No One Else (The Ladies Who Brunch 2)

“Oh my God, is that a hickey?” Noelle shrieks as I take my seat at brunch Sunday morning.

“What?” I look down and pull up the neckline of my tank top, cursing myself for not changing my shirt when I knew it would ride down and expose the purple flesh mark Ethan left on the top of my left breast. “Shit.”

“I take that as a yes, then?”

Slinking back in my chair, I take the mimosa that Charlotte hands to me and then drain half the glass. “Ethan fucked me three times Friday night.”

Penelope smirks across the table. “And did he deliver on his promises?”

“Tenfold,” I admit to cheers from my girls.

“Glad the man can back up his words then.”

“It was incredible—so raw, passionate, and hot. God, the man is so fucking hot. He makes me forget to think.”

“Those are the ones that are trouble.” Noelle smiles knowingly around her glass.

“I know. He didn’t stay the night though. He had to pick up his son from his mom’s early on Saturday morning.”

“That’s understandable. Did you want him to stay the night?”

“Yes, but I also thought it would be against the rules of our arrangement.”

Charlotte leans forward in her seat. “Like I said, I spoke to Damien and told him not to say anything to Nick.”

“Thank you.”

“But my follow-up question is, did you two ever have rules to begin with?”

“Just that we weren’t telling anyone about us, but obviously that’s out of the bag now. You girls know, and now Damien does too.”

“That’s not very many people, and people that would understandably be aware anyway.”

“I know, but I want more with him. He agreed to my ultimatum of getting to know each other, but I don’t know how he interpreted that exactly.”

Noelle nods. “I get what you’re saying. You guys are in that very fragile state after sex where you’re definitely into one another, but it’s too early to talk about what this means.”

“Exactly.”

“What would Dr. St. Clair say?” Penelope asks teasingly.

And I answer her without much contemplation. “She would tell her client to ask him and explain her feelings, to be direct, so she isn’t wasting her time. But Amelia, the woman who still is figuring out her love life and how to navigate the fragile circumstances of this arrangement, isn’t sure that’s the best idea just yet.”

“Why not?” Charlotte prods.

“Because he has a kid, which makes the stakes for him much more serious.” The girls nod. “But all I know right now is that I’ve never had a man insist on picking me up from somewhere at night so I would get home safe, let alone a man that I feel this intensely about. When I’m with him, he consumes me.”

“We all saw the way he looked at you the other night, the way he pulled you away from us to get you alone. I don’t think you’re crazy for feeling that way.” Noelle says.

“His words say one thing, but his actions say something else entirely, you know? Like eating lunch together. Even though it was my idea for us to get to know each other more, he’s the one that instigated it and surprised me with lunch the second time. And then, Friday, he texted me outside of work. We never talked about meeting up outside of our offices.”

“I think you should definitely feel him out then and ask him how he feels when you see an opening. Otherwise, hang tight and enjoy the ride.” Penelope bounces her eyebrows.

“Oh, there’s plenty to enjoy, believe me.” I chuckle and feel myself blush as I take a drink of my mimosa.

Noelle clears her throat. “So, not to change the subject completely, but I have some news.” We all give her our attention as she takes a deep breath and speaks. “I’ve decided to look into getting a sperm donor so I can have a child.”

Penelope nearly chokes, and Charlotte and I sit there silently.

“Someone please say something,” Noelle requests, but the other two girls are at a loss for words, so I break the silence.

“Is this coming from our conversation the other night?” I ask.

Penelope finally speaks up. “You talked about sperm donors the other night? Where the hell was I?

“That’s not important, but yes, it did have to do with our conversation, Amelia,” Noelle replies. “I’m thirty and no closer to finding a man to marry and have children with than I was five years ago, during my optimal child-bearing years as society describes them. I’m tired of waiting on the right person for my life to begin when I’m the person that gets to make that decision. And my decision is, I want children, sooner rather than later.”

“That’s a big decision to make, Noelle,” Charlotte says cautiously. “You know we’ll support you no matter what you decide, but please promise us that you’ll think about it.”

Noelle reaches over and lays her hand on Charlotte’s. “I promise. Like I said, I’m just going to look into it now, do some research, and get an idea of all it entails. Then I’ll know whether to move forward from there.”

“Just let me know when it’s time to go shopping,” Penelope interjects.

“Shopping for baby clothes?” Charlotte asks. “That’s not something I thought you’d be into, but I’m glad to see that you’ll take your role as a future aunt seriously.”

Penelope shakes her head as she chews. “No. Not shopping for clothes, shopping for sperm. I want to be involved in picking Noelle’s potential baby daddy. I feel like my level of expertise with men will definitely come in handy there.”

“Oh, Jesus.” Noelle laughs, Charlotte leans back in her chair, and I drain the rest of the mimosa from my glass.

Thank God for champagne and good friends.