Page 27 of A Very Miller-Cooper Life

“I guess we’ll just have to ask.” I was always down for meeting more gay people. I just never expected them to be at thiswedding. I really thought we were the only gay people Mary Beth knew. “I can’t believe I didn’t know Mary Beth had a gay cousin.”

“Like I said, they were never super close. I’m actually surprised she would make her the maid of honor.”

“Maybe it’s because two of the people she’s closest to are the guy she dated in high school and the girl she banged. Knowing Mary Beth, she would probably want to avoid having to explain either of those relationships to anyone.”

Charlie snorted quietly beside me. “Probably.”

“We should introduce ourselves to Nicole and her wife, so we have more gay people to hang out with when we come to visit Maryland. I could always use a little extra gayness when we’re stuck here.”

“Don’t you get enough of that at Ethan’s cafe?”

“No. I realize it’s the hang out place for all five gay people within a hundred mile radius, but it’s also overflowing with heteros.”

“Ew,” Charlie responded, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

“I know, right? Disgusting.”

After the speeches were over and everyone was busy eating, Charlie and I made our way to the table Mary Beth’s cousin was sitting at. We decided to act like we just wanted to tell her how good her speech was so we didn’t look like the weirdo gays who sought out other gays wherever they went (which wasexactlywhat we were).

Charlie lightly tapped on Nicole’s back when we made it to the table. When she turned around, Charlie smiled at her. “We just wanted to come over and tell you how much we enjoyed your speech. I’m Charlie and this is my wife, Reagan.”

A large smile that appeared almost devilish spread across Nicole’s face. “The infamous Charlie. I’ve heardsomuch about you.”

Charlie giggled, but there was definitely a strain to it. “I’m not sure whether I should be flattered or worried.”

“Honestly, probably a little of both.” Nicole winked at Charlie and if she hadn’t been sitting by her wife, I probably would have assumed she was flirting with her.

Charlie put her hands over her face and shook her head. “I’d like to say it’s all lies, but I’m sure it’s true.”

“Nothing to be embarrassed about. I’ve loved all of the stories I’ve heard. I was actually hoping I would get to meet you here. I was pissed when Mary Beth didn’t have a bachelorette party or bridal shower for that reason. Damn her for wanting to make things easier on us parents.”

“You have kids?” Charlie asked.

I couldn’t help but smile. This was even better than I expected. Not only would we have more gay people to hang out with in Maryland, but gay peoplewithkids.

“My cousin really doesn’t talk about me, huh?” Nicole teased. She pointed across the room where two girls who appeared to be around five or six years old were sitting at a table with other children from Mary Beth’s family. “Those are ourkind oftwin girls, Alice and Shaun.”

“Kind of?” I asked. I knew she had more so been addressing Charlie since we hadn’t been formally introduced, but I was intrigued since I didn’t know there was such a thing as kind of being twins.

Nicole laughed at my question. “My wife and I accidentally got pregnant at the same time and our daughters happened to be born on the exact same day. Speaking of which,” Nicole held her hand out toward me and pointed the thumb of her other hand at the woman sitting next to her. “I’m being super rude right now. I’m Nicole and this is my wife, Courtney.”

“No worries at all. It’s nice to meet both of you. I need to ask though. How do you accidentally get pregnant at the same time? How did you get accidentally pregnant at all?”

Nicole laughed again. “Okay, so it wasn’t completely an accident. We were both technically trying to get pregnant in hopes that it would take in one of us. Never in a million years did we actually think it would work in both of us and we’d be pregnant at the same time. We live a pretty crazy life.”

I pointed at Charlie. “We know all about that. When we attempted to get pregnant with our first child, we got much more than we bargained for as well—two more than we bargained for to be exact.”

Courtney’s eyes went wide beside Nicole. “You two have triplets?” When I nodded, she blew out a long breath. “I can barely handle two that are the same age. I don’t even want to imagine what it would be like with three. No offense.”

I threw my hands in the air. “None taken. It’s a complete shit show.”

Both women laughed as they shared a knowing look. “I’m sure it is,” Nicole said between her laughter.

I pointed to the plates in front of them that were still filled with food. “We’ll let you two get back to eating, but I’m sure we’ll see you out on the dance floor later.”

And that’s exactly what happened. After all of our dinner and many drinks later, I literally bumped into Courtney as Charlie and I attempted to do something that somewhat resembled dancing. “I’m sorry,” I said politely before I turned around and saw who it was I had just run into. With no filter left thanks to the alcohol running through my veins, I put my hand up for a high five. “Hey, it’s our new gay friends.”

Luckily, Courtney seemed to be just as drunk and hit me with a sloppy high five. “It’s me!” She pointed behind me. “Hey,I know you. You own that cafe that Mary Beth took us to last week.”

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