The Mystery in Moonshine by Lindsay Emory

Author:Lindsay Emory [Emory, Lindsay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-02-23T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINETEEN

I could not remember the last time I'd been out at a bar, for fun, with girlfriends. So when Teresa Chang-Munoz called me and invited me to a girls' night at the Southern Cross Brewhouse, I said yes instantly.

Then I asked, "But aren't you..."

"Pregnant?" Teresa laughed. "Yep. I'll be the designated driver. But we have a babysitter for once and I'm not passing this chance up! Who knows when the stars will align again?"

Who knew, indeed.

Well, Clara Dee knew, because she got all dressed up in a dress that looked like something Doris Day would wear to prom and tagged along with me.

But I suspected that Teresa had already invited Clara Dee because when we got to the Southern Cross Brewhouse, Teresa and Clara Dee hugged and Teresa thanked my cousin profusely for her serum recommendation. "It's been like magic!" Teresa gushed. "All my stretch marks vanished overnight."

"Aunt Lucille's secret ingredients! All-natural botanicals!" Clara Dee sing songed before we shared a smile between us. A Delacorte's secret ingredients were never to be divulged.

Gillian pulled a few tables together on the deck outside overlooking the water. "We're so lucky to get these!" she crowed. "Usually we're never here early enough!" Besides Clara Dee and me, and Teresa and Gillian, Amy Sharp soon joined us. There was a round of cheering between Amy and Teresa and Gillian about scoring a babysitter then Teresa leaned over and said to me, "Sam just loves kids, you know."

Her wife nudged her arm. "Stop matchmaking, already!"

Teresa shrugged, not shamed in the slightest. I tried my best to look like I was interested-but-not-interested, if you know what I mean. Neutral about being set up but not dismissive or rude because his sister was sitting right there.

Amy had heard the conversation, of course, but she was also playing it cool. "Sam's babysitting all the kids tonight," she explained.

"That's really nice of him," Clara Dee piped up. Maybe it was to save me from trying to be neutral about Sam Weston again.

Teresa leaned over again to tell me again, "Sam loves kids."

Gillian nudged her again. "If you keep saying it, it sounds creepy."

"You're a pediatrician," Teresa pointed out. "If I say you love kids, does it sound creepy?"

Everyone cocked their heads and thought about it for a moment. "No," I admitted.

"Because she's a woman!" Clara Dee said.

"And she's a doctor," Amy added.

"It shouldn't be creepy to say a nice man loves kids, that's all," Teresa said.

"You're so right," Clara Dee said with a note of surprise in her voice.

"I hadn't thought of it that way before," Amy said.

"Thank you for showing us how we've internalized toxic masculinity," I said, sincerely. "Now let's get some drinks."

"Amen, sister!"

There wasn't a waitress out on the deck, so we decided to take turns going to get rounds at the bar. Gillian went first and brought back a Shirley Temple for her pregnant wife, cold chardonnay for Amy, margaritas for Clara Dee and me and a frosty amber beer for herself.

We toasted and

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