“Go try it on,” Julia said, and pushed me toward the bathroom.
I put the dress on and checked myself in the mirror. It was definitely the kind of thing you couldn’t wear a bra with, which was fine, because my chest was relatively small. I turned side to side and checked out the view. Not bad.
I came out and Julia clapped her hands.
“It’s so pretty. Love it,” she said as I walked over to the full-length mirror to see the full view. I twirled once and faced Julia and Hollis.
“It’s gorgeous,” Hollis said.
“Are you just glad that no one is critiquing your outfits?” I asked.
“Yes, but also, you look great.”
I did like how I looked in the dress. It showed off my back which I was pretty proud of. The yoga had honed my body in a way that I liked. One of these days I was going to start weight training and really see if I could get my muscles to pop. Swirling the skirt was kind of addictive. I took a quick pic of myself in the mirror and sent it to River.
Are you responsible for this dress? I asked.
Maybeeee she sent back.
Well, I love it. Thank you.
“See, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Julia said, coming to stand behind me, putting her arms around me. It was only when we were standing close like this that I could see the features we shared.
“I’m not that difficult,” I said.
“No, you’re not,” Julia said, giving me a kiss on the cheek.
I went ahead and rode with Julia and Hollis over to the party. It meant that I couldn’t leave when I wanted, but I knew that if I gave Julia a look, she’d hustle me out of there no questions asked.
Hollis got away with wearing ripped shorts, but I think it had more to do with the fact that Julia wanted to see as much of Hollis’s ass as possible.
The cottage wasn’t that far from the farmhouse, much like everything in Castleton. You didn’t have to drive very far, since everything was clustered around the downtown, which was near the beach for easy access.
Hollis parked her car on the side of the road since the driveway was already full.
All I could see were cute little cottages perched on the edges of the ocean. You could smell it when you inhaled.
“This is beautiful,” I said as we got out.
“Yeah, Piper and Esme are really spoiled,” Hollis said. “It’s next to impossible to rent a place like this now, with everyone figuring out they can jack up the prices because people will pay through the nose for a cottage on the water in Maine.”
We could already hear laughter coming from the backyard as we walked around the cottage toward the back that faced the water. Hollis held a gate open for me and we were immediately mobbed by a husky that had to be Stormy. She had to sniff all three of us and then give us hand licks before bounding off to see if anyone had dropped any food. Julia was carrying the shaved brussels sprouts salad that Amanda had made. I’d wanted to bring something, but I’d been assured it wasn’t needed. The food and drinks and dessert were covered.
“Yay! Hollis and Julia and McKenna are here!” someone yelled and then everyone was there, and I was being introduced and re-introduced and trying to remember names and faces.
“What would you like for a drink?” Paige asked me. Since it was her house, she was playing hostess, along with her wife, Esme, who was the resident bartender.
“Oh, um, whatever you have is fine,” I said.
“Alcoholic or non-alcoholic?”
“Alcoholic,” I said. Why not? I wasn’t driving.
She smiled and moved on to ask Hollis and Julia for their drinks.
We made our way over to the rest of the group, which was clustered around two picnic tables and a third circular table, as well as a giant folding table that had all the food, and a smaller table that Esme was mixing drinks on. It was quite the setup.
I mentally reminded myself who was who. There was Paige and Esme, then Natalie, obviously, and her fiancée Em, who were talking with Charli, who had the pink hair, and her dark-haired girlfriend Alivia that had a haircut similar to mine, but the body of a runner. Then there were Linley—with the purple glasses—and her husband Gray at the food table, arranging the desserts.
I heard voices and turned around to see Sasha, Hollis’s best friend, and her girlfriend, Jax, coming in.
“Bestie!” Hollis yelled, holding her arms out as Sasha bounded into them. Jax smiled and offered Hollis a hug as well.
The gang was all here.
Paige stood up on the picnic table and Esme rushed over to spot her so she didn’t fall.
“Okay, everyone is here! Does anyone have any announcements? I feel like someone is always getting engaged or something whenever we’re all in the same place.” She looked around and someone cleared their throat.
Every set of eyes snapped toward the food table where Gray had raised his hand and Linley was smiling so hard it looked like her cheeks were going to crack.
“Well, we have a little something to say,” Gray said, putting his arm around Linley.
“We’re having a baby!” Linley yelled and there was an explosion of sound and cheering and hugs and tears. I stood off to the side, feeling like an outsider. Yes, a baby was wonderful, but I barely knew Linley and didn’t want to crowd in.
“Oh my god, I’m going to be an auntie!” Paige yelled.
“You all are, if you want to be,” Linley said. “This baby is going to be so spoiled.”
She wiped tears and her husband rubbed her belly and kissed her temple.
“We should toast!” Em yelled. “To the newest member of the group. You are so loved already. To Linley and Gray and baby Sweet-Baldwin!” We all cheered, and chatter broke out about how far along Linley was and if they were going to stay in their apartment and if they’d told their parents or thought of names.
“I don’t want to monopolize the evening,” Linley said, her face red. “Anyone else have anything to say?”
“Well, Pinky?” Alivia asked, looking at Charli.
“What?” Charli said. “Oh, you mean this?” She held up her hand, where a ring with a pink stone sparkled.
More screaming. More tears. It was impossible not to be swept up in the joy.
Eventually we all sat down and started eating, but all the talk was about weddings and babies and so forth.
“The pressure is on,” Sasha said to Jax, who rolled her eyes.
“I think you should officially agree to move in with me before we get engaged.”
Sasha had moved back to Castleton to live with her sister, Lizzie, and take care of her niece, but Hollis had told me she’d been staying at Jax’s house for months.
“Okay,” Sasha said, smirking at Jax. “Fine. We’ll move in together. Put my name on the electric bill, baby. I’m yours.”
“There’s no one I’d rather share utilities and car insurance with,” Jax said, leaning over to give Sasha a kiss.
“Awww,” Julia said. “That’s real romance.”
“No, I’m not giving you baby name veto power,” Linley said to Paige at the next table.
“Fine,” Paige said. “But you have to promise me you’re not going to saddle this child with a weird name. Please.”
Linley laughed and squeezed Paige’s shoulder. “I can promise you I’m not going to saddle our child with a weird name.”