“God, don’t say hump,” Neera said. She shuddered, but then she grinned at her mom teasingly. “I’m kidding. You can say hump. I know that everything sucks now, but it’s going to be okay. Honestly- I…” She looked like she wanted to say something, but then she cut herself off. Her lips pressed into a hard line. “Maybe this was for the best.”
“Maybe? Ask Scarlet! There’s nothing worse than being in a relationship with someone who checked out a long time ago.”
“Ouch! Mom!”
“That’s alright.” Scarlet reached for a mug of steaming coffee and doused it with cream from the little floral jug. “I’m used to your mom’s bluntness. We’ve been friends for over two decades.”
Scarlet had been best friends with Elodie’s younger sister. She was actually two years younger than Elodie, but she’d been friends with Marla for so long that she knew her well. When Elodie got pregnant at seventeen, she was already in grade twelve. She was horrified at her older sister and never could get over herself long enough to realize how immature it was to be embarrassed over something like that.
Marla was so ashamed of Elodie that she would pretend that she didn’t even know her at school. She distanced herself from her as much as she could, given that they were sisters. Scarlet had been horrified at her best friend, and Elodie obviously needed someone in her corner. Not that her parents weren’t. They were initially shocked and angry, but then they supported her decision to have the baby, alone, because it was clear that Elodie’s boyfriend at the time – a guy she’d been dating in secret who was three years older than her – wasn’t going to take responsibility. Her parents wanted to press charges because Elodie was only seventeen, but she wouldn’t even tell them who he was.
It was a crazy time, but Scarlet had been in awe of Elodie’s strength. Yes, she was afraid to be young and have a child on her own, but that wasn’t going to stop her from making the best life she could for her baby. She loved her child instantly, even through the roughest of storms. They’d become friends when just about everyone else deserted Elodie. After she graduated and had Neera, Scarlet began hanging out at the James’ household even more often than she had when she’d been besties with Marla.
“Still.” Neera elbowed Elodie gently. “Filter, mom. Filter.”
“We should have a party!” Elodie declared. She got so excited that she nearly spilled the coffee in her hands. She grasped the mug more carefully. “A divorce party!”
“I’m good with the New Years' party, but thank you.” Scarlet sipped at the hot liquid. She still wasn’t thawed out from the walk in the bitter cold wind.
Sunday mornings were a tradition. They always did something together. She was expected at Elodie’s for coffee and a catch up and there was no way she was going to let the cold weather stop her, even if it was so cold that her car was sitting in her driveway like a frozen block of ice.
Elodie set her coffee down on the table and slapped her thigh. Neera eyed her warily. “Tattoos! That’s what we need. Ones that say ‘fuck men’.”
Neera nearly leaped off the couch. “No! That could mean something else entirely! No way.”
“It would be so fitting, given my luck with them and with Scarlet’s husband, and well—”
“Yeah. I don’t fit the bill. Not getting that. No way. Getting a tattoo to celebrate or memorialize something is fine, but getting one spur of the moment is not cool. You’ll regret it for life.”
“I can’t believe that you’re not the mother right now,” Elodie sighed. “When did you get so grown up?”
“Just because I don’t want to ink something like that on myself doesn’t make me grown up.” Neera’s lips twitched. “It just makes me not want to have a tattoo that could be horribly misconstrued.”
“We should do it,” Scarlet said suddenly. She was surprised at herself. She’d never even considered doing something like that before, and there she was, suddenly quite eager. “A best friend’s thing. Something matching. Something cute. Something that could also be a mother-daughter schtick if Neera wants in. Just, probably not the ‘fuck men’ thing.”
Scarlet had no children. Bryan had never wanted them, and she’d been so busy with her boutique, building it from scratch and turning it into a thriving business, that there had never really been time for the discussion. Neera was like a daughter to her. Scarlet could remember the day she first held her, half an hour after she was born. She remembered her first tooth, her first step, her first fever, her first word, just like Elodie did.
So why was she suddenly looking at Neera like she didn’t know her? Neera had been away in San Jose for five years. She’d left at eighteen and she was twenty-three now. Scarlet hadn’t seen her often in all that time, only on holidays here and there, and sometimes Neera was too busy with work and with school to even come home.
This person seated beside Elodie wasn’t a baby, a child, or a teenager anymore. She was an adult woman, grown, mature, and beyond gorgeous. Scarlet could only blame all the things she’d been worried about and distracted by for not taking notice sooner. Work. Her failing marriage and her unfaithful husband. The fact that she had never once felt comfortable in her own skin until her husband left her, and that newfound singleness spurred her to make choices that she never would have dared to make otherwise.
It was a jarring shock to Scarlet, and she felt a strange heat warm her from the inside out when she discreetly studied Neera. A warmth that she didn’t think was from the coffee.
“I’d be more in for that,” Neera said reluctantly. “I think it needs some more consideration. Thank goodne
ss it takes time to find a good artist and a good place to go. That time is used to help people not make spur of the moment decisions.”
Elodie giggled. “Like getting a potato tattooed on your butt cheek?”
“Why on earth would you get a potato tattoo at all?” Neera sighed, pretending to be exasperated with her mom.
“Because they’re cute. And delicious.”
“What would that have to do with friendship or a mother-daughter thing?” Neera was genuinely confused, and Scarlet wanted to know the answer as well. Elodie was always coming up with quirky things.
“It would be symbolic. As in, when we saw it, we’d think of each other.”
Neera laughed. “Oh, my lord, let’s just drink the coffee.”