okay with it after her debacle. Lyric said Jude had been keeping tabs onher the minute she stepped foot back in town, probably even before then. She was peeved at first, then let it go, since Jagger, her childhood boyfriend and now man, greeted her pretty much right away. Macie floundered. She replied to my text saying, it’s fucked up, but it’s also Jude. The protector, willing to stop what he’s doing to help anyone, and it’s kind of sweet. She also alluded to there being a reason but didn’t go into detail. The exact same thing Jude hinted at, it seemed. Shae told me to make him work for my forgiveness because they all knew I wouldn’t walk out the door and away from him.
They helped me come to peace with my decision, unknowingly gave me the courage to go after what I wanted, and I did exactly that.
“He absolutely is a godsend when it comes to shoes. As for when he’s coming back, I’m not sure. I hate that I don’t see him as much as I used to, but then again, I’m also to blame.” Macie sounds like she’s off in another world for a moment with the heavy sigh she takes. “Anyways, he’s with his boyfriend, and things are getting serious. Maybe I can convince Tysen to go on a trip to where Samuel is in the next couple of weeks.”
“Okay, what did we miss?” Kennedy comes back, hands full of drinks, mostly iced coffees, while Lyric carries a few of the warm drinks.
“Nothing much. Talking about Samuel.” I hop up to help Kennedy hand them out, calling out the description since I wasn’t really paying attention when everyone gave their order earlier.
“Oh, is he coming into town soon?” Lyric asks.
“No, sadly, which is selfish because he always comes to me, and I don’t go to visit him nearly enough. I’m going to convince Tysen soon.” Macie crosses her fingers in hopefulness.
