Now That You Mention It
Page 65

I liked him. I liked him a lot.
Mom walked past and scowled at me. “What are you doin’ here?” she hissed.
“I need a hug,” I said. “Also, hug therapist is not a real thing, and you should stop putting initials after your name.”
“Twenty-five bucks.”
“I see someone raised her prices.”
“Every hug lasts twenty seconds, so I earn it. And pipe down, by the way.”
“Love you, too.”
She rolled her eyes and clapped her hands. “All right, everyone, stop drinking AA’s coffee and have a seat. Let’s get stahted. Who wants to go first?”
“Me,” Xiaowen said instantly.
“Did you pay Poe there?”
“I did.” She went over to my mom and stood like a penitent.
I fished out my wallet and took out a twenty and a ten and shoved it at Poe. “The family rate,” I whispered. “We get charged extra.” She snorted.
“All right, sweethaht,” my mother said to Xiaowen. “Come here.” She opened her arms and hugged my friend—a long, firm hug. A hair stroke. Then she pulled back and said, “You’re a good person, Xiaowen.”
To my shock, Xiaowen wiped her eyes. “Thanks, Mrs. Stuart.” She came back to me. “Your mother has some serious fucking Hogwarts magic going on there. Damn.” She pulled a tissue from her bag and blew her nose.
Bob Dobbins was getting his fix, I saw. “You’re a good man, Bawb,” my mom said, extricating herself after the requisite twenty seconds had passed. Mrs. K was next, and my mom smiled. That hug seemed more natural. They were old friends, after all, and Mrs. K wasn’t trying to rub herself against my mother the way Bob did.
Amy was next. “It’s been a hard time for you, dahlin’,” Mom said. “Things are gettin’ better, though. You hang in there. You’re a good person.”
A summer person, clad in pink shorts printed with whales and a white polo shirt, was next. Mom worked her magic on him, and he asked if he could have a selfie with her. “For five more dollars,” my mother said.
I popped into the line. Mom sighed when she saw me. “I’m a paying customer,” I said.
“What are you, foolish in the head? Fine. Come here.”
She wrapped me in her arms and held me tight.
Xiaowen was right.
It had been a long time since I’d had anything other than a hard peck on the cheek. She felt so familiar—her strong shoulders, the smell of Head & Shoulders shampoo. My throat was tight, and I hugged her back tentatively. “You’re a good person, Nora. Now, get outta here and let me work.”
Ah, mothers. All sentimental mush, I went back to my pals. “Gloria? Are you getting one?”
“I’m good. My own mother wants me to move back into her uterus, and I have to pry her off me every time I leave.”
“Then let’s go back to my place. Our cocktails await.”
“I wish I was a grown-up,” Poe muttered.
“Tell you what,” I said. “Come over afterward, and I’ll make you a virgin drink, and you can hang out with us.”
Her face brightened, which she must’ve realized, because she immediately rearranged her expression back to ennui. “Maybe. Okay.”
Twenty minutes later, the three coolest babes on Scupper Island were slurping mojitos made with my homegrown mint and sitting on the top deck, cheese, crackers and grapes on the table. I’d picked flowers and added a few sprigs of rosemary for fragrance. The sun was still shining, and the air was clean and clear.
“Big news, ladies,” I said. “I have a date with Sullivan Fletcher at an undetermined time and place in the future.”
“Which one is he again?” Xiaowen asked.
“Not your lab partner. The other one.”
“He’s so nice,” Gloria said. “I like his vampire teeth.”
Xiaowen laughed. “My thoughts are so dirty right now. So, Nora, you gonna do him?”
I felt my cheeks warm. “It’s just a date. He’s really sweet.”
“But his brother is lava hot,” Xiaowen said.
“Except for being a dick and all,” I added.
“Yeah, I hate when they speak and ruin the fantasy,” she said. “My ex-fiancé was the same way.” Sadness flickered across her face. “Whatcha gonna do?”
“Why did you guys break up?” Gloria asked.
“He cheated on me. On me, can you believe it? On this.” She gestured to herself.
“What an idiot,” I said. But I reached over and squeezed her hand, anyway. She shot me a grateful look. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Shit, no. Gloria, how’s Slytherin?”
“I think Slytherin and I are taking it to the next level,” Gloria said.
“Does he want to Slytherin to your chamber of secrets?” I asked.
“Was that a wand in his pocket, or was he just happy to see you?” Xiaowen added.
“Come on over here, sweetheart, and I’ll show you my patronus.”
“You two are funny,” Gloria said, “in a juvenile, idiotic way.” She sipped her drink. “Actually, we did play a little Quidditch, if you know what I mean. God. I can’t believe I’m sinking to your level.”
“Did he capture your Golden Snitch?” Xiaowen and I said at the same time. We high-fived each other, giggling like the tweens we were channeling.
“Not exactly. Still early days, you know? But I told him my last name, and I’m thinking of letting him know where I live.”
“Is that first base these days?” Xiaowen asked.
Gloria smiled. “Well, after my old boyfriend turned out to be a stalker, yeah. But Slytherin’s nice. I even told him we called him Slytherin, and he thought it was great.”
“So he’s read Harry Potter,” I said. “Thank God we can check that box. What does he do for work?”
“He’s a doctor at Boston City,” Gloria said.
“That’s where I worked!” I said. “What’s his name? Maybe I know him!”
“Robert Byrne.”
I sucked in a breath—and a bit of mint leaf, which my airway most assuredly didn’t like. I choked and coughed and coughed and wheezed.
“Heimlich her,” Xiaowen ordered.
“If she can cough, she can breathe,” Gloria said, and rightly so, but it was hard to care, as tears were streaming down my face.
Also, she was dating my ex-boyfriend.
I managed to get the leaf up (so genteel, so classy) and wiped it on my jeans. “Robert Byrne,” I said, wheezing. I took a napkin and blotted my eyes. It could be Robert Burn. Or Burns, like the poet. “Is he an emergency room doctor? Blue eyes, tall, lives on Beacon Street?”
“That’s the one! So you do know him!”
I took a breath. “I dated him. Uh...he and I broke up just before I came out here.”
There was silence. Xiaowen’s eyes darted back and forth between us as she sucked on her straw.
“Well, shit,” Gloria said.
“I mean, it’s okay, but...how did you not know? How did he not know that you and I work together?” Had I told Bobby I worked with a nurse named Gloria? I didn’t think I had.
Gloria closed her eyes. “I’ve been really vague with him. I mean, seriously, I didn’t tell him my last name until Friday. He knows I’m a nurse and I live near Portland and my family’s from outside Boston.”