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“It’s a crying shame to put in all that work only to lose him,” Joy says with complete seriousness.
That sets us off laughing so hard, we resurface with tears in our eyes.
I wipe away my tears to find Gage has returned and is giving me a curious look. “What’d I miss, ladies?”
“Girl talk,” Joy says. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“That’s not true,” he says, removing his winter coat, “and you know it.”
Hallie gets up to check on breakfast as Derek comes in from the deck.
“Is it safe to return?” he asks.
“They were cackling like hens when I came in,” Gage said.
Derek shoots Roni a look. “You’d better not have been talking about me.”
“Why?” she asks. “Are you worried what I’d tell them would make them laugh?”
“Burn,” Joy whispers, setting off another round of laughter.
I love these people so much.
When Christy and her friend Taylor first approached me about starting a group called the Wild Widows, I assumed that it wouldn’t be for me, because there was certainly nothing “wild” about my widowhood except for the unrelenting grief that had me wondering how I’d ever survive the loss of my husband.
Turns out, the Wild Widows were just what I needed, and they continue to be long after Christy, Taylor and I held our first meeting for four young widows. Sadly, the group has grown in number since then as more young widows have reached out to us. Taylor is now remarried and has moved on from the group, but Christy and I have kept it going.
Hallie calls us to breakfast, which is every bit as delicious as I expected it to be.
“Am I allowed to eat the confectionary sugar with a spoon?” Wynter asks.
“Knock yourself out,” Hallie says. “I bought it for this breakfast, so the rest is up for grabs.”
Wynter scoops up a huge spoonful and pops it in her mouth.
“Ah, youth,” Joy says. “I’d be in the hospital if I did that.”
“Same,” Naomi says, “and I’m not that much older than her.” She lost her fiancé, David, to lymphoma two years ago. We had to talk her into coming this weekend, and I’m glad she finally relented. Sometimes she feels like she doesn’t belong with us because she and David never got a chance to get married. We tell her she’s no different from the rest of us. We’re all learning to live without the person we loved the most.
“Don’t be jealous, bitches,” Wynter says as she loads up a second spoonful. “At least it’s not coke.”
“That’s true,” Joy said, “but sugar is every bit as addictive as coke and other drugs.”
“Let me have my fun, will you please?” Wynter says.
“Have at it, girlfriend,” Hallie says. “But we’re allowed to say we told you so when you feel sick later.”
“Noted.” Wynter fills a third spoonful and shoots us a defiant look before eating it.
“My teeth hurt watching this,” Gage says.
“Because your teeth areold.” Wynter grins at him. “Young teeth don’t hurt.”
“Now you’re just being mean,” Gage says.
I want to tell her that if she’d seen him in bed last night, she wouldn’t think there was anything old about him.
“Adrian,” Joy says, as casual as can be, “Wynter the sugar junkie says she offered to be your nanny. What do you think of that?”
