Page 17 of About that Fling (The Can’t Have Hearts Club #2)
As she rounded the corner to her aunt’s room, Jenna’s gut flooded with relief.
The old woman was sound asleep, her chest rising and falling as one hand rested on the laptop folded shut on the bed beside her.
Jenna watched her breathing for a few beats, moved by the faint smile etched into the creases of the older woman’s face.
She looked peaceful and serene, with her gray halo of hair feathered out across her pale yellow pillowcase.
Jenna turned and moved back toward the kitchen, setting her handbag by the door so she wouldn’t forget anything when she left for Mia’s house. In the middle of the table sat a note anchored by the salt and pepper shakers. The neon pink stationary was adorned with Gertie’s flawless cursive.
Jenna,
I had a busy day today, so I’m taking a little nap. I know you’re having girls’ night with Mia, but I made a big pot of soup for my book club luncheon today. There’s plenty left if you want some. Please take a couple slices of cherry pie to Mia. I saved some just for her. Love you!
Jenna smiled, and glanced back down the hall, pleased Gertie had formed such a busy social life in Portland. Did her book club even know they had a bestselling author in their midst? Jenna touched the note, wondering how Gert’s call had gone with her agent.
She turned away and busied herself slicing pie and tucking it into a Tupperware container. By the time she arrived at Mia’s place, it was two minutes after six. She’d just raised her hand to knock when the door flew open.
“Hey, Jenna! Great to see you again.” Mark beamed in greeting, then turned and leaned back into the house. “Hey, Mia—Jenna’s here. Come on, Katie—we’re gonna be late.”
Jenna stepped aside as a mousy-looking preteen slid past her with a nod of acknowledgment. Katie shrugged her backpack higher onto her shoulders and moved into step behind her father. “Hey, Jenna. Good to see you. Gotta go.”
“Hey, kiddo,” Jenna said, shifting her Tupperware to the other hand as she leaned down to give Katie a one-armed hug. “You’re getting so tall. You’re headed back to your mom’s?”
“Parent-teacher conferences. It’s pretty lame they make the kids come.”
“It’s a good chance to be accountable for your academic life,” Mark said, resting a hand on his daughter’s shoulder as they headed down the front steps. He smiled again at Jenna. “Not sure what she’s worried about anyway—she’s got straight As this term.”
“Way to go, girl,” Jenna said, waving to them as they reached the car. “Have fun.”
“Good luck!” Mia called, and Jenna turned to see her friend standing in the doorway with a wistful expression. She waved as her husband and stepdaughter slid into the car. “I’m proud of you, Katie-cakes.”
“Thanks,” Katie said, smiling faintly as she closed the car door and clicked a seatbelt over her small frame.
Jenna stood there watching, eyes on the car, her shoulder brushing Mia’s. She waited until the car drove out of sight to turn back to her friend.
“Don’t you usually go to those parent-teacher things with Mark?”
“First one I’ve missed in two years,” Mia said, stepping aside to wave Jenna into the house. “But Ellen called last night to say she’s uncomfortable having me there.”
“Mark’s ex gets a say in whether you attend school conferences?”
Mia shrugged. “Mark scrambled to see if we could arrange separate conferences for us and for her, but it was too last-minute. I didn’t want to make a big deal about it and risk embarrassing Katie, so I said I’d sit this one out.”
Jenna rolled her eyes. “You’d think she’d be happy that you want to be involved in her daughter’s life. That you’re a supportive stepmom.”
“You’d think.” Mia shrugged. “I don’t know. They’d been divorced for two years before Mark ever met me, but I think she always hoped they’d get back together.”
“Katie or Ellen?”
“I meant Ellen, but maybe Katie, too. Not that she’s ever been anything but sweet to me.
She’s a great kid,” Mia pushed the front door shut, giving Jenna a flash of the new sapphire-dotted wedding band tucked up against her engagement ring.
Mia had the ring custom-made, adorned with Katie’s birthstone as a nod to her stepdaughter’s place in her life and marriage.
Jenna looked back at Mia’s face, which was still a little wistful. “She is a great kid, and I’m sensing a but there.”
Mia shook her head. “It’s nothing. Come on, let’s get going on the nachos.”
Jenna caught her friend’s arm and gave it a gentle squeeze to keep her from fleeing. “It’s not nothing. You seem upset. What’s up?”
“I’m sure it’s just pregnancy hormones. I’m fine.”
Jenna shook her head, seeing more in her friend’s eyes than the glitter of hormone-induced tears. “Come on, if you can’t vent to me, who can you vent to?”
Mia let out a long breath, and the fatigued look Jenna had noticed earlier was back in her face.
“I can’t vent, that’s the thing. Do you know what Nancy Jensen said to me after the meeting today?
” Mia swallowed and looked up at the ceiling like she was trying to keep tears from falling.
“She said ‘I hope your stepdaughter doesn’t know you say disparaging things about her. It can be very detrimental to the stepfamily relationship.’”
“Disparaging? What the hell was she talking about?”
“The thing about the toilet paper.”
Jenna blinked. “Are you kidding me? The board president is critiquing your parenting now? That wasn’t disparaging. That was a mom joking around about the challenges of raising a preteen.”
“That’s just it, though. I’m a stepparent.
” Mia rubbed her hands down her face then turned toward the kitchen.
Jenna followed, hating the despair in her friend’s voice.
“There are different rules for stepmothers, apparently. Someone forgot to give me the rule book, but I know we’re not allowed to joke about parenting challenges.
When bio parents do it, they’re bonding.
When stepparents do it, we’re whining. Or worse, we’re maligning kids who don’t truly belong to us. Not really.”
“That’s ridiculous.” Jenna shook her head. They’d reached the kitchen, and she leaned against the counter beside Mia. “I’m sorry, Mia. I think you’re a great stepmom. And you’re going to be a great biological mother, too.”
“Thank you.” Mia managed a small smile. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s gotten into me.
I had a rough morning when Katie kissed her dad goodbye and thanked him for packing her lunch and buying her the cool new socks she was wearing, and I just stood there like an idiot biting back the urge to tell her those were things I did.
Me. I stayed up late making the damn sandwich with her favorite pastrami and I picked out the socks because I remembered how much she loves pigs.
” Mia shook her head. “I didn’t say anything, of course.
I know she didn’t mean anything by it. She’s the most polite kid on the planet, and I know she just wanted to thank someone, so she thanked her dad. ”
“Did Mark say anything?”
“He started to, but I stopped him. I don’t want to become one of those families where dad’s always ordering the kid to say thank you to the stepmom and the kid ends up feeling guilted into it. It wasn’t worth it. Like I said, I’m just being hormonal.”
“Still, I’m sorry.” Jenna leaned in and gave her a squeeze, breathing in the familiar apricot scent of Mia’s shampoo. “It can’t be easy.”
“I’ll get through it,” Mia said, offering a small smile as she drew back.
“Just a few more weeks and the hormones should settle down.” Mia leaned back against the counter, resting her hand over her belly.
Her eyes held Jenna’s for a long time, and Jenna felt something shift between them.
“I’ve been thinking about you, hon. It’ll be two years this Friday, won’t it? ”
Jenna nodded, fighting the surge of emotion that threatened to choke off her airway. “You’re probably the only person in the world who’d remember.”
“It was the day after my mom’s birthday, so that’s probably why. But really, every woman who’s had a miscarriage has the date permanently etched into her brain.” She squeezed Jenna’s hand. “It helps to have a friend help carry the memory.”
Jenna nodded and blinked hard to hold back the threat of tears. “Come on. Let’s drown our sorrows in nachos and bad television.”
“Deal!” Mia spun around and grabbed a bottle of margarita mix from the fridge. Nudging the refrigerator closed with her hip, she bent down and pulled the blender out of a cupboard at her knees. She set it on the counter and turned back to the freezer for ice. “Want me to add tequila to yours?”
“Nah, I’ll go virgin in a show of solidarity.”
Mia laughed and began scooping handfuls of ice into the blender. “Virgin. Right. Speaking of, any word from your mystery guy?”
Jenna forced herself to swallow, keeping her expression as neutral as possible as she moved past Mia to grab a big brick of cheddar from the fridge. “I told you that’s over. It was just a one-time thing.”
Mia shook her head, looking stern. “You don’t just walk away from sex that makes you glow like the way you were that morning. I got a contact high just sitting next to you.”
“The glow doesn’t last forever.” Jenna thunked the cheese down on the counter, deliberately choosing a workspace with her back to Mia so she wouldn’t have to meet her friend’s eyes. “I’ll keep dating, don’t worry. Just not that guy.”
“Suit yourself. I still think that one had potential.”
“Well, I don’t,” Jenna said, hoping she didn’t sound like a petulant toddler. She began to strip the plastic wrapper off the cheese, trying to keep her tone light. “So aside from the snippy comment from Nancy, how do you think the mediation thing is going?”
There was a long silence from Mia, and for a moment, Jenna feared she’d given herself away. Stupid. How obvious to make such an abrupt transition from talk of her one-night stand to a review of Adam’s mediation session?