Page 4 of Fundamentals of Being a Good Girl
Joey bumps into someone tall and evil, and Leo spins around to glare at him. “I’m in the middle of eavesdropping,” Leo says tightly, his voice like jagged ice. “And I will kill you if I miss my cue.”
“Your cue? For what?”
Leo looks down his perfect nose at Joey, a slight sneer on his face. “For announcing my engagement.”
“You’re not engaged,” Joey says with mostly complete certainty.
“And I’ll never be if you don’t shut up.” And then Leo shoves him away.
11:32 P.M.
Bram is looming over Maddie the Birthday Girl. She has her back against the wall and he has his forearm braced next to her head, his face dropped to hers as he speaks sternly to her, presumably about parking etiquette.
He lifts his finger, to scold her or to make a point, and Maddie from California dips her head and bites the tip of it with pearly white teeth.
12:01 A.M.
Sloane is sitting at the bar talking to Robbie, the picture of his pontoon boat clutched to her chest as he gestures at the water spots on the ceiling. Behind him, mounted to the wall next to the Jägermeister sign, is a framed poster of theLonesome Doveminiseries, signed by Danny Glover and Steve Buscemi.*
Sloane pulls out her phone and starts tapping away, still cuddling the picture of the pontoon.
12:28 A.M.
Joey finishes singing “Barracuda” to the approving roars of the crowd. Someone is calling for an encore. He asks the DJ for “Tequila” by The Champs because he knows all the words.
12:56 A.M.
Joey is at a table arm-wrestling one of his former football players while people shout and drop dollar bills onto the table. Someone shoves another Big Guy Touchdown in his free hand and he finishes the shot as he shoves his opponent’s hand to the table.
Look at all the money he won! Twenty-seven dollars!
His chest swells. Riley is going to be so proud of him. He’s provided for the family. He is a hunter and a warrior. Maybe she’ll still be awake when he gets home...
1:07 A.M.
Joey’s vision is blurry, but he is pretty sure he sees a pair of muscled thighs clad in brown corduroys disappear up the stairs to the empty apartments above the bar. Looks an awful lot like Bram’s brown oxfords too.
Is that also the pale blue of a sweater set?
1:20 A.M.
It’s official.
Bram is gone. The Saint James cousins are gone.
Time to Uber home.
Joey Fucking Kemp’s House
2:21 A.M.
“Do you have a condom?” Riley whispers. They always have to whisper. The curse of having three girls who sleep like little princesses atop heaps of peas.
“What can one time hurt?” Joey whispers back. Also the condoms areso far away, like all the way in the bathroom.
Riley seems to think about it. “Okay,” she says, yawning a little. “I guess I’m still breastfeeding. I don’t think I can get pregnant again yet.”
Best night ever.
