Straddling the Edge (10 page)

“Stop,” I shriek, pushing him away.

“You know you love it. Come here, baby. And kiss me silly.”

I’m about to do just that when I hear the doorbell ring. “Later, my love.”

I go to answer the door and I hear the water turn on in the kitchen. Thank you. I doubt our guests were looking for the extra flavor Ty had in mind.

“Hey,” Summer squeals, pushing a bowl of fruit salad in my hand. “I didn’t know what to bring. You can’t go wrong with fruit. I also made some marshmallow cream cheese dip. It’s to die for.”

“Come o
n in,” I tell her. “Hey, Dean, it’s good to see you. It’s going to be like a high school reunion again. I can’t remember the last time we hung out.”

He gives me a hug and an air kiss on the cheek. “That’s because you snooty English teachers don’t hang out with us lowly industrial tech folk. You guys think we can’t speak in complete sentences
, so we don’t get invited to hang out with the cool people.”

I punch him in the arm. “Shut up. Don’t tell my department
, but I’d much rather hang with you and the auto shop guys. It wouldn’t hurt to have a few handy men around.”

“I heard that, Mel,” my husband says as we make our way into the kitchen. “I’m handy.”

“Yeah, with a paint brush or a bottle of lotion and a hand towel.”

We all crack up at my joke. Summer and I laugh so much that we let out a snort. “Ty, you should really use tissue or something disposable.”

Ty points at both of us. “You two both snort, you know that? That’s funny. I thought Mel was the only oinker around here.”

Dean tosses an arm around
Summer and looks down at her with a smile. “Get this girl laughing and she’ll snort so bad she can’t breathe. It sounds like you’re on a farm.”

“You guys are
just too funny.” Summer eyeballs both of them before she continues. “Hey, where’s Shelly and Matt.”

“Noah went down for a late nap. They’re waiting for the little dude to wake up and then they’ll be right over.” Then,
it’s belly time for the cousins. I love when they lie on the floor together. They coo and yelp at each other as if they’re speaking some secret language and are having full on conversations.

“Where’s Mia?” she says. “I’m dying to hold her.”

“I was just about to get her,” Ty says. “I’m on diaper duty. I might let you hold her if you want to help out.” Summer’s eyes widen and she smiles like she was just granted her birthday wish. “Come on, kid.”

Summer follows him down the hall to Mia’s room and I notice Dean’s gaze captured on her the whole way.

“So what’s up, old friend? You have stars in your eyes.” The guy has it bad. If Shel and I thought Summer was a goner just talking about him, he’s definitely a goner just looking at her. You can see it in the twinkle in his eyes. The grin on his face at the thought of her. It’s adorable. And I know that look. It’s the same one Ty has for me, and the same one Matt has for Shel. Summer is one lucky broad. Dean’s a great catch.

“I’m not gonna lie. I do.” He scrubs his hands over his face. “We’ve only been dating less than a month and I’m so head over heels in love it’s pathetic. I can’t believe I’m this far gone in such a short time. Does that even make sense? Does that really happen?” While he’s obviously conflicted, he still appears to be thrilled. He knows it’s happening fast, but he loves it at the same time.

“Don’t let time be a factor. If you dig her, then shout it from the rooftops. Don’t waste years without the one you love like Ty and I did. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been seeing each other. If it’s right, it’s right. And you’ll know it.”

“I do know it,” he says, just as
Summer and Ty come back with my gorgeous baby girl. Summer is holding her like a natural, her hand on the back of her neck supporting her head, even though Mia now has the strength to hold herself up.

“All changed and ready to party,”
Summer says, an innocent smile on her face. Her eyes are as bright and happy as Mia’s. The baby coos as if on cue, like she’s in on the conversation. “Woo, she’s just like her mama and auntie. She hears
party
and is raring to go.” Mia responds to this by flailing her arms and legs with excitement.

“Did someone say ‘party’?” Shelly calls out. I hear her before I can see her. “Y’all didn’t get started without us, did you?”

My best friend struts in waving her hands in the air as best she can considering she’s loaded down with a diaper bag and twelve-pack.

“Never,” I tell her. “Mia just woke up and
Summer changed her diaper.” Shelly and Matt, with Noah in his arms, make their way around the kitchen saying hello to everyone. “I think we have a new babysitter on our hands.”

Shel’s
eyes widen and Summer beams. “Totally. I’d love to watch the babies. Anytime.”

Matt raises a brow at her. “Don’t offer unless you really want to. These women will be moving in an extra pack-n-play, toys, and diapers into your house before you can change your mind.”

Shel backhands him in the chest. “We would not.” She chuckles. “Thank you, Summer. We’ll keep you in mind if our mothers aren’t free. Between my wonderful mother,” the sarcasm is thick when she talks about her mom, “and Mel’s, we’re pretty much covered.”

“So you guys ready to hit the grill or what?” Ty
grunts, puffing out his chest and trying to sound manly. “Since all three women are here now, I can sense chatter about waxing, Channing Tatum, and sore nipples coming on.”

Dean grimaces and I can’t help but snort with laughter. Poor guy is not used to being around two new mothers.

“Hey,” Shel protests. “We haven’t talked about sore nipples in months.”

“Yeah,” I add. “Or vaginal stitches.”

“Or leaky tits,” Shel says, trying to hold back the laughter.

“Okay. I’m afraid to ask so I won’t.” Dean puts his hands up in surrender.

“Me too,” Summer says. “I may have to rethink having children.”

Matt kisses Shell on the head and then says to his son, “
Come on, little man. You shouldn’t have to hear this.”

Ty takes Mia from
Summer’s arms. “Neither should you, baby girl. Come to Daddy. I won’t let these nasty ladies give you nightmares.” She giggles in his arms. He walks over to me and kisses me on the mouth. “Enjoy the naughty talk, ladies.”

“I guess that’s my cue,” Dean says. Shel and I watch in awe of the lovebirds as he reaches down to squeeze Summer’s hand and leans in to press a sweet kiss to her cheek.

When he finally follows Ty and Matt through the double doors leading to our backyard, my bestie and I let out are girlie, “Awws.”

Summer blushes and it looks good on her.

I never thought I’d say this, but Summer McGallian isn’t so bad.

Fucking shocker, I know. Sometimes even I’m still surprised.

After serving the girls some iced tea, we kick off our summer sandals and flop back on the couches in my family room.

“Someone’s in love,” Shel teases.

Again,
Summer blushes, lowering her head and sinking further into my sofa cushions.

“Don’t be shy,” I tell her, with a wave of my
hand. “We’ve all been there.”

“Agreed,” Shel says. “Maybe I’m not the right person to judge, but you never looked this happy with Chase. Not even in the beginning.”

“I can vouch for that. But where that fucker is concerned, I bet I’m not the one to ask either.”

Summer is quiet at first, so Shel and I stare her down with giddy smiles. “Okay,” she begins. “It’s crazy, isn’t it? How can I be in love with someone I’ve known for less than a month
? And really, I fell in love after only a day of knowing him. It’s like I was on edge since the day I saw him at the brewery. And getting to know him pushed me over.”

“I can think of a few other things that probably pushed you over,” Shel says, wagging her brows up and down. “The guy is H.O.T.”

“Doesn’t he look young though?” she asks, nibbling on her fingernail. “I know he’s older than me, but he looks like he’s still in his twenties.”

“Who cares?” Shelly says. “I wouldn’t mind playing the role of the cougar.”

“Hell yeah,” I add. “Especially if the hot fledgling thing was Zac Efron. Hot damn. I’d ruin him for all other women, but love every second of it.” I stare off dreamily, thinking of how the teen heartthrob turned into one hell of a sexy man.

“Even better is that you can feel like you’re getting your cougar on because Dean looks
a tad younger than you, but you’re going to get all the experience of an older man. You can’t beat that.” Shelly sums it up well and I can almost see the wheels turning in Summer’s head.

“So tell us,” I say. “What’s it like to hear that deep voice of his whispering in your ear when you’re just about to …”

“Oh my,” Summer says, her face a new shade of bright red. “We haven’t done that yet.”

“Are you effing kidding me?” Shel blurts out. “I would’ve jumped on that so fast he wouldn’t have known what hit him.”

I shake my head at her. “Oh yeah. This coming from the girl who made her precious Matty wait until the night he proposed before he could ‘nail her against the wall’.” I hang my air quotes over her fascination with getting screwed upright with her back pressed into a wall and her legs wrapped around her husband’s waist.

“Get your story straight, Mel. I didn’t make him wait. He made me wait.” She wags a finger at me.

“Why did he make you wait?” Summer asks.

Shelly sighs. “He’s such a girl sometimes. He wanted to make sure I was completely in love with him before we did it.” She takes a drink of her tea. “But that doesn’t apply to you because you both are obviously crazy for each other
, so go for it, girl. Get your Dean on. Or get on him. Whatever your preference.”

I nod. “Or both. Switching it up is good.”

“So why are you making him wait?” Shel asks her.

“I don’t think it’s about waiting. I think it’s about finding the time. He had a vacation planned to Vegas with his college buddies and then I went with my parents to Palm Springs for a week. I did think we might …” she pauses “… get to it the night he took me out on our first official date but that was just so good I didn’t want to take away from that memory. I want many memories with Dean. I don’t want to cram them all into one night. And that night, he took me to an exclusive spa resort and we had a couple’s massage. It was so romantic. Like something out of a movie. I was so
overwhelmed, I couldn’t add another thing to it.”

“Even if that thing was sweaty sex with your Sexy Guy?” Shelly pleads, sounding more and more disappointed by the minute.

I laugh. “Excuse her. We’re both new moms and not getting any on a regular basis.” We all chuckle. “So we’re hoping to live vicariously through you.”

“Tell me about it.” Shelly falls back against the sofa, fanning herself. “I remember when Matty and I used to jump each other’s bones three times a day. He could just look at me and my panties were drenched. Now, I’m just too damn
tired to keep up that pace. We both are.”

“Great. Leaky, sore nipples? Stitches down there? Too tired for sex?” Summer grimaces.

I can’t help but snort. “Summer said sore nipples,” I tell Shel with a snort.

“Leaky ones too.”
Shelly reminds us.

Summer rolls her eyes. “You act like I’m some prude. I can curse and talk dirty too. It’s not like you two cornered the market in that area.”

“I’d like to think we did,” Shelly says through another laugh.

“Totally. We’re like the Potty Mouth Queens,” I add. Summer shakes her head, grinning. “Okay. Okay. You’re not a prude. So tell me, why did you always talk crap to me, or us, like you were offended by our choice of words or innuendos?”

She smirks. “Well, part of me really does believe we should try to be as professional as possible at work. But the other part of me was always playing defense when you were around. I knew you guys didn’t like me so instead of letting you get the best of me, I tried to beat you to it. Instead, I think I just came off as a bitch.”

“Fair enough.” Shel shrugs.

“Hey, remember that time in the bathroom at the football game, when you,” Summer points to me, “took your hair down and starting taking off your earrings like you were going to kick my ass?”

“I would’ve if it came down to it,” I say, holding back a laugh.

“That was funny,” Shel says.

Summer nods. “Yes! As soon as the door shut behind me, I started cracking up. You’re crazy!” Her eyes brighten and she smiles from ear-to-ear.

Yeah. Probably. “Well, that’s all in the past.” I hold out my glass to my friends. “Let’s make a toast.” They lean forward in their seats and hold their glasses to mine. “To our new friend, Summer. God help her. May she get some soon. And get plenty.”

Summer

On our way home from Mel’s house, Dean reaches over and grips my hand. My fingers tuck inside his warm palm and a grin spreads across my face.