Page 12 of Mean Moms
They’d settled into a pattern. Training three days a week, sex afterward in the sauna.
Rinse and repeat. Sofia hadn’t been actively worried about JP—he worked during the day and had never come home once unexpectedly during their ten-year marriage.
He left her to it. But instead of JP, she should have been concerned about Michael.
She’d thought he’d known the deal. She’d thought he’d known the boundaries.
This couldn’t be real, as much as they both fantasized about it.
She’d figured that, at some point, they’d have to stop.
Maybe Michael would meet someone else. Maybe Sofia would get bored.
Maybe she’d get frustrated that she wasn’t able to go out to dinner with the man she adored.
But they’d kept going, unable to face reality.
“Oh, thank you! The space still needs a few last-minute touches, but we’re excited to start welcoming customers,” said Morgan now.
Sofia clicked back to earth, remembering where she was and this weird woman she was talking to.
Morgan was weird, right? No one else seemed to think so.
Sofia felt a million miles away from Michael, and for a quick moment her heart ached thinking about him.
“You must come to the spa soon, I’ll comp you a free sound bath.”
“Please, I’ll pay,” said Sofia, lying. Morgan went off to greet other partygoers.
Sofia noticed Morgan’s daughter, Gertrude, sitting alone on a small sofa, scrolling on her phone.
She looked like a heavier, younger version of Morgan, with that same blond hair and dimple.
But instead of cheerful like her mom she seemed miserable, her mouth set in a grim scowl.
Sofia, on motherly impulse, approached Gertrude, laying a hand on her shoulder, startling her away from whatever messages a twelve-year-old would send.
“Hi, sweetie, you okay? I’m your mom’s new friend, Sofia,” said Sofia. Gertrude stared at her warily.
“I’m fine,” she said flatly, turning back to her phone. What an unpleasant child, Sofia thought, then quickly felt bad for her ungenerous take. She was probably just bored, or annoyed to be dragged to this adult event.
Sofia then made her way to the bar, which was set up next to the front desk.
She picked up a champagne and perused the product display, sniffing a particularly pretty-looking rose oil.
She looked to her right and saw Ava Leo, alone, standing by a shelf full of creams and crystals.
Ava didn’t notice her. Sofia watched as Ava stealthily picked up a face serum and slipped it into her black Chanel handbag.
Sofia was confused. Were the products free?
They didn’t appear to be. But why on earth would Ava steal a serum?
Sofia, not wanting to be seen, speed-walked to the other side of the room, hiding behind a trio of influencers, decked out in full glam and designer crop tops.
“Sofia!” She felt a hand on her neck and jumped, but it was only Frost, in an amazing vintage slip dress that looked straight out of a 1998 Vogue .
She had a bandage across her face from the scooter accident, and her left arm was in a sling.
Somehow, she still looked glamorous. “How’s my favorite new mom-friend?
” Frost purred. Sofia liked Frost the best of all of them.
She’d considered telling Frost the truth about her marriage but couldn’t yet bring herself to do it.
First, it was just too humiliating. What was Frost going to say to that?
“Sorry you’re broke”? Second, part of the deal with JP was that Sofia wasn’t supposed to tell anyone anything.
He’d pay for the apartment and their groceries and allow her to have just enough to keep up the charade if she kept her mouth shut.
After Sofia’s infidelity had come to light, JP’s family had banded together to protect him.
Sofia, feeling intimidated and out of her depth, agreed to a have one mediator instead of separate divorce lawyers.
She’d figured that because she was the one who cheated, she’d just have to swallow it.
She knew she could have asked for more, fought a little, but she didn’t know how to.
Sofia’s parents were both dead—her dad when she was a teen and her mom just a few years ago, from cervical cancer that had gone undetected.
Sofia was an only child. She had no one.
“How’s your arm, Frost?” said Sofia. Frost smiled distractedly.
“It still hurts, but it’s only a sprain, not broken.
And now Tim is on a mission to find the guy who hit me, so we’ve hired someone to look into it,” said Frost. “Ask Morgan to the rescue again! She researched for me and found a great private detective.” Morgan, deep in conversation with Clara Cain, looked over at them as if she’d heard what they were saying.
Sofia saw Ava out of the corner of her eye, taking selfies against the white script Thyme JP paid about as little attention to Carlos and Lucia as he had to Sofia.
But he would get remarried, and then he might try to take her children back to Miami, saying that their lying, cheating mother didn’t have the resources to give them the life they deserved. Sofia flicked the thought away.
“Let’s raise our glasses to Morgan, and to Thyme & Time, and to getting the word out about this wonderful place!” They all clinked their drinks and cheered. Art then handed the mic to Morgan, who was looking paler and tenser by the second.