“Too bad you were teaching class on Sunday. He didn’t come to Central Park with us. You could’ve come!”
“First of all!” I whip my head around. “The reason I didn’t want to go is because you two would be cuddling your asses off and I’d be a fifth wheel.”
“But we didn’t cuddle. Much. The boys were there.”
“Still would’ve felt bad because the only reason that Josh wouldn’t have gone is if I was going to be there.” They exchange a look, knowing it’s true. “Is that why he didn’t go? He thought I would be there? That’s why, isn’t it?” They nod, sending fury into my blood. “What is wrong with him?”
Christina hurries to remind me, “He’s grieving.”
Zia grumbles, “He can’t use that as an excuse every time he’s a jerk.”
I burst out laughing. Not some happy-go-lucky-isn’t-life-grand laugh but an oh-the-irony-of-life laugh that makes them stare at me.
The server finally was able to shove her way through. “Another round, did you say?”
“Make mine a double.”
“Double frozen margarita?”
“Two shots in that bad boy. Thank you.”
Zia lifts her finger. “Same.”
Christina sighs, and points to her belly. “Another virgin. Because I’m clearly not one.”
Our flawlessly gorgeous server disappears with Zia staring after her. “Hope she comes back soon.”
Christina stares into a future with limited shelf space. “Where will I put all of my stuff? Bennett’s been talking about us getting a bigger apartment. We sleep in his old office.”
Zia whirls on her, “You do?” never having been there.
“Elliot’s in the master bedroom.”
“His ten-year-old son has the master while you both sleep in an office with a baby on the way?”
“It’s a long and personal story, Zia.”
“Josh came to my yoga class on Sunday.”
Their heads swing, jaws dropping to the table as eyebrows fight with chandeliers. Through my straw I make empty-glass slurping sounds until they explode, demanding to know how the Tuck that happened. It doesn’t take me long to explain, and soon they’re both laughing so hard they’re crying, reenacting it, Zia first.
“Come on, Josh, the whole class is waiting for your dumb ass!”
“Nope, Josh, I’m going to help everyone but you!”
“How’re ya doin’ there, tough guy?”
“Oh no, is that sweat pouring down your face?
“But it’s just yoga!”
“How ya like this doggie style position? Caught you looking!”
I cry out, waving him away. “That’s right, hurry on out of here. I’m not chasing you! I’ve got better things to do with my time!”
We’re the envy of everyone around us who wishes they could laugh this hard, and when our fresh drinks are passed around, Christina asks Zia, “Did Nax tell you about Josh going?”
“No, and Joe went back to California yesterday morning so Nax stayed at my place.” Black eyes sparkle secrecy and sex as she adds, “But to be honest, we didn’t talk much.”
I hold up my loaded margarita for a toast. “To a new start for all of us!”
Zia blinks at me wondering how this new start includes her, and then remembers she’s going back to school soon. Her glass rises up in pride. “To a new start for all of us!”
Christina grins, “Here here!”
Our glasses clink the high-pitched promise of good things to come, challenges forgotten for the moment, the future full of possibility.
Somehow we never order a real meal and two hours later I’ve got the whole place dancing, me on the bar with the owner trying to talk sense into me as he drags his hands through rockstar hair, “Come on, Tempest, get down from there.”
Cupping my hands like a megaphone, I shout over the music, “Should I get down off the bar, everyone? Can I get a Tuck no?!”
Hands raise like this is the concert of a lifetime, drunk crowd shouting in unison, “TUCK NO!”
Zia climbs up. “I’m Tucking joining you!”
My sister calls up to us, “I’m going home!”
Through my invisible megaphone I shout, “My sister says she’s going home! How do we feel about that?”
“TUCK NO!”
Christina points to her belly, grinning, “I’m sorry everyone, I have to go,” waving to us as we move to the sexy beat.
Tomorrow I will not remember her leaving.
But most of all I’ll wonder how I ended up in Josh’s bed.
Chapter 6
At two-thirty in the morning I wake to my phone ringing.
Giving the nightstand some groggy slaps I find it and roll over, catching a glimpse of Nax’s name before I mumble, “Hello?”
It rings again in my ear, and I swipe to answer for real this time, repeating a louder, “Hello!”
“Josh buddy, Can you uh…can you open your door?”
Rubbing my eyes, the room pitch black with curtains drawn, I argue, “You have the key, Nax. If you and Zia got in a fight or something, I don’t want to hear about it right now. I’m sleeping. Take the couch. I rolled up the air mattress already.”
“Just open your door.”
“Be right there.” I toss my phone onto the empty pillow beside mine and walk out in red boxers and nothing else.
Will’s bedroom is on the other side of our apartment, so he probably couldn’t hear my phone, but I cut a glance toward his room just in case, hear no sound as I trudge onward and scratch my sleepy head, hair reaching for every direction possible.
I was in the middle of a dream, can’t remember now what it was, and I try to reclaim it as I turn the deadbolt. Opening the door I stare at the tableau awaiting me — Tempest unconscious in Nax’s arms, wearing a skin-colored dress with flowing skirt that hangs long, like her hair, both floating as he shifts his hold to withstand the dead-weight.
Next to Nax, Zia waves, “Hi Josh. Sorry to wake you.”
Shock widens the door before my mind can catch up. Blinking hard into reality I demand, “Did someone hurt her?”
Nax walks in, “Yeah, she got sideswiped,” footsteps heavy.
“What? By who?! A car?”
“Some guy named tequila.”
Zia passes me with an apologetic look, carrying two clutch bags, and I turn
