Carrie’s red lips form a perfect o. Then, unlike me in the bar, she actually has the acting chops to squeeze out a tear. This perfect drop of saline running down her face. It doesn’t even harm her contouring. Whatever setting spray the woman is using, I need to know the brand.
“Don’t you dare cry,” he says.
“It just makes me so sad.”
“Carrie…”
“Aaron, you have to forgive me. I never meant to hurt you. Give us another chance,” she says. “We could go skiing in Japan. You remember how much fun the private onsen was…”
He squeezes his lips together tightly, as if he’s afraid of what words might sneak out. And he shakes his head vehemently. “You should go.”
“Please?” she pleads.
He turns to me in desperation and says in an almighty rush, “June and I have decided to start a family.”
I don’t mean to snort coffee out my nose. It’s just unfortunate timing. And I wish I wasn’t wearing a white shirt. What a mess.
Grandma passes me some tissues.
“What?” snaps Carrie.
“You heard me,” he continues in a more relaxed tone. “June said no more than two, but I think three bundles of joy is a nice even number.”
Carrie looks me over with no small amount of disgust. “You can’t be serious.”
“Though when you think about it, five would make it easier to form two teams for activities on family holidays. It would just be me making up the extra most of the time, since June doesn’t sport. But someone has to sit on the sideline and cheer, right?”
My eyes are as wide as twin moons. While I am getting used to being his shield against unwanted attention, this feels like a drastic acceleration.
Carrie’s eyes harden to stone. “You can’t keep hiding here. One leak to the media would blow this bullshit sky high. I could have more cameras in this shitty town than people within the hour.”
“Goodness, that was fast,” says Grandma. “I was wondering how long you could pretend to play nice.”
“Go fuck yourself, Audrey.”
Grandma just smiles. “You know, throwing you out of the house the day he realized how conniving and backstabbing you are is one of my favorite memories.”
“There goes the vibe,” he says. “It’s time for you to leave. Any media comes to town, and I start giving interviews neither you nor the record company are going to appreciate.”
“Actually, that’s not a bad idea.” Grandma sets her empty coffee cup on the small table between us. “You should start work on your memoir.”
“We’d kill any such effort to sully the company’s reputation with ease,” says Carrie.
“Our lawyers would probably be fighting it out for years,” agrees Nash. “Though I can’t think of a better way to spend the money.”
“Aaron, be reasonable!”
“This is about as reasonable as I get.” He scratches his stubble. “You should go. I can’t have you upsetting June in her delicate condition. It isn’t good for her or the twins.”
Carrie’s mouth falls open in much the same manner as a snake unhinging its jaw to devour prey.
“You heard him,” says Grandma. “Get off my property before your presence salts the ground or summons demons or something.”
“That’s honestly sort of mean to demons,” I mumble.
The woman stomps her ass back to her sports car in her high heels. And he watches her go with a frown.
“Are you alright?” asks Grandma.
