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“They had to come home from Disneyland early, and caught their mom all but naked with two men. They need therapy, not ice cream.”
“I’ll give them candy, too,” Dustin said.
I almost smiled. Dustin would give them positive attention, without trying to turn them against me. “I’ll drop them off in a little bit.” And then come back here and try to find a solution.
I headed upstairs, and knocked on Alana’s door.
Nothing.
“Dustin called me. You can go to his house for the night,” I called through the door.
She opened it with a scowl. “Or until I’m old enough to get my own place.”
Words. I’d take words. “You know Dustin has a boyfriend and a girlfriend.” Why did I take that approach? It wasn’t as if Tanner and Colin were my boyfriends.
Alana’s scowl deepened. “Adrienne and Phillip aren’t my swim coaches, and Dustin isn’t my mom. When people hook up and then break up, other people get hurt in the process.”
“I don’t want you to get hurt.” And now my heart was breaking.
“Too late. I’ll be in the car.” She grabbed her backpack from behind the door, and brushed past me.
Harmony wasn’t happy about being bundled off without warning for a second time today, but I let her bring Dumbo and Mr. Garibaldi with her, and that helped her feel better.
When I dropped the girls at Dustin’s, Adrienne was waiting too. These days she spent most of her time either at his place or Phillip’s, but I suspected all three of them would be living together sooner rather than later.
“Come on.” Adrienne hooked her arm in mine and led me back to the car. “He’s got this.”
Dustin was the one person I wasn’t worried about. “Where are we going?”
“Back to your place. You’re a mess. Sorry. Not in a bad way. You need comfy clothes. A ponytail. A margarita.” Adrienne wasn’t great at filtering her thoughts.
I was fine with that. “I’m not sitting at home drinking.”
“You’re going to sit at home and sulk sober instead? We’re not staying there.” she said. She took my keys and phone from me. “Unlock this.”
“Why?” I pressed my thumb to the bottom button on the phone anyway.
She typed on the screen, paused, and typed some more after each chime. When she was done, she handed the device back. “Carly and Reese are going to meet us there. Luna’s already got plans.”
“Meet us where?” I asked as Adrienne nudged me toward the passenger seat.
She slid behind the wheel. “Grumpy’s.”
A local sports bar-slash-family restaurant. “On a Friday night?”
“Loud enough you don’t have to think if you don’t want. Lots of comfort food. Froofy booze if you change your mind about drinking.”
“Sounds nauseating.”
Adrienne shrugged and started the car. “You’re kind of setting yourself up for anI want to be miserablekind of night anyway, might as well let someone else do the cooking.”
I didn’t have a comeback.
Back at home, I pulled on clothes that would be acceptable in public, wincing at my reflection when I caught the hint of faint green vines and red roses on my breasts and stomach.
At the restaurant, Adrienne, Carly, and Reese kept up the conversation through drink orders—water for me—and the first round of endless chips and salsa.
I was grateful I’d already told Carly about work, so I didn’t need to deal with her sympathy for that on top of everything else. She’d insisted she was quitting too, and I made her promise not to. I had a bad experience with one partner, one she rarely had to deal with, and she loved her job.
