AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I make introductions and everyone hugs like they’re old friends. Lule returns and begins wrapping yarn around my belly.
“I don’t think that’s how it works,” Ainsley says, twisting her lips to the side.
“You silly victims of the imperial system lack imagination.”
“I feel like I should be insulted, but I’m sort of honored?” Bee says, watching as Lule does whatever it is she’s doing with the yarn, and now the tape measure.
Aly shrugs, her curly ponytail bouncing. “You get used to it.”
“One hundred and one point six!” Lule says with a grin.
“What now?” I say, frowning down at my belly.
“Oh, right. Forty inches.” She over-enunciates the measurement as if speaking to someone who doesn’t understand the language.
“I win!” Caro squeals.
“No you don’t,” Faye says.
“I do! I said forty-one inches!”
“But I said thirty-eight and a half. And everyone knows it’s whoever gets closest without going over.”
“This isn’tThe Price is Right,” Caro says.
“That’s always been the rule. Everyone knows this.”
“I call shenanigans. Give me an example.”
“Every time we’ve ever played any game.”
“Fine. Give me one.”
“Cornhole.” Faye’s smirk is triumphant as Caro surely remembers the time she overshot the hole at her birthday party.
“You still owe me a rematch,” she says.
“You’ll get it,” Faye says.
“And on that note, Tansy is actually the winner,” Ainsley says, passing her a jar of cookie mix.
“I guessed forty inches,” she says with a shrug. “Baby showers are my hidden talent.”
Faye and Caro are quiet, but Lule starts cackling.
“Who filled this nappie with Raisinettes? This is delightful!” She plucks one out and eats it. “So much softer!”
I shudder and glare at Ains, who picks up the hint.
“Moving on…” Ainsley says, nodding toward the living room where more than a few pretty wrapped packages sit on the fireplace. I try to count them, but there must be a solid twenty-five.
“You guys,” I say, having not realized they were there until now. They must have pulled them out when I wasn’t paying attention. “This is too much!”
“It’s not, and don’t ever tell anyone it is!” Midge announces from the front door. She looks fabulous, as always, in her orange Pucci dress and a red wool cape. Her silver hair is cut in a new, long bob, and a red bird is clipped into the side of her head.
“You came!” I say, crossing to hug her. “And you wore the dress!”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world, sweetheart.” She hugs me the way she always does, with a kiss to each cheek and arms loose, like she fears she might break me. And yet it makes me feel just as loved as anything.
