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I look at them again, finding it hard to leave. Bryce clears her throat behind me.
“Okay, bye,” I say.
“Bye, Mommy.” Damon lifts Clover’s hand and waves it.
I nod. “Bye.”
I circle around to Bryce before I shove her out the door and lock it so I can stay. I’m a mom, a working mom, so the guilt of leaving her when it’s my free time is almost unbearable as we walk down the stairs.
“This is good for Damon. He needs to see you going out and not waiting around for him.” She pulls out her phone. “Here’s our car. We’re meeting Elle there.”
“I’m not waiting around for him,” I say, sliding into the back seat after her.
“Sure, you aren’t.”
The driver verifies with Bryce where we’re going, and I drop the subject of Damon because I don’t really want to think about him tonight. He’s constantly in my head anyway. I could use a little break.
When we enter the restaurant, Ellery’s hand is waving in the air at a table in the back. She’s already got some type of cocktail with fruit in it on the table in front of her.
“Hey, ladies.” She slides out of her chair and hugs us. “Tell me Damon’s tongue was on the floor when you left?” She and Bryce share a conspiratorial grin.
“Sure as hell was,” Bryce says, laughing.
“I’m not sure about that. I think he was just surprised,” I say. “He’s literally never seen me dressed like this. Even when we hooked up, I was in ball game clothes.”
“Yes, can we talk about that night?” Ellery asks. “As a doctor, I’m wondering how our little Clover came into being with so many birth control options out there.”
“Elle!” Bryce scolds.
Thankfully, the waitress comes over. We both order some rum drink they have on special.
“I’m sorry, Bryce is right. It’s none of my business.” Ellery sips her drink, shaking her head. I have a feeling Ellery may have already finished off a drink before we arrived.
“It’s fine. Honestly, I don’t really know. I don’t like being on birth control if I’m not in a relationship—it gives me too many side effects—so I wasn’t on it at the time. We used condoms, but nothing is a hundred percent, so…” I shrug.
Ellery and Bryce look at one another, sharing a similar expression, and I can tell they’re about to bring up his reputation once again. I don’t know any of them very well, but I’m kind of sick of the jokes at Damon’s expense.
“Listen, I know Damon’s no saint, but he really has only treated me with respect. I realize you both know a very different version of him, but he’s been good to Clover and me.” This is not how I wanted girls’ night to start out, but I can’t sit here all night and have them put him down when he’s done nothing but try to lift me up since he found out I was pregnant. He could very well be the one out tonight and me home with Clover.
Bryce reacts first, her hand flying over mine and squeezing. “I’m sorry. You’re right. We won’t start in with any jokes, and we won’t disrespect what you two have.” She looks at Ellery and back at me. “We’re honestly surprised the two of you haven’t gotten together as a couple. But I know I make fun of Damon a lot, and I’ll stop. You’re right, being a dad has changed him.”
“Thanks, and as far as if we’re going to be together or not, the answer is no. We don’t want to jeopardize the easy relationship we have going on right now. Clover has to come first.” Thank goodness the waitress comes and drops our drinks. I take a quick sip to cool myself down.
“Eventually that’s going to change though, right?” Bryce asks. She’s definitely the bolder one of the two. “I mean, are the two of you going to stay together and celibate until Clover’s eighteen?”
I laugh, not even able to imagine that. The last five months since Damon gave me an orgasm have been torture. “That’s a hard no.”
“At some point, one of you will find someone else, and things will change. I mean, could you be in the room next door, hearing Damon banging someone else?” Bryce asks.
“I think we shouldn’t talk about Damon for the rest of the night. It’s supposed to be girls’ night out.” Ellery is quick to chime in.
I appreciate what Bryce is saying. She’s making me see it from an outsider’s perspective, staring into the perfect little snow globe of a life that Damon and I have created. It’s what friends should do, but tonight I just want to have a few drinks and not think too far into the future.
“Elle is right. Forget it. I really like you, and—”
“Don’t worry, she was as blind as you before she got with Miles.” Ellery laughs, stopping the waitress and asking for a round of tequila shots. “We’re going to restart this girls’ night.”
Things improve from there, and we all talk about our different jobs. Ellery’s is probably the most interesting—she seems to come across all kinds of people at the hospital. The only stories I can tell are about prepubescent boys and girls, but some of them are good for a laugh, too.
