Kat hung on me from behind, her cheek against mine. “This is where you say thank you, Teddy.”
I cackled. “Thanks, Teddy,” I laughed, “you’re the best at luring unsuspecting men into falling in love with us crazy-ass bitches.”
Teddy gave a cutesy, demure shrug, kicking up one foot with her hands flinging palms-up. “I do what I can.”
Autumn shook my sidearm. “Hey, now. I helped.”
I wriggled out of the cluster-hug. “Okay, okay, the Ice Queen hasn’t thawed out that much. Too many hugs.”
The rest of the day was spent choosing furniture from the crazy amount of stuff the girls had arranged, having the movers—and the men—bring it in where we wanted. While this was happening, the movers from my house showed up, with our clothes in wardrobe boxes as well as our kitchen and bathroom stuff and the various needful knickknacks. I planned to go back to the house myself later to pack up and transport my purse collection myself—you didn’t trust several hundred thousand dollars in vintage luxury purses to anyone but yourself.
Kat had set Isabela up with her phone so she could watch shows while we worked—hours flew by, and then suddenly it was dusk and Seven, Braun, and Titus tromped into the kitchen, each of them carrying an armload of food—there were pizzas, Chinese food, Thai food, Italian, and Mexican, as well as cases of beer and a package of juice boxes for Isabela.
I’d chosen a massive dining room table, simply to fill the space available as it was simply enormous; there were sixteen places, a bench on one side and chairs on the other, with heavy, fancy chairs with thick, padded arms on the ends. With everyone in attendance, over half the seats were filled.
And I had a vision flash into my brain and lodge there, stark, vivid, and real—Isabela running around after a tow-headed little boy, Sabrina following behind, with other children all around, laughing and playing. I saw Teddy, and in a dreamlike way I could tell she was laughing at something said by the man she loved even though I couldn’t see his face or features. I saw Lizzy with Braun, Autumn with Seven—and in the dream/vision/whatever it was, she was pregnant…as was Zoe; I saw Kat, too, holding the hand of a small black-haired little girl who looked just like her. And in the vision, we all sat together at this table, laughing, eating—my mental camera panned around the table, seeing all my friends…my family, my sisters…all of us together, all of us happy.
“Laurel?” Lizzy’s voice. “You okay?”
I looked around at everyone, at this table, here and now. “Yeah, I’m good.” I looked at Isabela. “Isabela, I would like to formally welcome you to Six Chicks Real Estate family.”
Isabela just blinked. “Okay. Thank you?”
Laughter from everyone.
Seven flipped open a box of pizza. “I never got a formal welcome.”
Autumn teasingly elbowed him. “You’re not a chick.”
“Oh. I would still like an official welcome to the extended group, then.”
“Hey, if there are official welcomes going out, I think I should get one—I was the first to dip my toe into the office pond, so to speak,” Braun said. “It ain’t easy being the first.”
I gestured at Lizzy. “You’re the boss, boss.”
Lizzy sighed, laughing. “Fine. Braun, congratulations on being the first. Seven, I know Autumn isn’t easy to get along with, so good on you for tackling that particular challenge.”
Autumn threw a lime wedge from the tray of tacos at Lizzy. “Hey, I resent that comment. I am the most easygoing and fantastic person there ever was.”
Lizzy snorted. “Okay, babe, keep telling yourself that. Titus, you must be a glutton for punishment, falling for Laurel. She’s as complicated as she is beautiful. To all three of you, welcome to the club. We’re a weird, foul-mouthed, crazy bunch of women, but we’re loyal.”
“Hear hear,” Teddy said. “You guys may be foul-mouthed, but I happen to be a lady.”
Kat rolled her eyes. “I’m a lady too. I’m just a lady who likes to say fuck.”
Isabela huffed. “You shouldn’t say that around me, you know. I’m very a-pressionable.” Her lip quivered. “Mommy said that word when she was mad. And then she…she told me not say it, and she shoudn’t not to have said it, because I’m a-pressionable.”
“Impressionable,” Titus murmured around a mouthful of pizza.
“’Kay.” She glanced at Kat. “What do you do when you…when you miss her so bad you want to just…” she trailed off, unable to find the right words.
Kat’s smile was sad and understanding. “So bad you just want to…not die too, but just…not be anywhere. Not be anyone.” She was sitting on the other side of Isabela, while I sat across from her, while Titus was at the head of the table. “What do you do? You just let yourself miss her. It’s okay. You can talk to her, in your head. You can talk to any of us about her. You can just go sit somewhere by yourself until you feel better. Because here’s the real secret, honey—it’ll pass. And that’s okay too. It doesn’t mean you don’t love her, or miss her. But it’s okay to let the missing her pass. It’s normal and it’s okay.”
“Now who’s the one with hidden depths?” I asked, the question aimed at Kat.
Kat rolled her eyes. “They’re not hidden. I just don’t use them very often.”
“Maybe you should,” Teddy said, grinning. “It’s hot on Laurel, the whole emotional depth and availability. It’s like a whole new Laurel. Just think what you could be like!”
Kat shook her head, snorting. “No. And don’t you dare make me the next victim of The Ad.” A glare around the table, especially at Teddy. “I mean it, Theodora. I don’t want a man. I don’t need a man. The only part of a man I need is his—”
“A-HEM,” Teddy cut in. “Language, Kat. Little ears.”
Isabela rolled her eyes. “I know what you were gonna say.” She glanced at Kat. “You were gonna say his mouth. For kisses. I caught Mommy kissing someone, once. They didn’t have no clothes on, and they were making funny noises. I had a bad dream and wanted a drink of water. Mommy said she was just kissing her friend.”
Kat snorted, spluttered. “Yeah, honey. Exactly. The only part of a man I need is his mouth, for kissing.”
“Lots, and lots, and lots of kissing,” Zoe said, unable to stop her spluttering laughter. “The kind with no clothes on. And funny noises.”
“Okay, that’s about enough of that,” I cut in. “Let’s be appropriate.”
This, of course, drew even more uproarious laughter from everyone, with Autumn, beside me, grabbing my arm to stop herself from falling over with laughter.
“You…you are telling us to be appropriate,” she guffawed. “Oh god, that’s rich.”
“What?” I asked, feigning innocence.
“You’re really leaning into your new role, ain’tcha?” Zoe said, wiping tears from her eyes. “Let’s be appropriate, says the queen of inappropriateness. Aren’t you the one who was telling us about…um, special kissing…challenging and adventurous places?”