“Wait just a minute,” Emmy said.
“Wait! Fat girl! Wait! Fat girl!” Otis cawed.
“I don’t know how you live with that repulsive creature,” Adriana said.
Emmy grabbed the folder from Adriana and then snatched the remote control from Leigh. She clicked off the TV and said, “I’d like your undivided attention, please.”
Leigh sighed. “Are you engaged? Please don’t tell me you’re marrying this guy
Adriana and Leigh cracked up laughing.
“I’ll have you both know that”-Emmy held up a finger-“one, I had completely random, attachment-free sex with someone I will never, ever see again.”
Pleased to see that this had gotten her friends’ attention, she continued. “And two, I liked it.”
This second pronouncement was met with silence, which Adriana finally broke. “You did?”
Emmy nodded. “And when I tell you he was inappropriate, I mean it.”
Emmy hadn’t known herself the full extent of what she’d done until the following morning, when she’d casually mentioned George’s name to her sister.
“Who?” Izzie had asked, scrambling eggs at the stove.
“A guy named George. I went down to the pool last night to call Leigh and he was there. We talked for a little while.” Pause. “He seemed nice enough.”
“George, George…I don’t know a George,” Izzie said.
“Maybe he’s new? Whatever, it’s not important.” Emmy had never withheld anything from Izzie before, but she just couldn’t bring herself to disclose what happened with George in light of her sister’s baby announcement. It just seemed so…so petty, somehow. Silly.
Kevin strolled into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee. “Who are we talking about?”
“Emmy met one of our neighbors last night by the pool. George. But I can’t figure out who he is.”
Kevin turned to Emmy and asked, “Law student?”
Emmy nodded. “Yeah, he said he was at Miami Law School.”
“Tall kid, decent-looking, always wearing mesh shorts?”
“That’s him,” Emmy agreed.
“Jorge! I wonder when he started calling himself George. Kid’s a legend around here.”
Something about the way Kevin kept saying “kid” was unnerving Emmy, and the whole legend bit didn’t sound so great, either.
“What do you mean?” Emmy asked, although she really didn’t want to know.
“Just such an unbelievable player. Literally a different girl every night, sometimes two. That guy has been with more girls at twenty-three than most men will in their lifetimes.”
Emmy froze, her OJ glass suspended in midair halfway between the table and her mouth. “Twenty-three?”
Izzie joined Emmy at the table and bit delicately into a piece of toast. “Yeah, he’s a baby. But the girls do love him.” She looked at Emmy with a strange look. “Why? Did something happen?”
Emmy concentrated hard on not choking and said, “Don’t be ridiculous! Of course not. You know me…”
Kevin drained the last of his coffee and tied his sneakers. “Izzie, honey, as beautiful as Emmy is, I imagine Jorge focuses more on the eighteen-to-twenty-five range.”
Ouch.
Emmy relayed the contents of this conversation to her friends, who were literally crying tears of laughter by the time she finished.
“You. Cannot. Be. Serious!” Leigh gasped. She clutched her stomach and rolled on the floor.
“He was twenty-three,
“It’s not like I knew that! And I certainly had no idea his
“Unsuspecting
“Mock all you’d like,” Emmy said as she tossed a towel over Otis’s cage. “But it was the best sex of my old-lady life.”
Leigh held up her hand. “Wait just a second here. We’re not acknowledging a crucial point here. Am I to assume that Jorge is Cuban?”
Emmy shrugged. “Probably. Actually, I think Kevin mentioned later that his family are well-known anti-Castro activists.”
“So…” Leigh bowed her head and extended her arm.
“So?” Emmy asked, confused.
“So you just had your first foreign man!” Adriana said. “Granted, he was probably born in the States, and even if he wasn’t, the Caribbean doesn’t really count. But I vote-in a gesture of goodwill and encouragement-that he should count.”
“I second that. Count him as South America. But definitely count him.”
Adriana reached over and pinched Emmy’s cheek. “Congratulations,
Emmy felt a frisson in the air at the sound of Duncan’s name and would swear that she saw Adriana and Leigh exchange looks, but she ignored it. Emmy knew they didn’t believe she was really over him, and she was growing tired of trying to convince them. “Yes, well, I am hereby cured of my monogamy addiction. And I appreciate you both being there to encourage me on my way to whoredom.”
The girls clinked their wineglasses. Emmy phoned in their usual sushi order (three miso soups, two sushi entrees, one sashimi entree, and a vat of extra-spicy sauce for dipping) and Leigh worked on setting the DVR to begin recording
“How’s Russell?” Emmy asked Leigh, hoping to draw her out a little. They’d known each other long enough that Emmy accepted her friend’s fierce privacy, but she never stopped trying.
“What?” Leigh asked, clearly distracted. “Russell? Oh, he’s fine. Great. He’s interviewing Tony Romo this week, so he’s been really preoccupied.”
Adriana dunked a piece of yellowtail sushi into the soy sauce and popped it into her mouth. “Emmy said you guys were close to setting a date for the wedding, right?”
Leigh nodded. “April.”
“April? Really? That’s so soon!” Emmy was surprised. Considering they’d only known each other a year before getting engaged, she figured they’d wait until at least the following summer, but she was pleased to see that Leigh finally seemed to be getting into it.
“Yeah, it definitely wasn’t my first choice, but it’ll be fine.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know; I’ve always really liked the idea of a fall wedding, I guess. Plus, it seems a little soon. And Jesse’s book is scheduled to publish right around then, so it’s going to be crazy. But my parents are insisting that it’s the only free weekend in the next two years at the club because someone canceled, and it works for Russell’s family travel-wise, so we’re going with it. Doesn’t really matter.” She shrugged.
“Spoken like a glowing bride,” Adriana said.
Leigh shrugged again. “Why should I get all stressed out about a date? We’re going to get married at some point, so does it really matter when it happens?”
“Gee, Leigh, you’re making me swoon with the romance of it all,” Emmy said. She’d intended it to lighten the awkwardness, but the comment had come out all wrong. She quickly moved to change the subject. “So how’s everything going with Mr. Chapman? Have you met his wife yet?”
Leigh put down her chopsticks and folded her legs under herself, as though preparing to give a long talk. “You know, I haven’t met her. I don’t even know for sure that she exists-I’ve never read about her in a single newspaper or magazine-and I’d never believe it if he hadn’t mentioned one time at lunch that he’s married. It’s strange, though, because he doesn’t really even reference her-like, I don’t even know her name.”
