Turning Tables

“We’re not having a tour again, anytime soon,” Matt butted in; he stepped down the steps from the second level with his green eyed replica daughter Adele in his hands. “We all have families now; we need to be with them.”

“For now at least, I’ll be jonesing for a tour soon,” Johnny made it a point to show that he had no kids when he spoke; no one really listened to him anyways.

“Anyway,” Keran glared at Johnny, for a long ten seconds before she turned back to me and smiled. “Let’s catch up.”

It wasn’t fifteen minutes later and we (the women of the house; me, Keran, Cole, Leana who was Jimmy’s wife, and Lacey who was Johnny’s girlfriend and Danielle) were sitting around the pool deck outside in our bikinis and dresses, talking like nothing ever happened around the deck tables. “I’m sorry,” Cole interrupted the laughter that followed Lacey accidently falling into the pool. “For blaming you, Bliss.”

“You had to blame someone other than yourself, why not blame the person that loved you the most,” I shrugged my shoulders; it wasn’t something I didn’t already know. I knew Cole more than anyone and I knew she was guilty feeling for it all.

“I shouldn’t have,” she said simply. “But I blamed you because you left me here to rot while you went somewhere that my ex was, I felt abandoned and betrayed. If I had been thinking rationally, maturely, I would have realized that you weren’t picking sides, you were just staying out of it.”

“Like I told you I was going too,” I reminded her slowly. “Because I was tired of being mediator to all of your fights, I was done with it.”

“I don’t blame you,” Cole sighed and took a swig from her homemade margarita. “It gets to be a handful.”

“It gets to be a handful?” I mimicked her with my eyebrows raised. “As in its happening now? You and Ted?”

“All the time, he’s a bastard,” Cole took another forceful drink that drained her glass, we all watched with shocked amazement. “I hate my husband.”

“Thank God, I’m not the only one that hates your husband,” I laughed softly, trying to make a joke out of it.

“I hate him too; I didn’t want to say anything but can you say douchebag?” Keran popped out suddenly, causing Cole and I to bust out into laughter that brought tears to our eyes.

“Divorce him?” Leana offered as soon as we calmed down.

“It’s not that easy, he would take everything I own,” Cole explained. Cole had made a name for herself over the years, she had her own brand of clothing and handbags, not to mention the extensive department dedicated only to high heels. “I didn’t make him sign a prenup.”

“You’re a fucking moron,” I couldn’t stop it from coming out. “With your money and business, how could you not make him sign a prenup?”

“I was drunk and in Vegas, I’m pretty sure I was drugged,” Cole shrugged her shoulders and closed her eyes. “I’ve been living in hell.”

“I can get rid of him, I know ways of making it look accidental,” Keran whispered, leaning forward. “I won’t even tell you.”

“No,” Cole sighed and rubbed her forehead, not knowing what to do. “I’m just going to wait it out, for him to get tired and divorce me.”

“I’ll have Brian beat his ass,” I shrugged it off, knowing that if I asked Brian too, he would definitely kick his ass from Huntington Beach to Chicago.

“Brian would go to jail and miss your child’s birth, so that’s not a good idea,” Cole offered. She smiled at Danielle, who fell asleep on my shoulder. “She’s so beautiful, Bliss. How the hell did she get blond hair?”

“I had blond hair when I was her age, it’ll darken in a couple years,” I explained, running my fingers through her hair.

“Adele has brown hair, just like Matt,” Cole chuckled and crossed her arms. “She has everything like Matt, she has nothing of mine. Except my eating habits.”

“Meaning she’ll eat you out of house and home?” I asked, sarcastically.