“Yeah. That’s about when you stopped talking to me.”

  “Do you know why I broke up with her?”

  “No, you never told me.” She takes a few sips of her vodka and takes a deep breath. “We went to a party together on Halloween. We were having fun, but then I found her doing a line of coke. We got in a big fight and I left the party. Well, she came over to my dorm completely trashed and she told me it was my fault she was doing hard drugs because I wouldn’t let her whip me anymore. She just snapped and started wailing on me. Some people overheard the screams and broke into my dorm and pulled her off of me. Vic was expelled and her parents had to put her in rehab. Last I heard, she’s still struggling with drugs and alcohol and she’s in a lot of therapy.”

  I look at the glass in Shane’s hand and my jaw tenses. Shane notices and smiles as she shakes her head.

  “I don’t have a drinking problem, Kayla.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me this before? Why did you disappear?” Shane exhales hard and moves to lean her back against the counter. “I was worried if I told you what she did that you would try to do something about it like last time. I didn’t want you risking your career and going to jail or something. I was also embarrassed. I saw the signs and I ignored them. I just didn’t want to accept that after all that time of her doing well that I was actually going to lose her.”

  “I don’t buy it.” She looks up at me with a pinched brow. “That’s not why you ignored me. Why did you stop talking to me?” Shane blushes and takes another sip of her drink. “I couldn’t see you. Just leave it at that.”

  “No. If you want a fresh start, it’s going to start with you being honest.”

  Shane gulps down the rest of her drink and sets the glass on the counter. She starts walking to the other side of the kitchen shaking her head.

  “I shouldn’t have come here.”

  Sam quickly jumps up and blocks Shane, looking fierce.

  “You’re not going anywhere. You just drank about five shots of vodka. You’re not driving with that in your system. So, either talk, or sit the fuck down and wait till that alcohol is out of your system.”

  “I can drink that entire bottle before I feel it.”

  “I don’t give a shit how high you claim your tolerance level is. You’re not risking someone else’s life just because you’re a chicken. We’re not going to be blamed when they find out we let you leave our house drunk.”

  “I’m not a chicken. I’m trying to do the right thing.”

  “About what? Why did you ignore Kayla? Why didn’t you tell her what Vic did to you?”

  “Because I didn’t want to hurt her! I wanted to run to her and lay in her arms. I wanted to cry on her chest while she comforted me. I wanted to hear her tell me I deserve better. I wanted to hear her tell me I’m worth better. I was not strong enough to accept that from her without my old feelings for her coming back. I needed to distance myself so I didn’t cause her problems with all of you.”

  “So, why are you here? What do you want from Kayla?”

  Shane slumps her shoulders and walks back to the counter to lean against it. She looks at the bottle of vodka, and as she’s about to reach for it, Symone stands up and puts it back in the cabinet.

  “You had enough. Have some water.”

  Symone pours her a glass of fruit water and Shane gives her a small defeated smile as she accepts the glass.

  “Thanks. I’m here because I want another chance to be Kayla’s friend. I miss talking to her and hanging out with her.”

  “Do you miss her or do you just want to be friends with a famous person?” Shane shakes her head and takes a sip of the water. “Wow, this is delicious.” She takes another sip and then looks up at me for the first time since she tried to walk out. “I’m not here because you’re famous. I graduate in a year and I want to try to rebuild what we had before I leave and never get the chance again. I didn’t mean for it to go this long, but after a month went by, I just felt so stupid and just couldn’t get myself to respond to you. I had let so much time go by, and I just didn’t know how to finally face you.”

  “So, how did you get the guts to face her now?” Shane glances at Sam for a moment before looking at me again. “I saw you on Oliver Street the first week of December. I hadn’t seen you in person in so long. I wanted to talk to you then, but I didn’t want to just walk up to you out of the blue.”

  “How bad was it when Vic beat you?” Shane’s face contorts in sadness and pain. “It was bad. I had a black eye, busted lip, and cuts and bruises all over me. She got me pinned down on my stomach and beat and scraped me with my brush. That’s when my neighbors broke in the door.”

  “Jesus, Shane.” I pull her into a hug, and she lays her head on my shoulder and squeezes me tightly. “I’m so sorry. I really wish you hadn’t disappeared after that.”

  “What would you have done? There’s nothing you could do.” She pulls back and walks away, resting her back against the counter and crossing her arms over her chest. “It doesn’t matter now. It’s been over a year and I’m over it now. I don’t want to relive the past. I want to move forward.”

  “Ok, I won’t mention it again.”

  I lean back against the counter and take another drink of water. Shane is staring at the floor and looks like she’s deep in thought. I look over at my wives and all of them are staring at Shane like they’re trying to figure her out. Shane suddenly releases a laugh that makes all of my wives give her confused looks, like they think she has lost her mind.

  “Um, what’s so funny?” Shane looks up and laughs again. “Sorry, it’s just this whole situation. I’m making this so much weirder than it needs to be. I mean, we’re just old friends reconnecting, right? So, why am I so terrified?”

  “I didn’t realize I’m terrifying.” Shane laughs and shakes her head. “You’re not. Well, unless you need to be. I guess Sam was right. I’m just being a chicken.”

  “A drunk chicken.” Shane laughs and shakes her head. “I’m not drunk. Seriously, that vodka hasn’t even touched me. I’ve been drinking vodka since I was twelve. My parents always had the theory that if they let us have it at home, we wouldn’t go sneaking around to have it with our friends and we’d be smarter with drinking. I like to think it worked because I’ve never been drunk before.”

  “Have you ever been sober?” Shane laughs hard and shoves my arm. “Shut up. I don’t drink every day.”

  “That must be difficult. I can’t go more than an hour without some water or juice.” Shane laughs again. “I really missed talking to you.”

  “I’m sure there are plenty of people out there with equally corny jokes, if not better.” Shane smiles and shrugs a shoulder. “It’s not the corny jokes I missed. It’s how you can make a person feel safe and comfortable, no matter how difficult the situation is.”

  “I’m a little concerned about your mental wellbeing.” Shane looks at me confused and I laugh a little. “Being called a drunk chicken shouldn’t make you feel safe and comfortable.” Shane smiles and shoves my shoulder. “You know what I mean.”

  “So, are you still a vegetarian?” Shane quirks her eyebrows and leans against the counter. “Yeah, why?”

  “Well, I’m getting hungry, so I was going to ask if you want to join us for lunch. But we like meat, so I don’t want to threaten the fragility of our friendship and make you uncomfortable.”

  “I know you eat meat and it doesn’t bother me. But I don’t want to intrude or put you out. I can go if you need to eat.”

  “You can stay. Do you eat seafood?” Shane looks over at Shannon and nods. “Yeah, I’m not vegan. I eat dairy and all seafood. Can I help?”

  “Yes. You need to earn that five hundred dollars in vodka you drank.” Shane puckers her lips in an amused way at me and shakes her head. “Do you give everyone a hard time about drinking?”

  “Whoever drank that bottle was destined to be teased because it’s the most expensive bottle in the house.”

  “So, you set me up?”

  “Actually, I think I was being very generous.” I flash a big goofy smile and Shane laughs. “I agree with that. So, what I can do?”

  Shannon stands up with a patient smile and opens the fridge. She pulls out a few flats of jumbo shrimp and scallops, a bunch of different vegetables, and a few blocks of different cheeses.

  “Symone, will you start on your cheesy grits?”

  “Sure.”

  Symone stands up and starts pulling ingredients and pots out of the cabinets. While she starts on the grits on the stovetop, Shannon gives Shane and me a job to do with cutting vegetables.

  “Is chicken stock off limits for you too?” Shane looks up at Symone from cutting a tomato and bites her bottom lip. “Yes, but I don’t have to eat it.” Symone goes back to the cabinet and puts the box of chicken stock away. She moves a few things around before pulling a different box out. “We have vegetable stock. This will work.”

  “Thanks. I’m sorry to be a pain.”

  “Why are you a vegetarian? Is it for health reasons or ethical reasons?” Shane places her knife on the counter to give Symone her full attention. “A little bit of both I guess. There’s a lot of research to support that commercially grown meat and poultry aren’t good for our health because of how they are raised and processed. The conditions they have to live in also bothers me on an emotional level. I don’t want to support that.”

  “You could just eat free range and wild caught meats. That’s pretty much all we eat when we’re home. We can’t control what restaurants are buying, but we try to eat at restaurants that use organic meats because they’re more likely to have been treated properly.”

  “Does it bother you that I’m a vegetarian?”

  “No, that’s your choice.”

  “I just don’t like the idea of one life having to end so I can eat.” Symone looks at her like Shane just said the most ridiculous thing in the world. “Life only continues through the consumption of other life. Vegetables and seafood are lives sacrificed so you can eat. Why is a cow or chicken different from a shrimp, tuna, or salmon?”

  “It sounds like you have a problem with me being a vegetarian.” Symone leans against the counter with a smirk and shakes her head. “No, I have a problem with a person living a judgmental lifestyle with weak convictions and arguments to back it up. I have friends who are vegetarian and vegan, and I must say, your arguments would offend them.”

  “Maybe the reasons are too personal and I don’t really want to get into it.” Symone smiles like she doesn’t believe her and turns around to open the box of vegetable stock. “Ok.”

  Shane exhales hard and picks up her knife to continue cutting a tomato, but then slams the knife down, making everyone quickly look up at her. Symone looks her up and down like she’s not impressed at all.

  “That’s it? Just, ‘ok’, and nothing else to say?”

  “You said, it’s too personal and you don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Do you care why?” Symone quirks her eyebrows and laughs a little. “Should I? Your decision to eat or not eat meat has nothing to do with me.”

  “Whatever.”

  Shane picks up her knife again and starts slicing the plum tomatoes. All of my wives look really confused and tense, except Symone, Sam, and Awenasa. Symone and Sam look amused and Awenasa has a patient look of curiosity. Shane suddenly looks up at Symone and puts the knife down again.

  “When I was thirteen, my parents took us to a farm to pick out a baby cow that we were going to help raise. They said the cow would stay on the farm, but we would get to go on the weekends to feed it and play with it. Do you know that cows act like puppies when they get to know you? They get excited when they see you and jump around and brush up against you. Every weekend, my parents brought us to the farm to feed, wash, and brush the cow till it was full grown. I loved that cow. He was very sweet and would play with me for hours. When it was really hot, I sat under the shade of the tree with him. I sat up against him and read to him or played music for him. The last weekend we went to the farm, my father and the farmer whipped him and prodded him repeatedly till he walked into the back of a trailer. He was shrieking in pain and fear, but they didn’t stop till he was locked in the trailer. They told me they were taking him to the vet to be checked out. A few weeks later, my dad came home with a truck load of beef from the butcher. My parents claimed it wasn’t my cow, and it was just too much work to keep going to the farm every weekend, but I knew better. My parents let me raise that cow like a pet and then they ate him and tried to force us to eat him too.”

  “If it was male, it would actually be a bull.” Shane glares at Symone, but Symone doesn’t look fazed. “Anyway, I agree they could have done a better job about getting him on the trailer, but I think you missed the beauty of the experience they gave you.”

  “How the hell do you think that is beautiful? He was my friend and they killed him to eat him!” Symone smiles in a sympathetic way and walks over closer, so she’s opposite Shane at the kitchen island. “Before you helped raise this bull, you ate meat, right?”

  “Yes, but I didn’t know the animals personally like that.”

  “That’s the whole point. You should respect all life, whether you know it personally or not. Your parents gave you an opportunity to be able to know and respect the creature on a personal level, so you can have a greater respect for the sacrifice of its life. They gave you a chance to give the animal a good life before its body and spirit fed and preserved your life. Your parents showed you what an animal’s life should be before it’s turned into burgers and steak. Survival requires life to be sacrificed, but it can be done in a respectful way.”

  “I can survive without meat.” Symone smiles and turns to walk back to the stove. “Yes, you can.”

  Symone starts measuring grits, but Shane just continues to stare at Symone, as if she has more she wants to say. Jaime walks over to grab a glass of water for Awenasa, and asks, “So, where are you from?”

  “Tampa, Florida.”

  “Oh, yeah? We were just there this past month. It was beautiful.”

  “I know. My parents saw your show. They said it was the best thing they’ve ever seen. They wanted to see it again the next night, but it was sold out. I guess that’s another reason I wanted to get back in touch with Kayla. They knew I was friends with her and basically interrogated me to find out why I wasn’t talking to her anymore. My mom told me to stop being stupid and just text her.”

  “They said that – it’s the best thing they’ve ever seen?” Shane smiles at Symone and nods. “Yeah, they’re still raving about it. The next closest show to them was in Atlanta, and they were willing to drive the distance, but that show was also sold out when they tried to get tickets. What’s it like traveling to so many cities so close together? It seems like it would be exhausting.”

  “It’s very exhausting, but we love it. We’re only in each city for a couple of days at a time, so we don’t get to do too much, but we at least try to see one area landmark and eat at local restaurants instead of chains. Performing is always a rush and makes up for the lack of sleep and demanding schedules.”

  “How many cities have you been to for this show?” Symone turns to lean against the counter to face Shane full on and puckers her lips in thought. “Since October, we have performed in eight cities and we have ten left this year.”

  “Wow, that’s awesome. Are you taking the show out of the country at all?”

  “Probably not. Not this year, at least. It would be impossible to pull that off this year with our schedules.”

  “Are you going to have another performance close by? I missed the one last year.”

  “It’s not on the schedule, but Sara is adding dates all the time, so it’s possible.”

  “Uh, Kayla?” I look over at Madison and she has her cellphone in her hands and looks nervous. I put the block of cheddar cheese down that I’m shredding and sit down across from her at the dining room table. “What’s up?”

  Madison glances behind me before quietly saying, “Candi and Carmen want to come over. Do you think it will be ok?”

  “We’ll probably have to cook more food, but I don’t see why not.” Madison laughs a little and shakes her head. “I mean, because of…” she nods towards Shane. “Oh, right. Uh, I guess I should ask.” I turn in my seat to face the kitchen. “Hey, Shane, are you ok with it if a few more people come for lunch?”

  “This is your house, so you can invite whoever you want. Would you prefer if I go?”

  “No, but my schedule is so hectic that I typically have to group my visits with friends when I’m home or I would never get to see anyone. Does that bother you?”

  “No. I can play nice with others, Kayla.”

  “Ok, good.” I turn around to face Madison and she gives me a cute amused grin. “Can you also invite Josh and Whitney?”

  While she sends the messages, I take Awenasa’s hand and kiss each of her knuckles and her palm. She smiles and puckers her lips. My face spreads into a big goofy smile as I move my chair closer to her. I place my hand on her stomach and she pulls me into a wonderful kiss. She takes my hand and moves it to the lower section of her mommy cocoon and I smile against her lips. One of our babies is pressing a foot against her stomach. As she pulls back smiling, she brushes her fingers through my hair and kisses the tip of my nose.

  “While you were working out, we finalized the travel arrangements for August and my mom to come out when we get back from Maryland.”

  “Good. Do you need anything right now? Are you comfortable? I can bring in a more comfortable chair for you.”

  “Can you bring me the hammock chair and a small pillow?” I kiss her lips and her stomach before standing up. “I’ll be right back.”

  Chapter Four

  As soon as I open the front door, Whitney leaps into my arms and squeezes me. I laugh as I pick her up to carry her in the house. As I set her down, Whitney pulls back just enough to look at me with her arms loosely clasped behind my neck. Whitney is a pretty girl with a medium brown complexion, brown eyes, and she’s petite like Sam. She currently has her hair done in adorable kinky curls sparsely highlighted with caramel tones.