started to speak, but when Simone glared at her, she swallowed her retort.
“I just want Marcus to spend more time with me. Is that too much to ask?”
Simone sighed, shifted around in her seat. Her gaze drifted to the playroom, and when she saw Jayden waving at her, she smiled and waved back. “Life was so much easier before Marcus opened his sixth gym. All he used to care about was making me happy and being a good father, and now all he cares about is tripling his net worth.”
“Don’t be so hard on him. At least he’s not one of those lazy-can’t-keep-a-job-can-I-hold-a-fifty-until-payday-type brothers.”
Simone cracked up. “Don’t worry, girl. You’ll find your Prince Charming soon.”
“Please, I’ve kissed so many frogs I’ve given up hope of ever meeting Mr. Right. Hell, at this point I’d settle for Mr. Maybe or Mr. Gainfully Employed!”
More shrieks and laughs.
“Angela, I’m so glad you moved back home. Now I won’t feel so lonely.”
“Lonely? What are you talking about? You have the boys, your family and tons of decorating projects to do around the house.”
“I know, but I still get down sometimes.” Simone shoved her fork absently around her plate of lobster pasta. “And now that Jayden and Jordan are going to the Webber Academy for Boys three days a week, I’m really climbing the wall.”
“You should take a class or get a part-time job. That way, you have your own thing going on and you’re not waiting around all day for Marcus to get home.”
“I haven’t worked for years, and the thought of revising my résumé makes me queasy,” she confessed, her tone tinged with apprehension. “And to be honest, I don’t know if I could juggle being a mom, a wife and a social worker all at the same time.”
“Don’t you miss working, though? No offense, but I never pegged you as a stay-at-home mom slash trophy wife type.”
“That makes two of us. One day I’m getting ready to start my field experience at the teen clinic, and the next thing I know I’m pregnant with twins.”
“I know, huh? It seems like just yesterday we were hitting the hottest clubs, staying out ’til dawn and dancing until our heels broke off, but it’s been almost eight years since we graduated from U of C.”
“We were going to travel the world after graduation, remember?” Simone wore a sad, wistful smile. “What happened to all of our plans?”
“You met Marcus and lost your ever-loving mind, that’s what!”
“What can I say? My man has some serious game!”
The women giggled.
“But Marcus isn’t romantic anymore, and the last time we went out for dinner his stupid cell phone kept ringing. I just want to hang out with my husband without anyone interrupting us.”
“Have you told him that?”
“Only a million times,” Simone grumbled, gripping the stem of her cocktail glass. “His favorite song used to be ‘You’re My Everything’ and now it’s ‘My Prerogative.’ Gosh, I always hated that song, and Bobby Brown, too!”
Angela laughed and dabbed at her mouth with a crisp, white napkin. “Every marriage goes through ups and downs, but that doesn’t mean you guys are headed for divorce court, Simone. Marcus loves you just the way you are, so no more plastic-surgery talk, okay?”
Simone lowered her head and stared down at her French manicure. “I thought if I got a little work done he’d pay more attention to me.”
“Getting a breast lift isn’t going to cure your marital problems.” Angela wore a soft smile, but her voice was stern. “Don’t go to the consultation, or mention it to the girls on Saturday night, either. You know Tameika. She’ll get loud and start talking crazy—”
“Saturday? Do we have plans?”
“My housewarming party’s at six-thirty, remember?”
“With everything that’s been going on, it slipped my mind.”
“No worries,” Angela said, with a dismissive wave of her hand. “You still have plenty of time to head to Nordstrom’s and buy one of the fabulous items on my gift registry.”
“You created a gift registry for your housewarming party?”
Angela grinned. “You bet your boots I did.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want my tacky relatives to buy me cheap dollar-store gifts!”
Simone belted out a laugh. She’d never heard of anything so outrageous, but nothing her girlfriend did ever surprised her. Simone didn’t want to miss the couple’s seminar on Saturday, but she had to be at Angela’s housewarming party. Her girlfriend had been planning it for weeks, and Simone was dying to see how she’d decorated her new two-story home.
“Mommy...”
Simone felt a tug on her sweater and turned around. Jayden was sucking his thumb with gusto, making loud, slurping sounds that attracted the attention of everyone seated nearby. Sniffling, he bobbed his head vigorously up and down. Breaking him of the habit had proven to be such a difficult task, she’d called his pediatrician for help. Dr. Westbrook told her not to worry, said that Jayden would grow out of it soon. Simone sure hoped so because she was tired of him slobbering all over himself, other people and the living room furniture.
“Mommy, Jordan called me a butthead!”
Simone inflected her voice with just the right amount of shock. “He did?”
“Uh-huh,” he said, wiping the tears from his eyes. “And he said he’s going to beat me up when we get home.”
Angela ruffled Jayden’s curly brown hair. “Don’t worry, lil’ man. Your brother isn’t going to hurt you. He was just teasing.”
“No, he wasn’t.” Another sniff. “Mommy, I don’t want Jordan to be my brother anymore. He’s mean, and he never shares his toys with me.”
Simone pulled Jayden into her arms and kissed his cheek. He was five years old, but he had the temperament of an eighty-year-old man. He was moody and terribly sensitive, and when he didn’t get his way, he’d mope into the living room, curl up on the couch and have a good cry. He did it so often Marcus had started to worry. Scared that his son would grow up “soft” and wanting to “toughen him up a bit,” he had enrolled him in little league hockey. These days, Jayden cried more than ever.
“Mom, Jayden called me a butthead!” Jordan said, racing over to the booth. Sniffling, his lips curled into a pout, he mimicked his identical twin brother perfectly. “And he said he was going to beat me up when we get home!”
Simone strangled a laugh. Leave it to Jordan to make light of the situation. Lovable, energetic and as noisy as a boy could be, he lived to make everyone around him smile.
