you two are priceless right now.”
“Leave us alone,” I said.
“Mila, Olivia… listen to me. You’re each carrying a Justa baby. There is no hiding your pregnancy. There is no battling against how big your stomach is going to get. Everyone carries big in this family. So what?”
“Ma, I have stretch marks,” I whispered.
“Me too!” Olivia said. “Tyler told me they were pretty. He kissed them.”
“See?” Ma said. “It’s all okay. And guess what? Those stretch marks will probably follow you for the rest of your life. That’s your reminder of what your body did. Never forget that.”
“It doesn’t mean I have to like it,” I said.
“Same,” Olivia said.
I took a deep breath. “Did you bring cookies, Ma?”
“I’m with two pregnant women, what do you think?” Ma asked.
I looked at Olivia.
She already had the bag of chocolate chip cookies in her hand.
The three of us ate the cookies so fast, we were all blushing.
Olivia and I had the excuse of being pregnant. Ma had the excuse of being stressed.
In reality, the cookies were damn good and life was too damn short to not eat thirty-five cookies in two minutes.
Ma swallowed her last bite and held up a finger. “We never tell anyone about this. About the cookies. Got it? This is our secret.”
“Can we do this again?” Olivia asked. “Without the whole cheating thing though.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Let’s make it a tradition. Maybe Olivia and I will sync up with our periods and we can do this once a month.”
“Or once a week,” Ma said with a grin.
“That’s even better,” Olivia said. “We can eat cookies and gossip. You can’t imagine how much Tyler pisses me off in a week.”
“Uh, hello?” I asked. “I lived with him.”
“Uh, hello?” Ma asked. “I gave birth to him.”
We all laughed.
I pointed to Ma’s face. “Ma, you have chocolate on the corner of your mouth.”
She quickly wiped her face.
She sat up straight and took a breath.
“It’s been a while,” Olivia said.
“Well, good for him,” Ma said. “Son of a bitch orgasms once with me and falls asleep. For what? To come over here and turn into a damn fire hose?”
“Ma… jeez…”
“Sorry,” Ma said. A second later, she gasped. “There he is.”
Olivia almost threw herself into the front seat to look.
We all looked forward and there was Michael.
Standing outside the building.
“Okay, it’s just him,” Olivia said. “This place could be… anything…”
“Look,” I said.
A woman stepped up next to Michael.
He smiled at her.
She placed her hand to his arm.
“Motherfucker,” Ma whispered.
I had never heard Ma use that word in my life.
My face turned bright red.
She opened her door.
“Ma, wait,” I said. “What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know,” Ma said.
Her eyes filled with tears.
Seeing Ma upset blew a fuse for me.
Next thing I knew, I threw open my door.
“Mila, stop!” Olivia yelled.
Ma and I got out of the car and looked at each other.
Then we started to run.
Toward Michael.
Racing each other to get to him first.
With Olivia trailing behind.
“You’re fucking busted!” I yelled.
Michael looked at us. “Mila? Theresa? Olivia…?”
Ma stopped running and looked at the woman Michael was with.
“Theresa,” the woman said. “I’ve heard so much about you.”
“Oh yeah? He screws you and talks about me?” Ma asked.
“What did you just say?” Michael asked.
“You heard me,” Ma said, setting her sights on Michael.
“Oh, Theresa…”
“Don’t play the excuse game,” I said.
“Will everyone just calm down?” Olivia asked. “Give Michael a chance to talk.”
“Oh, my,” the woman said. “I think there’s been a huge misunderstanding here.”
“You tell me,” Ma said. “Your hair looks nice. He must have done the countertop trick to you too, huh?”
“Theresa!” Michael yelled.
“Okay, Ma,” I said. “Let’s see how this plays out now that he’s caught.”
“I’m not caught,” Michael said.
“Well, you kind of are,” the woman said. “Just tell them now.”
“I knew it!” Ma yelled.
“No, you don’t,” Michael said. “I was going to wait until the next family dinner, but…” Michael shook his head. “I’m going to assume this is all these pregnancy hormones getting the best of everyone.”
“What does that mean?” Ma asked.
“Theresa, this is Wendy. She was suggested to me by a friend. For custom jewelry designs. I wasn’t able to meet her at her normal location, so I stopped over here a few times to let her finish something.” Michael took out a velvet bag and opened it. “I wanted to get you a necklace. But I didn’t want to leave someone out of it.”
“That’s where I came into play,” Wendy said. “I was able to design something that represents the