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“He lives behind her dad. Their backyards touch,” Mia explained with two index fingers touching in front of her face, letting everyone know she had the inside scoop. That she had known but hadn’t been telling them.
“Convenient.” Tess sipped her lemon water, then frowned at it. Tess was not loving the no alcohol part of pregnancy and usually talked about it during their get-togethers.
“We’ll see,” Natalie said. “But before that, Ruth, do you have a place for me to rent?”
Ruth choked on her mixed drink at the question. “I’ll have to check.” Ruth happened to own most of the buildings downtown and rented out the apartments above the businesses. Though it was a new development—that people knew, not that she owned them. She had owned them for years.
“Why not just move in with sexy Sam?” Mia grinned with a wink.
“Why move out of your dad’s place?” Hazel asked in seriousness.
Ignoring Mia, Natalie turned to Hazel and said, “My dad is probably going to move his girlfriend and her kids in. They don’t need me around too.”
“When did this happen? A girlfriend? I thought that one day Mrs. Champ would finally make a move. Poor Mrs. Champ.” Hazel took a long drink of her mixed drink.
Natalie grinned at Hazel calling the woman Mrs. Champ still, but to her, Faith was just her art teacher. That had been how Natalie had seen her until recently. Now she was Faith, her dad’s girlfriend. “There’s no poor Mrs. Champ—she nabbed him years ago. He’s just been dragging his feet. But not anymore. He tried to tell me it was because he didn’t know how I would react, but I’m so happy for him. And would have been years ago.” Natalie opened her computer and turned it on.
“Why don’t you just move in with Sam?” Mia asked again, not liking being ignored.
Turning to her, Natalie said, “Because we’re taking it slowly, Mia. We don’t want people to talk.”
“People will talk anyway. Whether it’s tomorrow or in three years, people will talk. Just let them and live your life. I like to have something to talk about; it makes my days go faster,” Mia said with a giggle.
“I don’t need them talking to me about it,” Natalie admitted.
“They won’t talk to you about it? They will talk to me and everyone else about it. Do you want me to tell people that you’ve been having a steamy affair for months? I can make it happen.” Mia finished her glass of whiskey and set it loudly on the table, causing a frown from Ruth.
“No, Sam doesn’t need people talking like he stole me or we had an indecent affair. He’s a teacher,” Natalie reminded the group.
“Indecent.” Tess laughed at the word.
“Improper,” Mia agreed and giggled.
“Obscene.” Mandy tried to keep a straight face before snorting.
“Risqué,” Hazel joined in.
“Dirty.” Mia laughed.
“Saucy.” Ruth couldn’t contain herself.
All five were laughing as Natalie rolled her eyes at them and clicked through to the program she was looking for. Ignoring them, she got up and handed out the headphones. Each took a pair and adjusted them as they laughed and added a few more choice words about her so-called affair.
“Very funny. We have to get started, or you guys will all be passed out before we get halfway done, and it’ll be Tess and me chatting away as the only sober ones in the room.” Natalie sat down and made sure they all had their headphones on.
CHAPTER19
To her surprise,the recording went smoother than they usually did, and nobody actually got too drunk. Usually, she limited them to two drinks for the recording because if they had too many, they’d get off topic but too few, and they were not as funny.
Pressing stop on her computer, she pulled off the headset and watched the others do the same. She turned her attention to closing her computer programs, letting the conversation go on around her. They were still arguing about who had to read the worst book on John Wayne Gacy. Early on, they decided that they would all read different books and compare them while telling the story of the killer. It had worked out great because they all came in with a different perspective.
Closing the computer, she glanced up to see Hazel looking at her. Smiling at her friend, she asked quietly so not to get everyone else’s attention, “How are you, Haze?”
“Okay. And you?”
“I’m getting better, I think. I did a lot of thinking and remembering this week and the week before. I want to get together and talk about it. Try to get past it,” Natalie said, and the rest of the group got quiet.
“Maybe, one day,” Hazel agreed, not meeting her eyes as she looked at the ice that was all that remained of her drink, but Natalie knew she didn’t mean it.
