‘ Guess so.’
‘ Parker, I’ m honored.’ He grabbed me and engulfed me in a hug. I cringed as sweat poured off him, running down my neck and soaking through my clothes. Although, I reminded myself, I was about to be a mom (!), so I’ d need to get used to dealing with bodily fluids as bad as or worse than this. ‘ I had no idea you thought so much of me,’ Martucci said, releasing me from the hug.
I used my shirt to wipe up his sweat. ‘ Are you kidding? You’ re my jogging buddy.’
No need to hurt his feelings. Martucci had been easy to tell. He was the flagpole I’ d run it up, confident that he’ d salute. I suspected the other people in my life might not be quite so easy to win over.
Chapter 16
#3 Change someone’ s life
#5 Run a 5K
#7 Make Buddy Fitch pay
#15 Mom and Grandma to see Wayne Newton
#16 Get a massage
#19 Show my brother how grateful I am for him
#20 Make a big donation to charity
With seven weeks left until Marissa’ s birthday, I called an emergency meeting at the Brass Monkey. A bar near work famous for its happy hour, it was also the scene of the crime, where I’ d kissed the busboy months prior. Although today must’ ve been his day off. Or he’ d quit, tired of sexual harassment from the customers. Maybe he’ d spotted me and was hiding in the back. At any rate, I didn’ t see him.
I’ d gathered the troops-Susan, Brie, and Martucci-promising I’ d buy all the two-dollar margaritas they could suck down. Because I needed help. Desperately.
The cold, hard truth: I was getting scared. Marissa had started the list with two items crossed off. I’ d completed eleven. Seven remained. Although I’ m no math genius, even I could see that I had to pick up the pace if I was to succeed. And, true to form, I’ d left the hardest for last. Sure, I could rally. But with so much of my focus now on adopting the baby, I feared I might not.
It was karaoke night, so once again the place was hopping. And for the record, there wasn’ t enough tequila in my drink, and perhaps in the world, to make me sing karaoke. I gave a prayer of thanks to Marissa on a daily basis that she hadn’ t put that on her list. Nonetheless, the singing served as a lively backdrop, and who doesn’ t enjoy hearing ‘ I Will Survive’ being bludgeoned by two drunk Japanese ladies?
The four of us sat at a corner table, shoveling chips into our mouths and poring over the list. I clarify: not the list itself. To avoid the risk that drinks might get spilled on the original list, I’ d written the remaining tasks on a separate piece of paper. Marissa’ s list had become like the Declaration of Independence-a priceless document to be protected in a glass box (or in this case, my wallet) until such time as it was ready to be presented and toured about to the masses.
‘ We know what you’ re going to do to change someone’ s life.’ Martucci beamed, riding high on the fact that he was the first to know about the adoption.
‘ I can’ t believe you’ re gonna have a kid,’ Brie added.
Susan’ s fingers tapped on the list. ‘ Although a backup plan might be a good idea& in case the adoption doesn’ t go through.’
‘ It’ ll go through,’ I said with more confidence than I felt.
Two weeks ago, after my revelation to Martucci, I’ d hired a lawyer. There were so many factors to work out that I hadn’ t thought about, such as paying for hospital extras, the birth father’ s rights, and so on. But so far, so good. Deedee started crying when I told her I was going to adopt the baby-that was, after having Kip call her mother to make sure Maria was okay with the plan. On the couple of visits I’ d had with Deedee since then, she’ d chattered endlessly about how it was going to be so cool when she and I were both big sisters.
Although the adoption smacked strangely of a business deal at this point, I knew it would feel real the moment I held the baby in my arms. Still, I was trying to stay on the down low in case everything fell through. I hadn’ t even mentioned it to my parents. It was hard enough to keep my own emotions from spiraling out of control-it’ d be cruel to tell them they were going to be grandparents only to snatch it away.
Of the handful of people I’ d told so far, the only negative reaction was from Susan, which didn’ t surprise me. She kept asking, ‘ But why?’ so many times that I started to wonder if I were actually talking to her five-year-old sons. About the hundredth time she’ d said, ‘ I never got the feeling that a baby was that important to you,’ I’ d turned to her and snapped, ‘ That’ s because it never felt possible before. I also don’ t walk around talking about how I want to sleep with Orlando Bloom, but believe me: The day he shows up wearing nothing but a towel and asking me if I’ ll rub lotion on his back, the answer, for the record, is, Hell, yes.’
‘ A backup plan’ s not a bad idea,’ Martucci said, shaking me from my thoughts. ‘ In case you fail at changing this girl’ s life. What else could you do?’
We sat silent. A beefy guy in a cowboy hat sang that country song about living like you were dying. A good choice since he was in fact dying onstage.
‘ Money,’ Brie said. ‘ I always say, ‘ Money changes everything.’ ‘
‘ Cyndi Lauper said it first,’ I joked, only to meet a table of blank stares. ‘ It was a song! Don’ t make me go get that karaoke list and prove it!’
Martucci smacked the table excitedly. ‘ Lottery tickets! You buy a hundred lottery tickets and hand them out to people you know. One of them hits, and boom, you’ ve changed that person’ s life.’
‘ Ooh, that’ s a good one,’ Brie said, and then turned to me. ‘ I got Lotto numbers I play, so ask me before you buy mine. I always play my age, my birthday, the number of guys I’ ve had sex with-’
‘ Lotto numbers only go up to forty-six,’ Martucci said, and chortled.
‘ I know. That’ s why I got to split it up.’
‘ It’ s settled, then. Even though I’ m certain that the adoption will work out’ -here I narrowed my eyes at Susan as if daring her to challenge me-’ the Lotto is the backup plan. So that’ s one down, six to go. Moving things along& ‘
‘ What’ s your rush? You may as well enjoy your nights out while you can,’ Susan purred. ‘ It’ s the last you’ ll have of them for a long while. That’ s how it is when you have kids.’
I scowled at her. ‘ You’ re out. You have kids.’
‘ They’ re home with my husband. Do you have one of those?’
Ouch.
My expression must have shown the sting because she said, ‘ I’ m sorry. That was out of line. I’ m worried about you, that’ s all. Being a single mother isn’ t easy-believe me, I know plenty of them. But I’ ll play nice. I promise.’
