The Friends We Keep

“How can I help?”


Gabby sighed. “You are, just by listening. Right now I don’t think there’s much for anyone to do. I have to wait for Andrew to come home so he and I can straighten this out. Then we can talk to Makayla together. United.”

“That sounds like a plan,” Nicole said. But the truth was, she had her doubts. Gabby and Andrew weren’t even close on the issue. How were they supposed to find common ground? And if Makayla and her dad were the ones who stood against Gabby, there was going to be all kinds of trouble.

“Enough about the soap opera that is my life,” Gabby told her. “What’s going on with you? Are you still seeing Jairus?”

Nicole told herself not to blush. “Sort of. We had a second date.”

Gabby raised her eyebrows. “And?”

“It was nice. I like him. I’m terrified, though. My marriage was a mess and I couldn’t figure out why until after it was over. Plus, he’s a writer. I’ve been married to a writer.”

“Oh, please. That’s like saying you dated a contractor once and it went badly, so no more contractors for you. The problem with Eric wasn’t the writing. That was a symptom. He was the problem. Look at how he is now.”

“What do you mean?”

Gabby softened her tone. “He doesn’t see Tyler. He’s the dad and it’s one afternoon, every other week, and he still doesn’t show up. That’s not about you, that’s him. For whatever reason, he’s not interested in anyone but himself.”

Nicole hadn’t thought about Eric in those terms. “You think there’s something wrong with him?”

“I think he’s not like the rest of us. Most people want to be part of a social collective. A family, a group of friends. Eric was never like that. He’s into the industry stuff and he likes being famous, but he’s not connected. Does that make sense?”

Their server arrived with a tray of finger sandwiches, along with a plate piled high with crisps—aka potato chips. Gabby took one of the small triangles.

“It’s been over a year since he moved out,” she continued, waving her sandwich. “There’s no other woman, right?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Trust me, he would have wanted you to know. He loves being photographed by the press and he’s never with anyone. I’m not saying he’s gay, I’m saying he’s not into intimacy of any kind. I’m sure you had fault in the failure of your marriage. Everyone gets some of the blame. But you’re not responsible for more than like thirty percent. It’s not because he was a writer.”

A lot of information, Nicole thought. “Jairus still scares me.”

“Sure. He’s a great guy who’s successful and you like him. He’s also the first guy you’ve gone out with since your divorce. Why wouldn’t you be scared?”

“You make it sound so rational.”

“I’m sure you can make my situation sound rational, too. Distance is perspective.” Gabby looked toward the kitchen. “You think there are going to be cookies later?”





Chapter Seventeen

“I can’t believe he did this to me.”

Hayley heard the words, but they came from so very far away. Not underwater, exactly, but from somewhere else. She supposed the actual problem was she couldn’t bring herself to care. Not about her sister’s problems, not about anything.

She’d been home for a couple of days now. In her head, she felt her body start the healing process. She no longer got as tired. She was able to eat. But in her heart—there was nothing. An empty space. Whatever promise there had been, whatever child had waited, he or she was gone. Replaced with an absence that would never be any different.

Morgan sat next to the bed. She covered her face with her hands, then dropped her arms to her lap. “What was he thinking? He didn’t ever talk to me about it. He just did it!”

“Maybe because you didn’t talk to him about getting pregnant,” Hayley said bluntly. She supposed she should be more gentle or diplomatic, but to be honest, she didn’t give a shit.

“This is not the same thing at all,” Morgan informed her. “He had a vasectomy. You can’t take that back. It’s permanent.”

“No, it’s not. They can be reversed. But a child is forever.”

A child was connection and a piece of you that lived on. A child was everything.

“What are you talking about?” Morgan demanded. “A child is something we have together.”

“Yes, you have three of them. You didn’t ask Brent any of the three times. You got pregnant and he had to deal with the consequences.”

“It’s not the same at all. How am I supposed to keep him if I can’t have another baby?”