Page 45 of Even After This
Sally’s hand waves. “Meredith, Spence and I are wondering if we can crash you and Harlan’s fancy dinner plans tonight so we can spend one more meal with you. Would you guys mind?”
I hold up my finger. “One sec.” As I tuck my chin down and turn, the butterflies in my stomach and I address Harlan. “Um, do I have fancy dinner plans with you tonight?”
“That’s why I’m calling,” he says. “Would you like to have fancy dinner plans with me tonight?”
My face flushes, and I hover over the baby wipes section. “I would. Thank you.” Now I’m grinning like an idiot at the travel-sized packages of disposable wipes for sensitive skin. “Sally said she and Spence want to join.”
Harlan growls. Like, a real-life growl. “Tell her I’ll share you for part of the night, but after dinner I’m kicking them out. I want you all to myself later, even if it’s only a little while.”
The butterflies in my stomach go wild. “Later,” I say, my voice filled with giddy excitement.
“Later,” Harlan says, his deep voice saying the word so much better than I do.
I am really starting to love the thought of later.
I turn around, give Sally a thumbs-up, cover the speaker of the phone, and hold it away while I whisper like the giddy junior high girl that I am, “He says dinner is fine, but he wants me all to himself after that.”
Her eyes light with a twinkle of mischief. “He wants you alone for dessert?”
Horrified, I gasp. “What? No. Just to have some time alone.”
The twinkle sparks brighter. “For dessert.”
“No!” I lower my voice and lean toward her. “No. Just to ... just to...” Just to what? How am I supposed to fill in that answer?
How do Iwantto fill in that answer?
She turns the cart and heads to the recliners, laughing all the way.
I shake off the butterflies, kind of, and remember what I wanted to say to Harlan. “Can you do me a favor? Can you please go check on Penelope? We left her with the kids, and this outing is taking longer than planned.”
“I’ll check on her, but I’m sure she whipped them into shape. How’s your day going?”
“Well, I think,” I say, my voice excited, “I’m useful. I have a purpose. I mean, no way am I going to tell Sally potty training will make her question her sanity, but I’m getting to encourage her and talk her through what she needs, and it feels...”
Harlan’s low voice fills my ear. “What does it feel like, Meredith?”
“Like living,” I whisper, the answer causing tears to prick my eyes. Yessssss. This feels like living.
“That’s wonderful,” he says. I can hear the smile in his voice coupled with something that makes me think he gets it. And maybe even that he’s proud of me.
“Gotta go, Harlan. We still need to hit three more stores.” My eyes follow Sally to the gliders. “By the way, who are Sally’s friends who dropped the ball and let her get this far into motherhood without covering the basics?”
“From what little Spence has shared, she doesn’t have the best support system. My guess is life in and around Hollywood can’t help. You’re probably a breath of fresh air to her.”
“Oh.” I take the cord from a nearby wipes warmer display and wrap it around my forefinger.
“Hey, before I let you go,” he says, “when you said potty trainingwill make Sally question her sanity, does that also apply to nighttime training? Alex has mastered daytime control, so now she’s working on keeping her panties dry through the night. I just bought this book, and it says I should give her a giant party each morning she succeeds. Apparently she’ll be trained within a week. It doesn’t seem hard.”
“Right.” I suck in my lips to stifle my laugh. “We used that method.”
Four times.
11
“‘Invincible,’” Harlan saysas he reclines in the high-back restaurant chair, crossing his arms over his vast chest.
Sally scoffs. “The Pat Benatar song or the Kelly Clarkson song?”
