“Okay, dish, how was the honeymoon?” Carrie asked.
Charlie rolled her eyes. “Every one of you has been on a honeymoon. Why are you asking me?”
“Because we want to hear about the sex, of course,” Carrie said without a trace of humor.
I couldn’t stop my snicker which started everyone else. “Come on, Charles,” Lexi encouraged. “Max isn’t here yet. How was it?”
Charlie glanced at me and I shrugged. “I’ll pretend you’re talking about someone else.”
Charlie smiled, but I knew that was what she was worried about. I was the first one of the group with a sibling married to one of them. It made sense that it was a little weird.
Or a lot.
“The honeymoon was great. We went snorkeling and enjoyed the beach and had lots of sex.”
Everyone cheered when Charlie admitted the last part. Even though I didn’t want to hear details, I was glad they had a good time.
“Did you do it on the beach?” Sam asked, leaning forward as far as her belly would allow.
Charlie nodded, biting her lip. “And in the ocean.”
“Ooh, I’ve never done that,” Sam cooed. “Tell me more.”
I laughed with the others. It amazed me how comfortable they all were with each other. Maybe one day I’d feel comfortable about telling them private things like details of my sex life. Of course, I’d have to be having sex to share the details.
“What are we talking about ladies?” Max asked from behind me. I stood and hugged my brother. It stung a little when he took the empty seat next to Charlie instead of one near me, but I knew that wasn’t fair. She was his wife.
“Well,” Sam sulked, “Charlie was going to tell us about sex in the ocean, but now that you’re here we’ll have to talk about the other, boring parts of your honeymoon.”
Max shook his head at Sam and kissed Charlie’s neck. “Let’s keep something private, Sam. How’s the baby?”
Sam rubbed her belly and grinned. “She’s doing well. I’m getting more and more kicks. I told Brady she takes after him. She’s strong.”
Max smiled at her and rubbed Charlie’s belly. Something told me there was more going on and before I could stop myself I blurted, “Oh, my God! Are you pregnant?”
Max and Charlie both rolled their eyes and laughed at me. “No. We talked about kids a lot, but we’re waiting for a while. Are you?” Charlie countered.
“Gotta have sex for that,” I mumbled, immediately feeling stupid for even asking.
“Not always,” Addi said.
Nine heads swung her way. “Are you pregnant?” Carrie asked, a touch of jealousy in her voice. I knew how much both Addi and Carrie wanted to have kids.
Addi shook her head. “We’re starting to look into IUI and IVF though. We’ve been trying for a while and my doctor said it makes sense to start looking into other options.”
“Would you adopt?” Carrie asked.
Addi shrugged. “Maybe eventually. I’m not ready for that yet.”
“We’ve talked about adopting if we ever decide to have kids,” Lexi said. “Neither of us really want the baby stage, and with our jobs it would be tough. Of course we also haven’t decided if we want to have kids at all.”
“Neither have we,” Claire added, leaning into Aidan. “It’s such a big job. It seems everyone wants kids though, and if you don’t you’re strange.”
“You are strange,” Carrie teased. “But I get it. It’s all I’ve ever wanted. You guys love your careers. Some people want kids the way others want careers, and then there’s the really crazy ones, like Mandy and Sam, who want both.”
“Hey!” Mandy and Sam said together.
“I couldn’t deal with being home all the time,” Mandy said. “I don’t think I have the patience for Elise constantly, even though I adore her.”
“I agree,” Sam said. “Giving up my job would feel like losing a limb.”
Carrie shook her head. “I’ve never felt that way about a job.”
“Will you leave XD when you get pregnant?”
“Yes,” Mandy and Carrie answered together. Mandy and Carrie’s husbands were X and D, Xander and Drew, co-owners of XD Home Restoration. Carrie never hid her desire to be a stay-at-home mom.
“So, Abby, tell us more about this party the mayor is throwing,” Claire said.
I turned toward her and grinned. “It sounds like it’s going to be a great party. Saturday is really the big day of it since it’s the kick-off. Over the rest of the weekend he’s setting up a craft fair for local and regional artists to come in and showcase their work. Monday will be the parade honoring the military with the chili cook-off and fireworks in the evening. It sounds like it’ll be a lot of fun.”
“And you’ll be baking?” Riley asked.
I shrugged. “I hope so. I’ll find out next week though. I’m not sure how many others put in for the job.”
“How did you find out about it?” Charlie asked.
“Brett.”
Max stilled and glared at me. “What do you mean, Brett?”
I sighed. “He came into SkinnyCakes last week. He set up the appointment I had with the mayor yesterday.”
“Why?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. He said because he believes in me.”
“He’s a snake, Ab. You know that. You can’t trust him.”
“I don’t trust him,” I told my brother, failing to hide my irritation.
“I’m not trying to say—
“It’s fine. I know.”
Thankfully Max let it drop. The others didn’t need to know everything. Like all the horrible things Brett said to me while we were married. Or the way he dismissed me when someone important was around. Or how crushed I was when I found him fucking his assistant. Not to mention that he didn’t stop when I walked in on them and kept going once I’d closed the door and left.
Max knew, but the others didn’t need to.
Thankfully the conversation moved on after that and I faded into the background. Max didn’t mean to make me feel like a child, but he had the uncanny ability to do so. I screwed up when I married Brett, but I learned from that mistake. I wasn’t ever going to let another man walk all over me.
I obsessed about my tasting with the mayor for the rest of the week. I wondered if I should have brought different things. Or maybe tried out new recipes. Waiting to hear back was nearly impossible. Especially since my evenings were so quiet.
Living alone was a whole new experience. I enjoyed the quiet when my thoughts didn’t make me crazy. I hadn’t heard anything from Brett, so my thoughts were making me crazy.
Late Thursday afternoon I was looking up new recipes on Pinterest when I heard the front door open. There was something familiar about the woman who walked in. Her long blonde hair stuck out from under the hat she wore and trailed more than halfway down her back. She was curvy, slightly bigger than I was, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that I knew her.
When she looked up, her hazel eyes met mine and I grinned. “Tara? Is that you?”
I started walking to the end of the counter, amazed at how my friend had changed. “Oh, my God! Abby! I can’t believe you work here. How are you?”
We collided in a hug and I nearly cried. I hadn’t seen her since college. We were roommates our junior and senior years. After graduation I married Brett and Tara went to California. She said she’d always wanted to see the Pacific Ocean.
“I’m great. It’s so good to see you. What are you doing here?”
“You look amazing! This dress is so cute,” she gushed. “I’m so happy to see you.”
“You, too. Are you back to visit your parents?”
Her smile faltered. “My dad’s not doing too well. I was kind of floundering in California. Involved with a low-budget director who dumped me when he moved up the ladder. Couldn’t get any acting gigs. I was both too old and too fat to get any decent roles. That and I wasn’t willing to have plastic surgery to change everything about me. Or sleep my way to the top.”
“I’m sorry to hear about your dad,” I said, my head spinning with everything she’d thrown at me. “And about California. Are you back for good?”
She shrugged. “For now, I guess. Mom needed help so I came back because there really wasn’t much keeping me there. I’ve only been back about a week but kept driving by this place. I was so worried about coming in here.”
“Why?” I asked, worrying I did something to turn potential customers away.
Tara laughed. “The name. Anything that says ‘skinny’ makes me think I don’t belong. But if you’re working here I’ll feel a little more comfortable.”
“Actually, I own this place. It’s my bakery.”
“No, shit! Good for you.”
That was what I loved about Tara. She was endlessly happy for the people around her. She congratulated you on a date even if she just got dumped, or cried with you when you failed the test she aced. I wished I had her sense of confidence and could be as empathetic to others as she always was.
“Thanks. It was a lot of work, still is, but I’m enjoying it.”
“How’s Brett handling you having your own bakery?”
I laughed at Tara’s insinuation. If she’d been around, Brett and I never would have stayed married as long as we did. Tara knew what he was like and told me not to marry him before we graduated. I wished I’d listened to her.
“Probably hanging out with your ex. He was screwing someone else. We’re divorced.”
“Ouch. It sucks getting dumped. It’s like we’re damaged goods now because we’ve been used and discarded. Why should the men have all the power?”
I laughed because she was right. I did feel like I didn’t have as much to offer a man as I once had. Brett stole something from me that was never his.
“I agree, but who wants to date after a break-up like that. I have no interest in men.”
Tara gave me a salacious grin. “The sex is so much better though. Some men feel like they have to prove that it’s still worth it to be out there. Others just want you to forget about your ex. You really should try it.”
I shook my head, unable to find the appeal. “I don’t think so. But I’ve only been divorced for a few months.”
“Did you take him to the cleaners?”
“No. I just wanted to be free of him.”
“How did you open this place up?”
“I’d been saving money in a separate account he didn’t know about. I think I always knew he couldn’t be trusted.”
“I tried to tell you,” Tara teased. “But enough about our exes. Let me buy something. Since it smells even better in here than I expected it to, I have a feeling I’ll be back constantly. Any hot guys happen to hang around?”
My mind immediately flashed to Graham. White hot jealousy tore through me, my fists clenching at my sides and my whole body heating.
I shook my head and tried to play it off. “No, I was just thinking of something Brett said last time he was in here. Sorry.”
“You know I can tell when you’re lying.”
“How can you tell?”
“Because you just admitted it, Abby! Who is he?”
I nodded to the end of the counter where there were stools. “Sit and I’ll bring you something. Then we can talk. Any allergies or objections?”
She gestured over her body. “Do I look like I have any objections when it comes to food?”
I smirked and shook my head. “I’m with you. Coffee?”
“Yes, please.”
I grabbed two truffles, two chocolate scones, and two cups of coffee. Once I set everything in front of Tara she nodded. “Spill it.”
I sighed, taking a bite of my truffle to bring me courage. “His name is Graham. He helped me turn this place into what it is. When I rented it there was basically a blank slate. He’s a carpenter and he built the display case and the tables I have in the kitchen. He installed the floors. He even built the tables when I couldn’t find ones like what I had in mind.”
“Sounds handy.”
“Incredibly.”
“What’s the problem?”
“There’s no problem. What do you mean?”
“Why haven’t you jumped him yet?”
“You sound like Sam,” I muttered.
“Who’s Sam?”
I smiled when I thought about my new group of friends. “She’s one of the women I’ve been hanging out with. Max just got married and his new wife has seven best friends. They’ve welcomed me into the fold.”
“Nice. I’ve always wanted friends like that.”
I hesitated for a minute. They wouldn’t mind, right? “You should come with me next time. We all get together on Tuesday evenings at Bite Me! My sister-in-law owns it.”
“What in the world is Bite Me!?” Tara asked with barely concealed laughter.
I snickered with her. “I know. It’s a bakery, but she uses all the good stuff. It’s delicious, but so dangerous. They’re all really nice. It’d be great if you came. Will you come?”
I pouted so she knew I was trying not to beg, but really, I wanted her there. She would fit in well with Sam and Carrie.
“I should be able to do that. Sounds like fun. Now, back to Graham. Why haven’t you slept with him?”
I shook my head. “I’m not ready. I’ve been working on getting this place started and now I’ve got this big opportunity with the mayor and it’s just not a good time for me to get into a relationship. Don’t you feel raw? I feel like all my skin has been peeled off. I can’t imagine someone touching me right now.”
“Maybe it gets better with time. Cameron and I split about a year ago. Granted I still hope something large falls on his head on set one day, but I’m not going to let how much I dislike him keep me from enjoying my life. You shouldn’t either. Brett isn’t worth it.”
I sighed. “I know. But I don’t think Graham is right either. He’s a great guy and all, but I feel like he’s too close.”
The door opened and I looked up into the green eyes of the man we were talking about. “See for yourself,” I muttered, nodding to Graham so Tara knew exactly who was walking in the door and looking like he might devour me if given the chance.
