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Laura hasn’t sugar coated a damn thing in her life other than cookies.
“After your wedding, she claimed you and I were closer, and that left her out. But now she thinks I’m closer to her than I am to you because you can’t go out as often as we did.”
“That’s not Maks’s fault, but she refuses to believe that. I was breastfeeding twins for eighteen months. That didn’t give me much freedom or energy to go out.”
“And I told her that. But she’s going to think I betrayed her, and she’s going to blame you as much as she will Lorenzo.”
“Maks once asked if I thought Lanie was into me because of how jealous and possessive she was. I told him I never got that vibe. I told him she never had an issue with Juan, even when I thought I loved him once upon a time, and later when he thought he loved me. She didn’t seem to care even though Juan and I were fuck buddies for years.”
“Because she knew you’d never end up with him. He wasn’t a threat. She’s had three girlfriends cheat on her, and her mom never hides that she likes her sister and brother better because she had them with her quote-unquote good husband. Lanie’s baggage is that people are always picking someone else over her.”
“I know, and it didn’t help that I got pregnant so soon. I never really had a chance to hang out with her between getting married, then morning sickness, then being so big that I could barely move for four months and needed a nap every two hours. I slept more than the twins did as newborns.”
“It’s been the three of us for nearly two decades. The only time we’ve been apart is when we all went off to different colleges. Even then, we still talked all the time. She didn’t begrudge us going to law school together because we came home practically every long weekend, or she came to see us. There’s no way she won’t feel left out now.”
“Chellie, you and I are good. No matter what happens between the men, you and I are solid. Hopefully, that’ll make her see we can still all be close.”
Laura believes that no more than I do, but we can try. Sharing this mutual problem is making it easier to deal with tonight. If she was blowing sunshine and rainbows up my ass to distract me, I’d still be thinking about what’s happening downstairs with Lorenzo.
“I gotta go. I’m being rude staying up here so long. I’m in Enzo’s room. Serafina brought me some clothes because we came from the gala.”
“Go and be with your new family.”
“They’re not—”
“Bullshit.”
“But—”
“Bullshit, bullshit, bullsheee-it.”
She sing-songs the last one.
“Fine. But nothing is official, even if we’re headed down that road. I get why things happened as fast as they did with Maks. There’s something about these men.”
“But only with the right woman.”
“True. Love ya, Laura Snora.”
“Love ya.”
“Bye.”
“Bye.”
I hurry to get changed and head back downstairs. All the women are in the living room chatting, and Olivia is nursing Petra. It makes me think about Laura mentioning nursing her twins. I want that. I want kids and always have. But now that I’m with Enzo, I’m actually thinking about it as more than a hypothetical or distant possibility. The thought passed through my head a few times with other guys, but it never took root. It was always gone as fast as it came.
“Sorry that took a while. I got a call. Serafina, I put the clothes back in the bag and left them on the bottom stair. Thanks so much.”
“You’re welcome. Anytime.”
When Maria pats the spot between her and Olivia, I sit on the sofa with them. I’m just about to ask Maria about her day when we hear voices raised. I recognize Enzo’s immediately.
“The fuck we are.”
Then a door slams. I look at Maria, then Nicoletta. Their expressions match, and it’s as though they’re bracing for something. Maria leans forward and whispers.
“I guarantee he won’t take it out on you, but he’s pissed. Like super, super pissed. Enzo never gets upset. He’s the mellow one like Mama. But when he does, if the shit ain’t fastened to the wall, Typhoon Lorenzo will blow it across the room.”
