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“Don’t worry, Q,” Indie said with a too-innocent look. “I’ll be a very proper librarian.” She then loudly whispered to me, “A properlysexylibrarian.”
I burst out laughing as Quinn shook her head.
Joy popped a piece of chocolate into her mouth. “I wish I could come with you. But the boys have soccer on Saturday and piano on Sunday nights. Their schedules are busier than mine. It’s exhausting. I wish my dad were still here to help.”
We all gazed at her in sympathy. Joy fell pregnant while in college and left school to raise the boys on her own. She’d lived with her father for a few years to get back on her feet, but he decided to travel the world this past year, so Joy moved out of his place, determined to make it on her own. From her description, arranging her life around childcare seemed more complex than programming a rocket to land on Mars. One look at her calendar, and I got dizzy from all the color-coding.
“Doesn’t Ricky help out?” Indie asked.
“No.” Joy began savagely knitting. “He’s still trying to get his business off the ground. You can’t collect child support from someone who’s not earning a salary. But at least his parents are helpful. They watch the boys once a week. It’s just too bad their deadbeat son won’t step up.”
She stopped what she was doing and growled at her project. “It took two of us to bring the boys into this world, but I’m the one left raising them. Half the time, I’m not even sure if I’m doing a good job. I’m barely keeping my head above water as it is, and my boys deserve so much better.”
My heart broke at hearing her words, and I walked over to her on the couch and wrapped my arms around her shoulders. “You’re an amazing mom. We can all see that. What you’re doing is hard work. The boys are so lucky to have such a strong and loving woman in their lives.”
“I know.” Joy sniffed.
Indie got to her feet. “You know what’ll take this knitting club meeting up a notch?”
More dessert?
“An impromptu dance party!”
Joy rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand and gave everyone a small smile. “I have the perfect thing. My dad bought me a Simi before he left.” She cleared her throat. “Simi, play girl-power dance party music.”
“You do realize that Simi listens to everything you say and sends all your personal information to advertisers?” Quinn said.
“La, la, la.” Joy placed her hands over her ears. “I can’t hear you over the sound of my singing.”
“Playing girl-power party music,” a robotic voice responded. Seconds later, Ariana Grande’s voice floated through the air.
While Indie danced around the room, Joy sang into one of her knitting needles.
“Come on, Everly.” Indie shimmied over. “Join in.”
I grabbed Quinn’s hand with a giggle, and we both began dancing with Indie.
Ups and downs. Breakups and makeups. Knits, purls, and a ton of dropped stitches. This was why I loved these women. They’d stuck with me through it all. And when life gave us lemons, we took those darn lemons, made lemon drop martinis, and danced.
Somewhere after the third power ballad and an impressive air guitar solo by Indie, someone knocked loudly on the front door.
“Pizza!” Indie yelled, a sheen of sweat on her face. “I’ll get it.” She ran to the door and threw it open.
“Aiden!” I waved to my older brother. “Come join us!”
Still in his police uniform, he stepped forward, his massive frame filling the doorway. “What’s going on over here?”
“Can’t you tell?” Indie shouted over the music. “It’s an official knitting club meeting,”
“Shouldn’t there be more knitting and less… everything else?” Aiden scanned the room until he found Joy. “It’s a little loud, don’t you think?”
Joy’s smile merely widened. “Sorry, I’m having a hard time hearing you over the music. Did you say you wanted it louder? ‘Simi, turn up the volume!’”
The music grew louder.
Aiden’s frown deepened. “Simi, turn off the music,” he barked.
The music shut off, and I froze. My brother seemed even grumpier than usual.
