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“Testify,” said Cara.
“Of course, if you’d just told us that you were planning to do the dirty with my cousin, you could have saved us all a crap load of time.” She held up her hand to forestall Jules’s admittedly weak defense. “We’ll discuss Tad later over a bottle of something fruity and liquory. As for your brother, the ego management is practically a full-time job and he needs to be checked every now and then. I’m not saying Tad’s right, but he was right about you making this decision for yourself and for Evan. We’re never going to judge you and no one can say they wouldn’t have done the same in your situation, but Jack should not have any say in this.Capische?”
Jules was starting to realize that. She didn’t need Jack to make this decision for her.
She didn’t need Tad to make it either. The decision about how Simon should figure in Evan’s life would be made by the people who mattered.
His parents.
Because the little monkey had two. Simon St. James was a prick but he was also the sperm that had contributed to the creation of her beautiful son, and for that she was grateful. He had given her a gift—an unintentional one, but a gift all the same. She needed to make it right.
“So how is my delightful brother these days?”
Lili sighed. “You know how he hates it when he’s not in control of a situation. Between this Simon business and us not being knocked up, he’s feeling sort of spinny.”
Jules caught Cara’s eye, both of them waiting for Lili to elaborate. She tended to keep her problems under wraps so pushing her to share was not an option.
“What’s that look for?” Lili asked.
“Nothing,” Cara and Jules said together.
“Jack and I are doing fine,” Lili said, not altogether convincingly.
“So the S-E-X hasn’t turned into a chore yet?” Cara asked. “Ovulation calendars and scheduled hook-ups can do that.”
“Like you’d know. What did it take? Three tries and you were picking out nursery colors.” Lili buried her pout in Evan’s hair. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be snarky.”
Cara did her best not to look smug. She could be such a pain in the arse, sometimes.
“The S-E-X is still smokin’ and I’m still hot for my husband,” Lili said. “End of story.”
That sent a shudder through Jules. “Ew, can we not talk about my brother in that way?”
“Right, let’s talk about Tad instead,” Lili said with a gleam in her eye. “Much better.”
Jules sent her a dark look. “Maybe we should make a rule not to talk about S-E-X with any male carrying the last name DeLuca or Kilroy.”
Cara leaned over to Lili and covered Evan’s ears. “So that leaves Shane. Who is still taking my hoo-ha to funky town.”
“Gah…shut up, would you?” Jules squeaked out. “Shane’s practically my brother and I really don’t want to hear about how magical his wang is.”
That sent them into a bout of bawdy laughter.
“So, our scorching hot sex lives—never thought I’d be saying that in plural—are off limits for now,” Lili said around a bite of toast with mango and mint chutney. “Uh, this is awesome. You need to can and sell this stuff.”
What she needed was to figure out her next move. She couldn’t work at Vivi’s anymore and she needed to get a plan in place.
“So have you talked to Tad—in a non-sexy way?” asked Cara in that mind-reading way she had. “I can’t believe you were able to keep that under wraps. Gym, my ass.”
Jules gusted a sigh. “We had that fight and now it’s like we can’t get back to how it was between us. He won’t answer my calls.”
“He probably could have handled it better but I think it was more about Jack,” Cara said. “There’s always been tension between them because of you and when Tad saw you caving to everything Jack said, it triggered something.”
Lili looked upset. Tad and she were close as siblings, and it hurt her that the two guys she loved most in the world didn’t see eye to eye.
“What are you making over there?” Lili asked, her hungry gaze falling on Jules’s work in a not-so-subtle change of subject.
Jules held up the recipe she had extracted carefully from Vivi’s book and placed in a protective plastic sheet. She felt a curious closeness to this woman she had never met and sadness that she would never get a chance to.
