“How will you torture her?”
“I’ll threaten her with a glass of wine,” CeCe said.
“That’ll do it,” he said, feeling better already. Not because of the wine—Abby couldn’t stand the stuff, even though the rest of her friends could suck it down like punch—but he felt better because they cared about Abby, because they knew her, because they would help him get to the bottom of this.
And if it ended up that he was the problem that was making his wife so miserable, then Jordan would fix it.
Whatever it was.
Chapter Five
Abby
By all measures, she should be furious at her husband.
Inviting people over when she was exhausted and had given birth just a few weeks before—six was a few, right?—but regardless, the house was a mess, her body was a mess and—
They were her best friends in all the world.
And Jordan had invited the cackling group of six over then had entertained them for a glorious two hours when they’d forced her into a nap.
The house sparkled—or if not that, then it had at least been picked up and organized. How long it would stay that way was questionable, given that it was now home to three kids, but they’d come, they’d cleaned, they’d made her rest, and Jordan had cooked and fed everyone.
Her reheated plate was in front of her, along with a small glass of rum, copiously mixed down with Diet Coke. Sera had said she’d checked the measurements carefully so as not to interfere with her breast milk.
Which was beyond sweet.
Her friend, not the milk. But then again, it wasn’t like she went around tasting it. Her milk could be sweet and delicious and—
Her mind threw the brakes on that particular train of thought.
Maybe someone would get their jollies off it, but she’d spent the better part of the last few years feeling like a cow—either because she was nursing or because she was pregnant and as large as one.
It didn’t feel very jolly.
Or sweet.
But her friends and Jordan were.
He’d taken the kids upstairs, put the littles to bed, and he and Hunter were camping out in the bedroom rewatching the latest season of The Mandalorian before it was his turn to go to sleep.
Abby had to admit she was a little jealous to not be part of the rewatch party—it was so good—but also, it was nice to be hanging with her friends. She’d sat and let the chatter wash over her, a Hallmark movie playing in the background, listening to Bec talk about a new case—and the other lawyer’s attempts to circumvent her.
“Which won’t work, of course,” Bec was saying. “It’s practically a juvenile move, and I’d already prepped my clerk to file if he made that move.” She cackled and rubbed her hands together. “I only wish I could see his face when that filing goes through.”
“You’re too smart for your own good,” Sera said.
“Nonsense,” Heather said, her voice slightly tinny as it came through the speakers of CeCe’s phone. She was sitting cross-legged on her bed in Berlin, dressed for the day and wisely abstaining from a drink, as it was breakfast time there. “It’s never a bad thing to be smart.”
“So says the two smartest women I know,” Rachel said.
Bec buffed her knuckles on her chest. “It’s a hard cross to bear, that’s for sure.”
Sera swatted Bec on the shoulder. “Hush you.”
“Hey!” Bec swatted her back.
“How’s the real estate market right now?” Abby asked quickly, before they could digress too far down the swatting track. She, Bec, and Sera had all been friends since boarding school—and sometimes they still acted like it.