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“It’s a big deal because you went from single mom driving a shitty Subaru to live-in girlfriend.”
Blake comes rushing in from the backyard through the patio door.
“Ave! Ave! Jaxson’s ready to boil the trayfish!” He chatters excitedly and Clarissa gags. We all gather up our wine glasses and make our way out to the backyard. Jaxson has two picnic tables in his yard for big gatherings like this one, plus we’ve put out some lawn chairs. Him and Ford are huddled around the massive steel pot that the crayfish are boiling in and Derrick has shown up as well as Whitley and Dean.
“Is Lainey coming?” Whitley asks, dropping down into a lawn chair.
“I invited her, but she said she couldn’t make it,” I say with a frown. It’s hard to get Lainey to come to everything that we do as a big group. She’s okay if it’s just us girls hanging out but if you put her in a situation with a lot of people, she doesn’t do well. She says it’s because of her anxiety and I totally get it.
“I wish she’d realize that there’s nothing to be anxious about. We’re all friends. We love having her here with us.” Whitley says.
“It honestly doesn’t matter if you know everyone there, anxiety can be a real bitch. Keeps you from spending time with people you love or going to the bar for a drink.” Clarissa says, shrugging her shoulders. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that Clarissa went through such horrendous things, she puts on a good front.
Clarissa is Lex’s best friend from when she lived in New Jersey. She didn’t show up down here until about six or eight months ago. She was raped outside of the yoga studio she owns and the police still haven’t found the guy. Being in Jersey, she felt like she was constantly looking over her shoulder. She didn’t go anywhere, not even to the studio. She never left her apartment, and the isolation was starting to eat at her. One day she woke up and decided she couldn’t be there anymore, so she closed the studio and took off to Alabama. She’s been here ever since.
I reach out for her hand and squeeze it. “I’m so sorry, honey.”
She gives me a sad smile before hollering at Ford to bring her a beer, to which he promptly flips her off. She rolls her eyes.
“Be back,” she says, shoving out of her chair and heading towards the house. I wait for her to be out of earshot before turning to Lex.
“Is she still having a hard time?” I ask and she nods her head.
“It depends on the day. More good than bad here lately, though.”
The girls and I chat about Whitley and Dean’s upcoming nuptials while the men handle the boil. Once that’s all done and we’ve got the foil laying across both picnic tables, the men dump the crayfish out so we can all dig in. Well, everyone except Clarissa who’s retching in Jaxson’s bushes while Derrick holds her hair back.
“Amateur,” Jaxson smarts, stepping up beside me with his empty plate. I elbow him in the ribs. “Oof! What the hell was that for?”
“Be nice,” I scold as I scoop up some macaroni and cheese to put on Blake’s plate. “There ya go dude,” I say, handing his plate to him.
“Tanks Ave!” He scurries off to join the other kids up on the patio and Jaxson follows me back to our lawn chairs. Eventually everyone makes their way back to our little circle, all with a plate of food. Clarissa even, although her plate is just side dishes. We eat in casual silence for a few minutes.
“So,” Dean says, motioning between the two of us. “Jaxson finally pulled his head out of his ass?” Whitley groans from beside him and Ford chuckles.
“Bite me, Anderson,” Jax says, sitting back in his chair and casually dropping his arm over my shoulders. “But yes, I finally pulled my head out of my ass.” I snort and Jaxson throws his head back, laughing. The intimacy of it all has my breath hitching. The friendship we’ve built, the relationship we’re building. I never realized that this is what it could feel like to be with someone. To fullytrustsomeone with your heart, not knowing how they’ll handle it. He leans over and presses a kiss to my temple.
“Eww, Avery. Don’t let boys kiss you.” Aria, Ford’s daughter, hollers from the other side of our circle, standing beside her dad.
“Why not?” I sass back and Jaxson chuckles from beside me.
“Because my friend Thomas said if you let a boy kiss you, you’ll get pregnant!”
“Jesus Christ,” Ford groans and Lex chokes on her food. He whacks her on the back a few times.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” she wheezes, sucking back the rest of her beer. “Honey, what did we talk about the other day?” Aria twists her lips around while she thinks.
“That just because you’re screaming it doesn’t mean that daddy is hurting you.”
Dean barks out a laugh and Lex’s face turns red.
“You did say that” Ford murmurs and she whips around to face him. He holds his hands up in surrender. She turns her attention back to Aria.
“No, the other thing.”
“Oh. That sometimes it’s best to say the words in my head to you or daddy first before I say them out loud to other people.” Lex nods her head.
“Yes. Now, shoo. Go play with the other kids.” Aria turns on her heel and runs towards Blake and Zane, Ford’s son. “That girl should come with a filter.”
