Dana’s eyes rounded. “Wow, that’s close together.”
“I think that when she had to give up her dream job, she decided that if she couldn’t be the world’s best doctor, then she’d be the world’s best mom and threw herself into that entirely. She did it all herself. And did it wonderfully. One thousand percent.”
“So that means that you didn’t learn to do diapers, or cook, or…” Addison said, clearly letting Jill fill in the blank.
“Anything. I decided to be a penguin expert when I was just a kid. She fully encouraged me to throw myself into my career, I think in part because she didn’t have that. But even when I was young, she encouraged me to have an all-encompassing interest. We never did things like bake cookies together. I never even had chores. Looking back, she was always pushing all of us to get out of the house. We used to joke that it was the only way she could keep it clean, but I really think it was because, while she was so determined to have the perfect house and kids, she resented it and wanted us to have interests in anything but homemaking.”
She looked around the table for reaction to that.
None of the women really gave her one though. They seemed to be just taking the information in. None of them were judging her. No one seemed shocked or appalled.
“It seemed like I had it really easy growing up. While my friends had to help out around the house and watch their younger siblings, all I had to do was…whatever I wanted. It wasn’t until I left home that I realized she really hadn’t helped me out. I didn’t know how to do anything to take care of a home.”
Everyone sat quietly for a moment.
Then Addison said, “You have to come to our support group.”
“Support group?” Jill asked.
“Yeah, that’s actually how we got to know each other.” Dana looked at Addison. “Gabe and I knew each other first. We were both in a single parent support group. Some of us were raising family members, some of us were single parents because of divorce or because we had lost a spouse. But we all came together to support one another. Then, as we started getting married, we all kept getting together. So some of us are still single parents, some of us are married parents, but the truth is, as a parent, you always need support.”
“Yeah, one of the games you have to definitely watch us play is Mine Is Bigger Than Yours,” Addison told her. “We have a big whiteboard, and we all write down the biggest thing we screwed up with our kids since the last meeting. Then, as a group, we rate them from best to worst. And whoever has the worst fuck up gets the traveling trophy.”
“Seriously?” Jill asked.
Addison nodded. “Seriously. We all mess up, all the time, and it’s okay to admit it. And hey, almost everyone walks out knowing that at least one person messed up even bigger than they did.”
“And the one who messed up the most for that week gets to take home the big gold cup filled with chocolate,” Dana said.
“Okay, the chocolate is an important detail,” Tori said.
They all laughed again.
“And then, you can watch us play, I Love Them, But…” Dana told her. “When your kid gets older you can participate too, but I think just watching us play will give you a lot of peace of mind.”
Jill found herself leaning in and resting her elbows on the table. “How do you play that one?”
“We take slips of paper and all write down the asshole things our kids did during the prior two weeks. We fold them up and toss them into a hat. Then we take turns randomly pulling them out and reading them to the group. You drink every time you had something similar happen and felt the same way. It’s kind of like Never Have I Ever…but with the ways your kids are trying to drive you insane.”
“And we end up wasted,” Addison said. “Because we’ve all had all the same stuff happen at some point. Which is the purpose of the game. It’s a safe place to talk about the fact that you love your kids, but they also make you nuts. Then a couple of the husbands come and pick us up and take us all home. And we all leave reassured that our kids are normal-ish and, even better, so are we.”
“And who is watching the kids during this time?” Tori asked, clearly fascinated.
“The dads. Of course, now there’s so many kids, they actually get together and watch them as a group,” Addison said. “It’s the same thing we do when they have their book club night.”
“Your husbands have a book club?” Jill asked.
“Yep. And it’s an erotic romance book club.”
“No way,” Jill said.
“Seriously,” Tori said. “Josh even goes.”
“They actually read romances?” Jill asked.
“Judging by some of the new ideas Logan has brought home, I can attest to the fact that yes, they really do read erotic romances,” Dana said with her hand up as if making a pledge.
All the women laughed. Again. Jill couldn’t remember the last time she’d sat with a group of women her age and enjoyed it this much.
And not talked about penguins the entire time.
“Also,” Addison added, looking at Jill. “We’ll teach you how to boil an egg.”
Jill shook her head. “Honestly, I don’t want to boil eggs.”
Addison shrugged. “Fair enough. But, be warned, we also do school snacks together. If someone has to decorate like four dozen cookies, we all pitch in. Or we brainstorm birthday party ideas or hell, sometimes we fold laundry. All of these never-ending tasks that are simply easier when you have extra hands.”
That was so much like what Ellie had said about extra hands for clean-up, Jill was suddenly choked up. She wouldn’t have the first idea how to decorate four dozen cookies. She’d hire it done, clearly. But someday she was going to have to throw a little boy or little girl a birthday party. She was so screwed.
Except…
She looked at the two women who had literally walked into her life twenty minutes ago. Then at the two women who had been here for six weeks, but who she’d been avoiding because…that was just what she did. And suddenly, she wasn’t feeling quite so in over her head.
They’d done that in twenty minutes.
Imagine how great she would feel after a couple of these moms’ nights with them.
“That sounds really good,” Jill finally said. She looked at Tori. “We’ll both go, right? To the support group?”
Tori nodded enthusiastically. “Absolutely. I can’t wait.”
Addison’s phone dinged with another text and she groaned softly. But she opened the message. Then sat up a little straighter. “Oh, they’re going over to the alpacas with Shay. Jordan’s meeting them down there.” She looked up. “Caleb and Lexi are friends from the group. Their little girl, Shay, has a brain injury from a car accident. Lexi has been talking with Jordan about the new program she’d put together and Lexi’s been so excited to see how Shay reacts when they try some of the activities with the alpacas. I promised to record it since Lexi’s working in the ER tonight.”
“Of course, you should go,” Jill said.
Dana and Addison stood. Dana handed Ella back to Tori and they gave the new mom and Naomi hugs. Then they both smiled at Jill.