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This time, Laurel refuses to let go. "Are you working tomorrow? I have a really great maternity idea for you. And no charge because I need a portfolio. Maternity styling is huge business. And I… I'm so excited." She releases Daphne and talks directly to her stomach. "Your Aunt Laurel loves you already."
"I don't think she can hear yet." Daphne rests her hand on her stomach.
I guess, now that I'm really looking, I can see the world's smallest bump. But it's hard to notice. She can't be that pregnant.
"Wait. You're having a girl?" Laurel asks.
Daphne nods.
"That kicks ass!" Laurel claps. "Do you have a name?"
"We're debating," Daphne says. "But we're not debating the amount of pink. The spare room is already halfway to nursery."
"Did you tell Cass?" Laurel asks.
"Not yet," she says. "She's coming in two weeks. I want to surprise her."
Laurel nodsof course. She smiles a big, pure, honest smile. It's as inviting as her glare. Inviting in a whole other way.
She's beautiful. There's really no other way to say it.
"Does that mean you're staying in New York long term?" Laurel asks. "And I can crash on your couch if I decide to move here?"
"Maybe on point one," Daphne says. "Yes on point two. Jackson is setting up on both coasts." She looks to me. "How has it been, working with my husband?"
Jackson looked at a few contracts for me as a favor. Then I recommended a friend, and they recommended a friend. And pretty soon, he was drowning in business. Fully paid business.
He partnered with a friend from law school who stayed in California and opened a boutique bicoastal firm.
Entertainment law.
I guess he does take after his father.
"He's a great lawyer," I say.
"A ruthless negotiator too." Daphne smiles in a way that suggests another implication. A sexual one.
But I don't want to know.
Laurel ignores their flirting. "Do Mom and Dad know?"
"You know your parents," Laurel says. "Somehow, they know everything."
"Yours too," Laurel says.
Daphne nods. "HIPAA be damned."
"Do you need anything, Laur?" Jackson asks.
Laurel shakes her head. "I know my way around. Go. Do what you must. I see the look in your eyes. I don't need to see it again."
Daphne blushes.
Jackson smiles like a teenage boy who got caught necking at prom.
It's weird. The man is my lawyer. I know I'm a family friend, but I'm not family. I don't usually see the head over heels side.
I say my own good night.
