Chapter 10 Stephanie
Chapter ten
Stephanie
“You ready?” Liz asked, perching on her bed as she opened her laptop later that night.
I set the artfully arranged charcuterie board on her Little House on the Prairie plaid comforter and glanced at the assorted bottles of nail polishes on her nightstand.
Inhaling deeply the pine tree and vanilla aroma bubbling from the diffuser on her dresser, I nodded an affirmative.
“I think we got everything. Let’s do it. ”
Her laptop chirped as she placed the video call, and we waited for Paisley and Juliet to join us.
The four of us had met at the University of Washington in Seattle ten years ago.
Our meeting was nothing short of miraculous.
Paisley was running from the horrors of foster care after aging out.
Juliet was looking for the best law program within a day’s drive of home.
Liz and I were a package deal after she’d become my next-door neighbour in Denver.
Her parents were newly divorced after nearly two decades on the mission field, and Liz was livid.
We’d hit it off, and when it came time for college applications, she’d begged me to come with her as she tried to put miles between her and her parents’ disastrous marriage fallout.
I hadn’t been sad to leave Colorado—just Nana.
After graduation, work and life split us up between southern Idaho for them and eastern Washington for Liz and me.
Paisley and Juliet had both married amazing guys, and we’d kept our friendship strong with once-a-month girls’ nights via video chat, complete with snacks, nail polish, and life advice.
These women had my back at every moment, and I’d be lost without them in my life.
Rooming with Liz was like rooming with a sister, and having Paisley and Juliet so far away after four years of college together hurt.
But they were happy, and so were we. Tonight was our last catch-up before Christmas, and let’s face it, so we had nice nails for the holidays.
When the video chat failed to connect, I grabbed my phone and shot our group chat a quick text.
ME
We still good for tonight?
It took a minute before Paisley messaged back.
PAISLEY
Yes, sorry. Give us a sec. Jules needs to be surgically removed from her husband. Are all newlyweds this bad?
Liz leaned back against her pink floral pregnancy pillow, which she swore saved her back, and chomped on a sweet potato chip, laughing as I tilted my phone for her to read. “She’s one to talk! Do you remember how smitten she was—both times?”
We laughed a little uncomfortably. Paisley’s first husband wasn’t a topic we discussed often, because…
as Nana often said, sometimes the nicest thing you could say about someone was nothing at all.
But she’d found love again—with a good man this time—in Greyson Satterfield.
Yes, Cal Satterfield’s twin and another one of Juliet’s endless supply of older, rather attractive brothers.
He was a veteran Marine turned mechanic.
Our friend group clearly had a thing for mechanics, first with Paisley and Greyson and now with Liz and Ben.
“You and Ben get things sorted out with Carey?” I asked, popping a grape into my mouth.
Liz shrugged. “Maybe? It’s a work in progress, but Ben and I are on the same page.
” A dreamy smile spread across her face.
“You should have seen the way he stood up to his mother, defending me. ‘She’s my first priority, even from you,’ were the words he used.
” Liz fanned herself. “A girl can get used to that kind of knight in grease and coveralls.”
I laughed with her before leaning over and wrapping her in a hug.
Liz’s laptop chimed with an incoming call, and I scrambled to accept it before she tried to use her toes to click the touchpad—gross. But when Juliet and Paisley’s familiar faces flooded the screen, nothing else mattered. We were together again for a night.
“Hey!” That bright smile could only be Paisley’s, next to Juliet’s usual storm cloud. From the looks of it, they were in Paisley’s cozy living room tonight. She had a killer eye for making a space welcoming.
“Myles keep you too long, Jules?” Liz teased, biting into a cheese cube.
Juliet glared through the screen, her already-flushed face reddening. “I’m not apologizing for finding my husband attractive, especially after his epically hot goalie moves in the net tonight.”
“Yeah, yeah, go Chargers,” Paisley drolled, then impishly squished Juliet’s cheeks together so she looked like a fish. “We’re very proud of our boys.”
Juliet swatted at her and rolled her eyes, but the hint of a grin tugged at her lipstick-smudged bright pink lips.
Liz and I snickered at their antics. “Glad you’re with us,” I said. “You got snacks?”
“Chocolate mint tea, candy cane cookies, Nanaimo bars, and artichoke dip with crackers,” Juliet said, nudging Paisley. “None of which she burnt.”
“Hey, I can cook!” Paisley protested, crossing her arms. “Maybe not as well as Liz, but I haven’t actually burnt something since before I was married. That counts for something.”
We all busted up laughing, remembering some of her earlier cooking disasters—we were talking firefighters-being-called mishaps. I picked up two bottles of nail polish. Hmm… red for festive or silver for subtlety?
“All right, ladies,” Juliet said, taking charge. “Do we have our colours picked?”
“Seductive Wine for me.” I jiggled the bottle of deep burgundy. “Who names these things, seriously?”
Liz swiped the silver from me. “Silver Bells. Ooh, I like that!”
“My usual,” Juliet said, fluttering her fingers. “Black French tips. To match my heart apparently.”
Paisley nudged her. “And yet we still love you, Grinchy. I’m not painting mine because I don’t have any nails long enough to paint.” She ducked her head sheepishly.
“Things been stressful, Pais?” I asked, uncapping the base coat polish to get started on Liz’s nails.
Paisley shrugged, adjusting her position on the couch to sit cross-legged as she started on Juliet’s.
“The holidays are always insane at the library, but not more than usual. I’m just…
maybe a little unsettled.” She chewed on her lip as she said nothing for a few moments. “I thought I was pregnant.”
“Oh, honey,” Liz said sympathetically.
“I was kinda hoping, you know? We’ve been married three years now. But… I don’t know, at the same time, I was scared I might be. I don’t know how to be a mom since my mom didn’t either. Sure, I had some great foster moms, but…” Paisley shrugged again.
“You’ll be a great mother,” Juliet said with a no-argument tone. “Whatever that looks like—biological or adoption.”
“Didn’t Gabe and Ivy adopt?” Paisley asked me.
I nodded. Because Greyson and Gabe were both Marines, they knew each other. Before Greyson retired a few years ago, he’d been stationed at Gabe’s last base. “Yup, all four. And you’d never know those kids weren’t their biological kids, besides their looks.”
We were quiet for a moment before I added slowly, “Speaking of the Carson clan, they’ll be in town for the Chargers’ home game right after Christmas.”
The tension eased in Paisley’s face at the conversation shift, and her laugh was bright, albeit a bit brittle. “As if we could forget. Cal is about to burst his buttons about finally meeting Jackson and the rest of the family.”
“And Myles keeps reminding him they’re there to see the whole team, not just him,” Juliet cut in, referring to her goalie husband, who also played for the Chargers, as she balanced a cookie on her knee.
“Don’t laugh,” I warned Liz, gripping her hand. “You’ll smudge my hard work.”
Doing her best, Liz still managed a cackle. “Never did I think I’d see the day where two grown men would be competing for the attention of a ten-year-old fan.”
Juliet snorted and chomped on her cookie. “You have no idea. If they weren’t besties, they couldn’t handle this rivalry.”
“Do you call them besties to their faces?” I asked curiously.
Juliet rolled her eyes. “Cal calls them that. Those men, I tell you.”
“Steph has news!” Liz offered in a singsong voice.
My hand slipped, smearing polish across her skin. “Seriously?” I muttered. “Can’t you develop a subtle bone in your body? Just this once.”
She cackled again. “You’re stalling. I gave you time to bring it up.”
“Oh, Stephie!” Paisley cooed, green eyes bright behind her wire-rimmed frames.
I huffed. There was no way I could wriggle out of this now. Thanks a lot, Liz. “Fine. I… I’m dating someone. Kinda.”
Paisley cheered, and Juliet eyed me through the screen. “How do you kinda date, Steph?”
I cleared my throat and swabbed nail polish remover over Liz’s fingers. “I may or may not have asked someone to be my fake boyfriend for Christmas with my family.”
“Which one is it? May or may not?” Juliet dared. She was intimidating when she wore her scary lawyer face. But she had to be scary since she worked with bulky, hulking hockey players all day as part of the Chargers’ legal counsel.
“Can I plead the fifth?”
“No!” my friends all chorused.
I half growled, half screamed. Was that a thing? “Fine. I asked Nash, and he agreed.”
“Your boss?” from Juliet.
Paisley clapped her hands. “Nashanie! I totally ship you! Wait, you said fake? Why, Steph? You’ve crushed on him forever.”
“Yeah, Steph.” Liz drew out my name with all the finesse of a mother getting her kid to talk.
I glared at her. “Because he’s my boss. And that’s that.”
“Is he not interested in you then?” Juliet asked, her voice softened slightly. Well, soft for her.
“Uh… he might have asked for it to be real?” My voice squeaked on the last word, which was all it took for my friends to pounce.
“Might have?” Paisley challenged. She was spending way too much time with Juliet.
“Fine. He wants real. So do I, but I panicked and said no. Or I wasn’t sure yet. Happy?”
“No,” Juliet deadpanned.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Paisley asked gently.