Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 92136 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92136 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
“Don’t ever get pregnant, Emme,” Coco said over her shoulder as Nick led her to the bathroom off the hall. “See what happens? You can’t even tell when you pee your pants anymore. And your husband knows all about it. Romance is dead!” she yelled as she disappeared inside the bathroom and shut the door.
Mia rolled her eyes, and Nick looked at me. “Ignore her. She always gets this way. Having a baby is wonderful. You should have ten of them.”
“Wonderful for you, maybe!” Coco yelled through the closed door. “For me it’s going to be twelve hours of labor and getting this beach ball alien out!”
Nick’s face lit up with a grin. “Does that mean it was your water breaking?”
“Yes.” The toilet flushed, the sink ran, and she came out. “Help me upstairs,” she said to him. “I have to change and grab my bag. Sorry girls. I have to cut the lunch date short.”
“How dare you go into labor before I finish my wine,” Mia joked.
“Don’t worry about us,” I told her.
“Oh, no. My parents are still in Mexico,” Coco said to Nick. “I told them not to take that trip so close to my due date! There’s no one to watch the kids!”
“Hello. I’m here,” Mia said, putting a hand on her chest. “I can handle them.”
“I can stay and help, too,” I offered.
She gave us both a grateful look. “You guys are amazing. Can someone grab Gianni from school at three-thirty?”
“Done,” I said.
“And feed them something for dinner?” she went on as Nick led her toward the stairs.
“Do not worry about a thing, babe,” Mia said. “Just get that baby out so you can have some wine with us this week!”
By the time Nick and Coco came back downstairs, the boys at their heels, Mia and I had put the lunch dishes in the dishwasher, stuck the ice cream back in the freezer, and put the leftovers in the fridge.
“Stay here,” Nick told his wife, leading her to the side door. “I’m going to back the car out.” Even though this was their fourth child, I could see he was worried about his wife, who was wincing as she walked, her eyes shut. He bolted out and ran to the garage. A moment later, his SUV eased into view, and Mia held the door open with one arm, giving Coco a quick hug with the other. “Love you,” she said. “Good luck.”
Nick jumped out to help his wife around to the passenger side, and after closing her door, he hustled around to the driver’s side again. “I’ll keep you posted,” he said, waving to us and the boys, who were jumping up and down on either side of me, yelling, “Bye, Mommy! Bye, Daddy! Bring us home a baby! But not a girl!”
Mia and I laughed. “It doesn’t work that way, sorry to break it to you,” she told them. “How about I put a movie on for you guys? And get you a snack?”
They were up for that, and as soon as we got them set up in the family room off the kitchen, Mia pulled the wine bottle from the fridge and poured the last of it into our glasses. “Can you stay a little while?” she asked. “I still want to catch up.”
“Sure.” I sank back into my chair. “How are Lucas and the kids?”
She lit up, as she always did when talking about her family, and pulled out her phone to show me photos of the beautiful French-style country home they’d built on the peninsula right next to their vineyards, of the tasting room and gardens where they held events, and a wedding they’d held there over last Christmas. She scrolled through a few more. “Oh, this was last summer.” It was a family photo in which she held their youngest, a boy named Gabe, in her arms, and Lucas held the hands of their two older children, Henri and Ellie. Behind them, the hilltop rows of grapevines disappeared into the sunset.
“God, this looks like a postcard.” I shook my head. “You have the perfect family. The perfect life.”
She smiled. “Thanks. Sometimes it feels that way, sometimes it doesn’t. But I’m very lucky. Now tell me about you. How are your parents? Your sisters?”
I filled her in on everyone, even Stella’s relationship with Buzz, which made her laugh. “Well, different relationships work for different reasons,” she said. “I couldn’t live without sex, but maybe that’s just me.”
“I don’t think I could either,” I confessed, thinking about last night. My stomach muscles tightened up.
“Are you seeing anyone now?” she asked. “Last time we talked, you were getting over that Richard guy.”
“Ugh.” I made a face. “He’s long gone. As for now…” I wasn’t sure how to answer her question. “Maybe.”
She tilted her head. “Maybe?”