Chapter 2 #2
“What can I say? I like to look at the sunny side of things.”
“Even though it drives me crazy, it’s also part of the reason I love you so much.” Olivia put an arm over my shoulder. “So, what’s your plan? And don’t try to tell me you don’t have one. I know my sister.”
I told Olivia about how we were taking the next two months to relax and consider our options. I let her know that the two main things we were thinking about were either IVF or adoption.
“Well, I’ll tell you one thing. It doesn’t matter how you two obtain your child—I know I’m going to love him or her more than almost anything.
” Olivia leaned her head on my shoulder.
“I also know you two will be the best moms in the whole world, which is saying a lot because I know some pretty good ones.”
“Like yourself?” I chuckled.
“I am near the top of my list.”
“Good, because you should be.”
“Enough about our adult lives.” Olivia sat up a little taller. “Do you remember the girl who Ronan dated for a hot second our freshman year of college?”
It didn’t take me long to know exactly who she was talking about. “You mean the one he brought along when he came to visit us at NYU?”
Olivia nodded excitedly. “Yes! That one. She immediately friended me on Facebook after that weekend. I think she honestly thought I was going to be her sister-in-law someday.”
“Even though she took a train out of New York City in the middle of the night after she got in a fight with your brother at the bar?” I laughed, because I could still remember that night perfectly. What a mess.
“Yes!” Olivia shouted giddily. “I’m still friends with her on Facebook and she randomly popped up the other day, and it looks like she’s just as dramatic as she was back then.
Only now her drama is with three baby daddies who she appears to keep switching between even though when she’s not with them she rants about how awful they are. ”
I clapped my hands together. I might have been an adult in some ways, but I still held on to some of my immaturity for moments like this. “I love everything about this. Are we going to stalk her?”
Olivia jumped off of the bed and grabbed her phone out of the pocket of the shorts she had been wearing. “Is that even a question?”
After getting our fill of giggles from her Facebook page, we ended up scrolling through the pages of a girl I had hooked up with in college and a guy Olivia had hooked up with. We were happy to find that we both had much better taste now than we did back then.
After our Facebook stalking binge was over, we spent the rest of the night reliving some of our favorite college memories. I honestly couldn’t remember the last time I had laughed this hard.
After Olivia fell asleep, I grabbed my phone to text Carter. Thank you so much for doing this. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me. Sleep tight, my love. I’ll see you in my dreams. I love you.
I wasn’t surprised when ten minutes passed without a response from Carter. It was already way past the time we normally went to bed. I put my phone on the night stand and let myself drift off to sleep to the sound of my best friend’s soft snores.
***
The next day, Olivia and I slept in then went out for brunch while Carter worked.
We stayed in town after brunch and did some shopping before I had to head home to get ready for work.
I had to make sure the place was still standing and pay some bills, but I decided to stick around and try out some new coffee recipes so Carter and Olivia could have their time together.
After I was back home, we all watched a movie together before going to bed.
Olivia had passed out on the couch in the middle of the movie and did a groggy walk to bed after I woke her up, so I figured it was okay if I spent the night in my own room this time.
Even though all we did was sleep, it felt good to snuggle close to Carter after our night apart. When I woke up in the morning, I was surprised to find she was no longer beside me, which seemed weird. If there was any day I figured she’d stay in bed with me, it would have been my birthday.
The answer to my question was answered when I heard voices down the hallway that continued to get louder and closer.
It didn’t take me long to realize that those two voices, belonging to Carter and Olivia, were singing happy birthday.
When the door to our bedroom opened, the two of them walked in.
Carter was holding a tray of food, which included a very big stack of pancakes with a candle on top.
Olivia was balancing three mimosas in her hands.
“Happy birthday, dear Jax. Happy birthday to you,” they finished as they sat the tray down in front of me.
Carter pointed to the candle. “Make a wish.”
Looking at my two favorite people in the whole world standing in front of me, it felt like all of my wishes had come true. Then I remembered one very big wish that hadn’t come true yet. I wish Carter and I could have a child, no matter what way we do it.
I blew out the candles extra hard as if that would make a difference. Both Olivia and Carter screamed and clapped in response, then sat down on either side of me on the bed.
Olivia picked up one of the extra forks and grabbed a pancake. When I gave her a look, she shrugged. “Did you really think we made all of this for you? You’re sharing it.”
I laughed. “Of course. My apologies.” I picked up a fork and handed it to Carter. “For you, my lady.”
Instead of grabbing any food, Carter set the fork back down. “I was going to wait to see what was left after you had your fill. You’re the birthday girl.”
I pointed my own fork at Olivia, who had already finished a whole pancake and was now digging into the bacon. “See, this is why I chose Carter over you.”
Olivia smiled at me as she took another bite of food. “Whatever. I’d rather have Quinton and a full belly anyway.”
“Full belly, huh?” I made a point of looking at Olivia’s very tiny stomach that showed absolutely no signs of pregnancy. “Are you trying to tell us something?”
“Hell no.” Olivia dropped her fork and picked up her champagne glass, quickly gulping down her whole mimosa. “I’ve said it from the time I was pregnant—I am not doing that again. The toddler stage has done absolutely nothing to change my mind. Jada is the devil.”
Her words were bittersweet. I adored my niece and loved watching my best friend be a mother, but I also wanted a child of my own to call the devil.
I might have been much more chill about this whole process than Carter was, but that didn’t mean that it didn’t sting every time one of us had a negative pregnancy test.
“She’s so darn cute though,” I reminded Olivia with my sing-song voice.
Olivia groaned. “She is. It’s what keeps her out of trouble. I hate it.”
We spent the rest of our time in bed eating and joking around, and even though I had just turned thirty-five, hanging out with Olivia and Carter made me feel like I was in my early twenties again.
After getting dressed and ready, I requested that the three of us go for a walk. Olivia and Carter didn’t know where we were headed, but I had the perfect place in mind.
Carter laughed when she realized where I was taking them. “No! Please don’t tell me you’re taking us for high tea.”
I sighed. “I wish I was, but it turns out, they no longer do high tea here. Apparently, without your grandma, it just wasn’t sustainable.”
Olivia laughed. “Honestly, that doesn’t surprise me one bit.”
Carter stopped walking and tilted her head at me. “So, what are we doing here?”
“There’s still a bar inside. I figured we could get a drink.”
Carter looked down at her watch. “It’s barely past eleven.”
“It’s eleven already?” I patted her shoulder. “Perfect. I was worried we were going to have to wait for them to open.”
“Are we just going to drink all day?” Carter tried to laugh as if it was a joke, but I could tell the thought of that actually stressed her out.
“Would that be such a problem?” Olivia asked as she pulled the two of us toward the building. “We’re reunited, childless, and have the whole day ahead of us. Might as well be a little stupid.”
Carter groaned and put her hand on her stomach. “I’m going to feel really stupid tomorrow when I’m throwing up.”
“Don’t worry. Jax will hold your hair back for you.” Olivia winked at both of us before skipping the rest of the way inside.
I watched her in adoration. I loved that no matter how old we got, we were still able to act like kids again when we were together.
Olivia had grown into the greatest woman and the perfect mom.
Yet, it wouldn’t surprise me if she somehow had me doing kegstands by the end of the night.
I supposed that was the beauty of lasting friendships.
The day did not bring kegstands, but it did bring the three of us being very drunk by five o’clock. Carter, the skeptic, was the one leading the way and encouraging us to keep going after she had her drink at the bar. My adorable little light weight.
I was happy to find we hadn’t completely reverted to our college days.
Instead of getting ready to go out, we ordered Chinese food and watched old home videos that Carter had found a few weeks ago.
Thank god her grandma somehow still had a combined VHS and DVD player, so we had the ability to watch all of them.
We started with some of the older ones from when Carter’s mama and uncle Jamie were kids, then worked our way through to videos of a young Olivia, Carter, and Ronan.
In one video, the three of them were swimming in the lake behind the house with their moms and uncles.
A crazy grin came on to Olivia’s face as she looked from the screen to me and Carter. “I have an amazingly terrible idea.”
I snorted out a laugh. “Oh yeah? What’s that?”
“We should go for a swim right now.”
Now, it was Carter who laughed. “No. It is way too cold to swim.”
Olivia pulled out her phone and squinted down at it. “It’s fifty-nine. That’s not cold.”