14. Shae
SHAE
“ A re you crazy? You shouldn’t be carrying your purse, have your hands full of coffee and bags of bagels!
” Coralynn greets me the next day at LITHE.
I’ve barely made it through the door, and she’s about to have a shit fit.
Okay, maybe a coronary would better describe the tizzy my sister is putting herself in.
“Well, here, help me, then.” I shove one of the drink carriers into her hands.
Coralynn scrambles not to drop them. I knew the girls would be here bright and early, especially since we have some chatting to catch up on about two people.
Plus, I need to tell them the news Doctor Gallo gave me, and I’d much rather do it in person and swear my sister to secrecy once again.
I really don’t want her to slip in front of our parents and them make a big deal out of literally nothing.
“Fine.” She huffs out a breath. “Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed, which is saying something since you wake up beside McHottie every day lately.”
“Stalker much?” We walk together through the lobby and to the back room.
Lyric and Lennie are here already, or at least their cars are.
I’m not sure about Winnie with her husband, Johnny, working late at night into the early morning, and they try to squeeze in every moment they can with the three of them.
Kennedy has to take Briar to school before she makes her way to the studio, and Maci may not even make it depending on her and Tysen’s schedule, since they work together on his private jet.
“Well, you’re the one who shares your location with me, remember?
” Coralynn is right, unfortunately. I’d suggested we create a circle on the app, she joined, and we promised to never pause our location or tell our parents where we’re at in case they do a drive-by.
Believe me, they would, especially if we don’t answer the phone, or they knew with a click of a button where we were.
“Don’t remind me.” It’s biting me in the ass right now. Except I’m smiling the entire time. Our bond is tight, and while we bickered a lot growing up, as most siblings do, over the years, it’s only gotten better.
“Whatever. As if you don’t check my location when I’m out of town just as much.
” We make our way to the break room, and I stop in my tracks.
Everyone is here, all of the girls. I shouldn’t be surprised because I’ve learned a thing or two in the past couple of weeks.
This is a girls’ girl, we-ride-at-dawn type of group, except my flabbers are still ghasted.
“Get in here and tell us every single thing.” Lennie is the ring leader of the group today, which doesn’t surprise me in the least. The last week or so, she’s been miserable in the ways most pregnant women are in this stage of their pregnancy.
Lennie’s been peeing non-stop, and sleeping is coming in spurts; she even mentioned nesting, too.
Kennedy mentioned she walked into Lennie and Asher’s place, saw her sister-in-law on her hands and knees scrubbing the grout lines.
Apparently, this is normal, and Lennie kept doing it the entire time while they talked about her family coming in from Wyoming.
“Yes, Lennie has to be home before noon, or Asher will bring the cavalry in the form of the fire truck. She overdid it yesterday with housework, and now her ankles are swollen.” Winnie points to where Lennie is sitting with her feet propped up. My eyes practically bulge out of their sockets.
“Please tell me you didn’t drive. We could have done this another time, for instance at your house while you’re in bed.
” I take the drinks out of the carriers; I picked up a mix of iced coffees with cream sans the sweeteners in case some like or don’t like it.
I also got some iced teas, doing the same with sugar.
Coralynn said the girls would be here when we talked on the phone earlier, but she didn’t tell me how many of them.
Which meant grabbing a variety of everything and go from there.
Whatever would be left could be eaten the next day; the drinks would be devoured easily between the instructors here, too.
“I drove,” Kenny speaks up. “Asher called me and said the only way she’s allowed to leave the house is with a chaperone.
This is truly who he is. When I was pregnant, he was the exact same way.
” She grabs a drink from the table, going after the iced coffee.
Lyric starts taking out the food and condiments, and I grab another chair, attempting to carry it when Coralynn moves in.
“Not today, sister. I know there’s a no lifting a certain amount of weight for two to six weeks,” Maci pipes in, helping my sister with her tsking at me for doing a simple task.
“It’s anything over five pounds,” Lennie helps me out.
“Thank you. I assure you the chair isn’t even half that. Same with the bags.” I look pointedly at Coralynn.
“Whatever, your purse is probably over that. It feels like lead weight nine times out of ten.” I ignore the fact that my sister is running me over with her make-believe bus, throwing it in Reverse and repeating the process.
“Okay, everyone, dive in, and then we’ll chat.
” Lyric claps her hands together to get us all started.
I grab my iced coffee, having doctored it up the way I like at Oak everyone is addicted to either their food, coffee, and tea, or all three, like I am.
“I can. I may be married, but I’m not dead,” Maci states.
“Oh my gosh, you sound just like Momma Catherine, doesn’t she, Lennie?” Kennedy points out.
“You’re right. Shit. Coralynn and Catherine together are going to be trouble with a capital T.” Lennie turns on the dramatics.
“Who is that, and when do I meet her? She sounds like a lot of fun,” my sister says. Winnie laughs, Maci chimes in, and Lyric shakes her head. I only have heard of her from the girls and Luke and haven’t met her in the flesh.
“Soon. She and her husband, Russell, are currently on their way down here for the birth of the twins,” Lyric tells us.
“Yes, which means we have to make this quick. The mom-to-be is insisting we stop at the grocery store for food, the florist for, well, flowers, and who else knows what we’ll be roped into,” Maci teases.
I’m thinking they carpooled big time and are getting roped into everything Lennie on their days off.
“Okay, so, spill the tea,” Kennedy says in my direction.
“Well, the biopsy came back non-cancerous.” I lift my hands up in the air, do a little dancy dance in my seat, and the girls cheer along with me.
“That’s great news!” Coralynn launches her arms around me. “I love you. Never again are you keeping anything like this from me. Promise, right now, or I’m going to pinch your boob.” Gosh, she’s pulling out the big guns.
“Fine, I promise you. No secrets,” I reply. She should be happy I didn’t cross my fingers, legs, or my toes like I would as a teenager.
“Marissa and Nadine, let’s get down to the nitty gritty.” Winnie clears her throat. It seems most of the women in our group know of them, have had to deal with them, or work with them.
“I vote we use a code word to activate Operation Bitch Slap,” Maci states, crossing her arms over her chest, a look of standing on business written across her face.
“Same,” Lyric replies.
“And what should the code name be?” Lennie interjects, sucking back her drink until there’s nothing left.
“Regina George.” Kenny doesn’t even think twice.
“How freaking appropriate,” I mutter. Those two are literally the epitome of Mean Girls. At least Marissa is toward me, but from what the girls have said, Nadine can be just as bad.
“Good, that’s settled. I really hate to eat and run.
Except I’ve got an uber-protective alpha annoying husband who’s blowing up my phone asking where I am.
” Lennie stands up. Her protruding belly has dropped a lot, and I’m betting she won’t make it much longer before the twins make their appearance.
“Go, go, go. Thank you for coming. You sure do make a girl feel special.” We all get up to hug each other.
Lennie, Kenny, Maci, and Winnie head toward the door.
Lyric, Coralynn, and I disperse through the studio.
I’m already dreading today, longing to be in a studio, doing what I love the most. I blow out a puff of air and get to it.
There’s no time like the present for the awaiting paperwork, social media content, plus everything else I can do to keep myself occupied.