The Fling

45

Eloise held up her margarita. "Here's to ladies' night in! Remind me to thank Shawn for going camping since that means we actually get some time with you!"

"Cheers!" Mia enthused. "But for the record, I don't blame our sweet Abi for spending every free minute with that sex god we introduced her to!"

"Introduced me to?" I cocked my head to the side. "You weren't there when I met Shawn."

"Well no, not technically, but if El and I hadn't taken you to Palm Springs, you never would have connected, so we deserve most of the credit."

Eloise snorted. "Mia, what you lack in logic you make up for in bartending. This is the best marg I've ever had."

"Thanks! I tried this recipe last month in honor of Jimmy Buffett- RIP parrot-head king- and now I'm hooked."

My phone buzzed, and I saw that Shawn messaged me.

Great hike today

12 miles

A pic popped up of him and his friends looking thoroughly worn out as they stood by a trail marker.

I showed the girls. "I'm so glad I'm not with him right now. I love to hike, but that's too much."

"I bet the post-hike tent sex would make it worth it," Mia giggled.

"Perhaps," I said as I imagined what that might be like. We'd have to be very quiet if his friends were in tents nearby, but that would undoubtedly make it even hotter. Shaking my dirty thoughts from my head, I stood up and grabbed the tortilla chip and salsa bowls. "I'm going to refill these. Do you want anything else? I made brownies today."

"Pot brownies?" El asked.

"No! My kids had some before Bert picked them up!"

"Bummer. I would have preferred them to be weed infused since being PTA president has me stressed out." Eloise was always signing up for things like this, which meant Mia and I got roped into volunteering more than we wanted. We'd started our night working on the school's annual fall festival before hitting the tequila.

I grinned. "I have some gummies upstairs. I keep them locked up just to be safe. Wanna try one?"

Both women enthusiastically nodded their heads, so I went up and got them. An hour later we were pretty twisted.

"I'm so glad this is legal," Mia said dreamily.

"It's all fun and games until our kids start doing it," El countered. "I like it as much as the next person, but I do worry about Nathan."

"Nathan is the world's most perfectly behaved child ever!" I said louder than necessary, thanks to my altered state. "He's never going to smoke. Lizzie already does, I think. Bert found a THC vape cartridge in her car when he took it in for an oil change. She says it was her friend Patience's, but that's what I would have said at her age. This is why I keep my stuff locked in the safe."

"How'd he handle it?" Mia asked.

"He yelled at her, called me and yelled at me for being too permissive with the children, then he yelled at her some more."

Eloise rolled her eyes. "What a jackass. It really sucks that she's stuck living with him most of the time."

I took a sip of my drink, licking some of the salt off the rim. "It does, and I think he's starting to see that it's not good for our family. He finally joined us for therapy last week, and Hannah brought up that one of the things she gets saddest about is not seeing her sister. He went on the defensive when it was just the two of us and the therapist, which means he knows it's a problem. He'd be dismissive if he didn't think it was."