Chapter Thirteen
Our girlfriend group gathered to celebrate April’s birthday three weeks after the fact because trying to wrangle five busy, professional women to meet at one time wasn’t an easy feat. But on a Saturday afternoon in early winter, we got together at a local hole-in-the-wall bakery near the city of Orange in upscale Villa Park.
Here, we brought our cards and presents and greeted each other with warm hugs. I saw Jenna fairly often, as her man, William, was Adam’s cousin and—ugh—I guess you’d have to call him my stepbrother, too, if you were categorizing. But again, despite that same weirdness factor with Peter, William’s dad, being married to my mom, I never thought of William that way.
“Does anyone know if Heath is coming?” I asked.
“He is,” Kat said. “But he’s going to be pretty late and said that we should definitely start without him.”
So, we did. Breakfast was served in short order: scrambled eggs, muffins, toast, fruit and every good thing.
And mimosas. Crap. I’d forgotten about mimosas. When the server stood next to me with a bottle of champagne poised over my glass, I held up my hand. “Just orange juice in mine.”
That immediately drew attention.
Double crap. I glanced around at every single eyeball at the table that had turned and focused on me. Then I shrugged and gave a sheepish smile. “I’m on call. Can’t drink.”
It wasn’t technically a lie. I was on second call, which meant I was back up for the doctor on first call, but they didn’t need to know that. Nor did they need to know that I was currently trying to get pregnant.
But I had to throw these bloodhounds off the scent, or this hunt would be over before it had even started.
Jenna tilted her head, openly studying me. Maybe she was using her Reiki or woo woo powers to detect a lie.
I took the opportunity to change the subject. “How’s your property out in the mountains coming along?” I asked. “When do I get to come up and see your garden?”
Jenna arched her brow and threw me a look that said she knew exactly what I was doing but went along with it, anyway. “Well, it’s winter, so not much of a garden to see yet. Maybe we’ll have a little gathering up there in early summer when the butterflies are out, and the bees are pollinating.”
“Sounds dirty,” Alex said, popping some scrambled eggs into her mouth and chewing before washing it down with the last of her mimosa. “Wish I could be here to see it.”
Jenna’s brows arched. “Are you off again?”
She nodded. “Yup. Spain this time. El Camino de Santiago.”
Jenna’s eyes lit up. “Ooh, the pilgrimage trail? How amazing. Though I’m surprised you’re waiting ‘til May to go somewhere.”
“Oh no, I’m actually leaving in March and will be gone until September. Six months in Europe. The perks of being a digital nomad.”
Alex had scored herself a very nice job out of college, and since the pandemic, had been working 100 percent remotely. “How is your mom not constantly complaining about you being gone so much?” I asked, shaking my head.
Alex shrugged. “She complains but I’m not around to have to hear it. And I do call her every single week, rain or shine.” She signaled to the server to top up her mimosa glass once more. “Light on the OJ,” she murmured when the server went to pour.
I narrowed my eyes, wondering, then looked up to meet Jenna’s light blue gaze. She’d no doubt noticed Alex’s uncharacteristic behavior, too. Drinking more than usual, a flip attitude towards her mom—it just wasn’t Alex. I arched my eyebrows at Jenna and she frowned, shaking her head.
Maybe she’d get to the bottom of it.
“Hey, we’ll be in Europe the same time as you, I think,” Kat said to Alex as she finished up her small bowl of mixed tropical fruit—fresh pineapple and banana topped with shredded coconut. “Lucas’s family is hosting at their ancestral home in Netherlands.”
“Ooh,” April said, eyes widening. “The baron and baroness will be in residence, will they?”
Kat sent her a crooked smile. “Yeah, we were able to carve out three weeks from our work schedules, between deadlines and new projects starting up. I’d complain more about my slave-driver boss but, you know, his wife is sitting right over there so it might make it awkward.” Kat shot me a mischievous grin and I laughed.
“I’m dying to see Amsterdam,” Alex said. “I’d totally be down for checking out your digs there.”
“Well, the home is in Utrecht but truly, I don’t think Netherlands is that big, so we can definitely meet up.”
While they discussed how they were going to meet up thousands of miles across the Atlantic, April nudged me and started a quiet conversation. “Have you heard from Adam when this whole shift in CEOs is going to happen? I can’t get a straight answer from Jordan.”
I broke off a chunk of fresh cranberry muffin and popped it into my mouth. “I think you can’t get a straight answer because there isn’t one. Once they get approval from the board of directors for the change, there will be a timeline in place. I think the meeting is happening sometime next month.”
April nodded, frowning as she picked at her fruit cup.
“Is everything okay?” I asked.
She gave me a shrug. “Nothing scientifically verifiable. Just a vague sense of impending doom.”
“How so?”
“It’s a big change, going to CEO.”
I gave her an ironic smile. “I mean, I’ve been married to the CEO for a while so I can assure you it’s not that terrible.”
“We don’t see each other a lot as it is—and I work from home, so. I dunno. Maybe I’m just overwrought for nothing.”
I put my hand on her arm to reassure her. “Adam’s going to be around for the process of the transition, and they’ve worked together for a decade. If it’s in anyone’s best interest for a smooth transition, it’s Adam’s. But if you want, I can talk to him.”
April blinked and looked at me with true appreciation in her eyes. “You are amazing for offering to do that. Let me sit with this for a little while, and if things start to really concern me, I’ll get back to you, but in the meantime, don’t say anything to Adam.”
I nod. “Got it. I won’t breathe a word. But maybe...if you just want a sounding board for your concerns, I might not be the best person to talk to, you know? As far as being unbiased.”
April bit her lip and nodded. “Yeah, good point.”
I took in a deep breath and let it go. “Besides, I don’t want whatever happens between our two significant others to affect our own project together, you know?”
Her brows twitched up as if that had just crossed her mind. “You are very wise, Dr. Mia. Are you sure you shouldn’t be pursuing a specialty in psychiatry?”
I grinned. “Did not love my psychiatry rotation in medical school. It’s internal medicine for me, all the way.”
At that moment, we returned to the table conversation where Jenna was telling us about how some kid nearly blew up the classroom in her Physics lab.
“Are you still enjoying teaching, generally, despite the mishaps?” Alex asked her.
Jenna turned to her bestie and former roommate. “Yeah, for the most part. I mean, teaching is the hardest job I’ve ever had, and I have to bring my work home with me practically every night—”
“Can’t beat those summers off, though!” I winked at her.
“Yeah, that’s a nice perk but it would be nicer if we got paid then. Gives me a nice chunk of months to spend with our gardening project up on our land and getting the house built up there.”
“I heard a rumor that a certain someone might be popping the question soon,” Alex blurted with her typical nonexistent filter.
Jenna blushed. “Who says he’s the one who gets to pop the question? Maybe I’m the one who’ll ask him.”
A rush of joy hit me like a storm. “Oh my God, Jenna, are you going to?”
She turned to me and winked. “That’s for me to know and you all to find out.”
“I just want you to become my—whatever it would be? Cousin-in-law?” I replied.
“Sister-in-law, I’d think?” Alex nodded enthusiastically, practically glowing at the thought.
“They don’t acknowledge that part of the relationship.” Kat gestured between the two of them. “William and Mia are not stepsister and stepbrother, even though they totally are.”
“I’d make an exception and call Jenna my sister-in-law.”
“Yeah, just don’t you go spilling the beans.” Jenna pointed at me, then waved that finger around to the others. “That goes to all of you.”
“I’ll keep the secret in the vault, but you better put a ring on it soon, girl. I need a sister.” I grinned.
“Well, you do have a stepsister—Britt,” Jenna said.
I nodded, “True. My family’s getting bigger and bigger by the minute.” And I couldn’t hide the beam of joy that shot through me, thinking that I might have another family member secretly on board, if not now, then very, very soon.