Jessica
“Thanks for inviting me,” Renee said.
“Oh, of course!” Melanie nodded to the side. “Everyone’s in the living room. Make yourselves at home. There are drinks on the card table, and you can put that on the dining table with the rest. I’m off to help Kim in the kitchen for a minute. Gumbo shouldn’t be long.”
“She’s not coming,” Aubrey said confidently, as if the line were well-practiced. “We broke up.”
Aubrey shrugged. “Don’t be. I broke it off. Just wasn’t working. I’m good.”
Jessica smiled. “Sometimes the best beginnings come from a necessary ending.”
Aubrey returned the smile, looking not quite convinced.
“So what are you two doing for Thanksgiving?” Gerri asked, then aimed a finger at Danielle and Morgan. “These two are going to the beach without me.”
“The beach sounds lovely,” Jessica said. “Enjoy a coffee on a balcony with a crisp fall breeze for me, will you?”
Danielle laughed. “I promise to.”
“Well, Renee is going to come with me to visit my family in Alabama for a couple days.”
“Ooh, meeting the family,” Gerri said. “Nice.”
Jessica looked to Renee for signs of hesitation but found none.
She seemed equally comfortable with the idea of meeting her family as she was meeting everyone for this dinner.
They’d had plenty of conversations about it all, checking in to make sure they were both okay with the pace of the relationship.
Both agreed there was a lot of anticipation, but not anxiety.
Renee met Jessica’s gaze and said, “Excited about it.”
There was lots to be excited about. Their new relationship was going well. Renee had been pulling in clients through a new advertising strategy. And Jessica had been busy with more weddings than funerals.
The only bump had been Jessica’s divorce completing the week before. It wasn’t a happy occasion, but it was a relief to have that behind her now. It felt like she really was starting a new chapter with Renee.
They were practically living together already, splitting time between Jessica’s apartment and Renee’s house, which Renee had kept after all.
Jessica suspected it wouldn’t be long before they spent most of their days over there, since that’s where Bartholomew lived.
Chase was comfortable anywhere at this point.
Kim stepped out of the kitchen in her still-tidy apron and said, “Gumbo is ready whenever y’all are. Open kitchen. Fix yourselves a bowl any time. There’s no schedule today.”
The no-schedule bit had to be Melanie’s doing, as the words seemed foreign coming from Kim’s mouth.
But Jessica didn’t need the invitation twice.
She quickly got up to follow Gerri into the kitchen, Renee close beside her.
Their fingers interlaced as they walked hand in hand, and with Renee by her side and all of her book club friends around her, everything felt right in Jessica’s world.