someone would call us and tell us Liz has had the baby.
The lack of news from James is painful.
My phone vibrates and we both dive at it, but it’s a GIF from my dad about being patient and going crazy.
“Not helpful, Brian,” Shawnee snaps.
I walk to the freezer and pull out one of the cartons of Ben & Jerry’s left over from Liz’s stash. It’s Cherry Garcia, a favorite of mine. I hand Shawnee a spoon and we hover.
“This isn’t Covid safe,” she says as she eats it.
“No. But you drank out of my water bottle yesterday, so I’m assuming if you’re sick, I already am too.”
“Shit, did I?”
“Yeah. We’re not amazing at this.”
“Nope. I don’t think it helps that we have no cases. I’m sort of half respecting it.”
“That’s not safe.”
Our tones have not changed from agonizingly bored throughout the conversation.
“Anthony is better than I am. He called me an ‘old millennial’ and said I was part of the problem.” She laughs.
“Old millennial? Damn.”
“His mom hit him with a wooden spoon. Cracked him right in the arm.” There is mischief in her stare. “She likes me better than him. He argues with everything she says.”
“Yeah, but didn’t you say he and your dad ignored you for two hours straight while they bromanced?”
Shawnee loses the smile. “Wow. You couldn’t let me have that one, huh?”
“Gotta keep you humble. Otherwise, the fame goes right to your head.” I shrug and take more ice cream.
“Whatever. Dick.” She laughs. “Speaking of things that go right to your head, what is going on with you and Sam? I still can’t believe he lives across the hall.”
“Me either. It’s awkward. We had wine that one evening and we flirted a bit and told each other our sad stories, and he accused me of ruining both our lives.” I sigh. “Which is fair. And then I kind of ran out of the apartment, fleeing as it were. And we haven’t run into each other since.”
“I don’t understand why you broke up with him in the first place. Yeah, he was moving away. That sucks. But you could have made it work.” She takes another big bite of ice cream. It’s finally soft enough to properly scoop. “I always thought he was your person. Always.”
My throat tightens and my heart aches.
“I fucked it up,” I say, offering nothing else. She will lose her mind if she finds out the truth.
“Maybe this is your second chance.” She’s hopeful that since she found love I might too.
“Second chances are something you only get in Christmas movies where the snow is falling, the bells of the church are ringing, and the year is ending. So you feel like maybe there’s hope that you can fix it or start fresh with the new year. Holiday magic is in the air,” I joke but she is in love. She’s a believer now.
My skeptical, single, travel-obsessed friend may never recover from this, and I couldn’t be happier for her.
But that is not how my story ends.
I motion at Romeo on the window seat. “That is the man for me. He’s adorable, fluffy, doesn’t talk except to meow for food or snuggles, and he is independent. You’ve never seen a happier face than when I get home from being out. It’s true love.”
She laughs again but we are interrupted. Finally, my phone vibrates with a call. I dive at the table where it sits.
“Ahhh!” I scream as I answer the Facetime from James. “Hi!”
“Hey,” he says. His face is puffy and his eyes are red like he’s been crying. “She’s awesome. She’s totally fine.”
A massive exhale I didn’t realize I was half holding leaves my lips. “Oh thank God.”
“They are waking her up and she’ll be with us soon. But I wanted you to know Liz is totally okay. They tied her tubes while they were in there. So it took longer.” He moves the phone to a weird glass case. “And this is Lillian Severson Greenwood.” He zooms in on the baby inside.
“God, they named her after you,” Shawnee gushes quietly.
“She’s healthy, seven pounds, all the fingers and toes and good stuff,” James sounds smitten.
“Oh my.” I begin to cry and not just because they have named her after me. Shawnee joins me. We grip each other and sob.
“She’s in this weird case because they’re giving her a minute. Her heart rate was a bit high and it rose when I touched her. So they are resting her in here to make sure