Sex, Not Love

“Hey, babe. You’re on speakerphone.”

“Do they have mimosas?”

“They do. Got myself one, too.”

“After we hang up, send me a picture of the two

of them with their drinks.”

Derek arched an eyebrow at us as if to say I told you. “Will do.”

“Hi, Nat!” Anna yelled.

“Hi!”

“Hi, Hunter. Are you taking good care of my girl?”

“I’m trying,” he said and gave my knee a little squeeze.

“I wish I could be there with you guys right now. But it’s too soon to fly with Caroline with all the recycled germs on a plane. So, since Derek had to be in town for business this week anyway, this is as close to the four of us sitting together as I could come up with. Derek, do you have my props ready?”

He shook his head, indicating that he thought his wife was loony, but reached into his pocket, nonetheless. “Got it.”

“Okay. Show the first picture.”

Derek held up a picture of me and Anna. We were probably only about four or five and were pushing our old baby carriages with our dolls inside.

“Nat, I’ve known you my whole life,” Anna said. “You’re the best friend a girl could ever have. When I was putting together what I wanted to say today, I tried to think of an example of when I’d asked you for help and you were there for me. But I couldn’t. Because even though I’ve needed your help often over the last twenty-plus years, I’ve never had to ask for it. You’re there giving it before I even have the chance.” Anna’s voice cracked, and I knew she was tearing up. “You’re my person, Nat. And I love you and trust you with my life.”

I was feeling all choked up myself. “Love you, too, Anna Bow Banya.”

She cleared her throat. “Your turn, Derek. Next prop.”

Derek shook his head, but shuffled the pictures so he was now showing an old photo of what I assumed was him and Hunter. “You beat up Frankie Munson when he called me a nerd in sixth grade. In eighth grade, when I was too shy to ask a girl to the dance, you asked the hottest two girls to go to the dance with us. In tenth grade, when you were captain of the football team, and I was captain of the debate team, you didn’t give a crap that you hung out with a nerd. You’ve always had my back, bro.”

Anna piped in. “Next picture, honey!”

Derek pulled another pic from the back of the stack he held in his hand. It was a photo of me and Hunter from their wedding that I’d never seen. I remembered the moment, but had been unaware anyone was capturing it. He’d just cut in while I was dancing with Anna’s dad, and I was insulting him while smiling as I tried in earnest to pretend the way he held me against his body had no effect on me. It was a great candid shot. My head was tilted up to him with a smirk, and he looked down at me with that sexy half-smile he wore so often. There was no mistaking the spark between us.

Hunter and I glanced at each other as Anna spoke. “So, because you two are our people, and we trust you with our lives, we want you to be our daughter’s people if something should happen to us.” She paused. “Last picture, honey.”

Derek shuffled again, and this time it was a picture of baby Caroline. She was dressed in a onesie with a movie logo on it: The Godfather.

“Hunter and Nat, will you be our daughter’s godparents?”

My smile was so wide, it was surprising my face didn’t crack. I jumped from my bar stool and hugged Derek, grabbing the phone and yelling into it at Anna. “Yes! Yes!”

Hunter took the more subdued approach and shook his friend’s hand. “Would be an honor, man.”

After Derek hung up, I asked the bartender to take a picture with my phone of the three of us holding up our mimosas. Then I shot it to Anna. She sent me one back, holding my soon-to-be goddaughter in one arm and her own virgin drink in the other.

“We haven’t finalized a christening date yet, because what started out as a small family gathering, my bride is attempting to turn into our wedding—part two,” Derek joked. “But we were thinking three weeks from Sunday, on the 25th.”

I mentally did the math. My visit to Garrett was on the 10th last month, so that would put my visit this month the weekend before the 17th. “That sounds great. Maybe I’ll pull Izzy out of school that Friday and fly down on Thursday to make a long weekend out of it.” I looked to Hunter. “Do you think you’ll be able to take a day off to fly out early?”

Hunter looked down, and then his gaze met mine. There was an apprehension in his eyes. “I’ll already be out in California.”

“Oh. Okay. I didn’t realize you had another trip planned.” I tried to shrug it off as no big deal, but my hollow-feeling belly got the message before my brain did. “Maybe we can work it out to fly back together.”