AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I must still look non-committal because she shoves a finger to my chest. “You owe me,” she says, with her blue eyes narrowed at me.
Putting my arm around her shoulder conspiratorially, I give Ashley’s arm a little squeeze goodbye, trying to be covert as we make our way out of the living room.
Not making it out of the living room in time for Ianna to catch us, she rushes over and pins Noelle with a cartoonish 1stplace medal. “For the best wedding dress,” she says, excitedly.
The little kids jump around excited, and Ianna holds out a pouch with prizes in it full of candy and little trinkets.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” I tease Ianna, seeing they all pulled out some Fun Dip which is basically colored sugar.
“Probably not, but then there’s always the sugar crash. They’ll sleep the whole way home,” Ianna laughs.
She holds the bag to Noelle, but she shakes her head and Ianna shrugs.
“I always knew you were a winner,” I tease Noelle.
The minute Ianna leaves, Noelle yanks the pin off and one of the little kids runs off with it.
“You’re loving this, aren’t you?” Noelle seethes, her plump lips morphed into a thin line as she glares at me.
“Every minute, kid,” I say. “Here, let me help you.” I yank on a few more stubborn pieces of tissue. “Hmm,” I inspect the toilet paper. “This is a two-ply house, fancy,” I joke and pull the remaining pieces off her.
“Can we go now before they start passing around diapers with melted candy in them?” she demands grumpily.
“That’s a baby shower game,” I correct her. “And yes.”
Using your kid to lie your way out of a party so you can leave early is a bit unethical, but I'm not above doing it. Besides, I have a ton of work to get ahead on, and Noelle and I have our movie night. “I just have to grab my purse and say goodbye to Beth at least.”
Noelle follows me into the bedroom where I stashed my purse as if she thinks I’m going to leave without her.
“I always knew you were attached to me, but this is a bit much,” I say, teasingly.
“I’m not taking any chances,” Noelle says. “They might try to rope me into another game.”
In the kitchen, Florina is packing up the leftover food, but I don’t see Beth or Laura anywhere.
“It was so nice to see you, but we have to leave,” I explain, as she rearranges the plates of food on the island.
“No, no, take some.” She tries to shove paper plates of food wrapped in plastic at me.
“I’m fine really,” I say, “but thank you.”
“Have you seen the food in our fridge?” Noelle asks, nudging me with her elbow.
“What food?” I ask.
“Exactly,” Noelle says, taking one of the plates from Florina and smiling thankfully.
When she insists that I take a piece of cake, I can’t refuse that. It hasn’t even been cut into yet when she hacks it with the serving knife and plops a big piece on a plate for me. The middle is strawberries and cream and looks heavenly. I look to Noelle who is thinking the same thing – birthday cake. She gives me a sympathetic smile.
“You’re not leaving, are you?” Laura catches us before we exit the kitchen, our arms guiltily loaded with cake and food.
“Yeah, Noelle has a bit of a stomachache and I have to find someone to redo the flooring in my house. It’s a mess, you know,” I say, because it’s not a lie. I was going to start researching installers.
“This is perfect, my dad owns a flooring company!” she says excitedly. “He’ll give you the family discount.”
“That’s so nice of you,” I say, feeling a bit awkward, “but you don’t have to do that.”
“Of course I do, you’re gonna be family,” Laura says. “He did our house.” She points to the flooring in the hallway that extends into the kitchen. It’s a beautiful dark wood that I hadn’t noticed before. “It looks like real wood, doesn’t it? You wouldn’t know it’s laminate planks,” she says proudly.
