Once I had that done, I looked over the rhyme and match worksheets we’d done in class today before I locked up my desk and grabbed my keys. I stood, stretching before I reached for my purse, then twirled around in surprise when I heard a noise behind me.
“Hey!” I said, smiling at Chloe who had entered the room.
“Hey, yourself!” she called, moving closer to give me a hug, which I gladly returned.
“What are you doing here?” I asked her, moving back to my desk to reach for my purse once more.
“Coming to steal you so we can meet Emma and Allie for dinner to discuss the fun party we’re gonna have,” she said, doing a crazy little jig of excitement.
“Sweet!” I said. “I just have to call Ian and let him know.” I grabbed my cell and dialed Ian, hoping he’d answer so I wouldn’t have to leave him a message.
Turns out, I was lucky today. He answered on the second ring.
“Hey baby,” he said.
I could hear the smile in his voice and my lips curled up automatically. “Hey, yourself, handsome. Just wanted to call and let you know that Chloe just showed up here and we’re meeting Allie and Emma for dinner. Want me to pick something up for you to bring home?”
“Sure, baby. I’ll see you later, then. Love you.”
“Love you, too,” I told him, still smiling as I hung up the phone.
Chloe rolled her eyes at me.
“Don’t you roll your eyes, goofy. You forget I know you very well, and I know how you and Brandon are,” I said, narrowing my eyes at her playfully.
“Truth,” she said, nodding her head and grinning unrepentantly.
I glanced at the clock. “It’ll be an early dinner, though, is that okay? It’s only…oh. I guess I took longer than I thought to go through papers and lesson plans,” I said, noting that it was going on five already. Classes usually let out just after three, so I’d been working on stuff for almost two hours? Huh.
“Yep,” she said. “Let’s go. They said we could pick, just have to call and let them know where we’re going.”
I looked at her and, without missing a beat, we both said, “Manny’s!”
Half an hour later, the four of us were laughing around a table, stuffing our faces with delicious salad, pasta, and garlic bread, and sipping glasses of sangria. Manny had already come out and berated Allie and Emma for coming in without bringing the little ones to see him. When he’d left the table, Emma told us that she and Luke had come in to eat with Everly last month and when they’d been seated, Manny had walked right out of the kitchen, up to their table, barely said hello to them, and had taken off with Everly. Allie then told us that he’d done the same to them two weeks ago when she and Jackson had come in.
I wasn’t surprised; we’d been coming to Manny’s since we were all kids and Manny and his wife, Gia, absolutely adored kids. Seriously, they had 7 of their own.
I took a sip of my sangria as Chloe asked, “So when are we wanting to do this? Allie, are you stocked up on everything?”
“I actually did a party last week and refreshed my supplies then, so I should be good. But you know the drill, anything I don’t have on hand, you’ll still have it in a week or so.”
“I know,” Chloe said with a twinkle in her eye. “But there’s some stuff I was hoping you’d have and I wouldn’t have to wait!”
Allie rubbed her hands together with glee and waggled her eyebrows crazily. “Yay! I love it when I get to have a party with friends that makes me money!”
Emma quirked an eyebrow at her and said, drolly, “What money? You always use up your revenue replenishing your stock or buying your own goodies.”
“Duh,” Allie replied. She winked at Emma, who just shook her head.
I spoke up. “Why don’t we give it a couple weeks or so to make sure we get the invites out. Where do we want to have it?”
We hammered out the details and then just sat and talked with each other, even long after the food was gone. Emma’s phone rang, breaking into the conversation, and I looked at my watch to see that it was already seven and I hadn’t even ordered anything for Ian, yet.
As Emma answered her phone, I waved our waiter over and ordered some chicken marsala with a side of fettuccini alfredo for him, which then reminded Allie and Chloe that they needed to do the same. I kicked Emma under the table and motioned, asking silently if we needed to get something for Luke.
She spoke into the phone. “Do you want me to get you something from here?”
She paused. “Uh-huh. Nope. Yep. Okay, I know. Honey, I just asked you a question, is it that hard to answer?” More pausing. “Fine. Love you…yeah, yeah, yeah. Love you, bye.”
She hung up and quickly added two more meals to the take-out orders we’d already placed.
“Damn,” Allie said, looking at Emma weirdly. “Is Luke eating for two or are you hungry again?”
Emma laughed. “No, it’s for T.J.”
Chloe’s face got soft and then worried at T.J.’s name. “Have you talked to him lately?”
“Who? T.J.?” Emma asked. Chloe nodded and she continued, “Yeah, he comes over quite a bit when he’s not over at your house. Why, what’s up?”
Chloe shook her head, almost sadly, and shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m just worried about him. He’s got so much going on in his head all the time, and I swear, anytime a phone rings anywhere near him, he’s jumpy as hell. But, he just blows it off, says everything is fine.”
Allie broke in again. “So what was all that other shit, then?” she asked Emma.
“Oh, you know. The usual. Am I coming home soon? Did I miss him? Which, of course, I lied and said nope, but we all know I always miss him,” she broke off, giggling. “Are we having fun? We need dog food, so I have to stop at the store.” She shrugged. “No biggie.”
I knew my sister too well, and so did Allie because she called her out right away. “Nope. That’s not all. What was the yeah, yeah, yeah for after you said I love you? Hmmm?”
Emma blushed, which was the exact reaction we all knew we’d get. “Nothing!” she exclaimed.
“Emma,” I said, my voice low with warning.
“Jesus, he just reminded me I owed him, okay?” she finally said, breaking after I stared her down comically.
Chloe held her hands up. “Nope! We’re good! No more details!” she cried, laughing.
Emma grinned devilishly, opened up her mouth, and proceeded to tell us, in detail, why she owed him, no matter that all of us were shrieking for her to stop, laughing, and practically falling out of our seats, making fools of ourselves, much to the amusement of the people around us. Thankfully, we were in a more secluded section of the restaurant and there weren’t many people there.
Unfortunately, the poor waiter just happened to bring out our to-go orders during Emma’s….erm…description, and was standing, red-faced, beside her chair, holding the bags out to us and looking at the floor.
As soon as Emma saw him, her face turned an even brighter red (which is saying something) and she dropped her head in her hands in mortification.
Just another night with the girls…never a dull moment. Ever.