Page 7 of Second Round

“Not yet. We came straight tothegame.”

“Oh really? Did you havedinneryet?”

I shook my head. I’d been too interested in the game, and I didn’t realize how hungryIwas.

Amanda looked around at the remains of the food platters. “We’ll order you something fresh and hot. Unfortunately, there’s not a ton of choice at this time ofnight.”

“Get him a Triple-O burger,” Greg suggested. “That’s a real Vancouverspecialty.”

I nodded. While I was pretty sure that a Triple-O wasn’t going to be as sexy as it sounded, any food would be goodrightnow.

3

All That SheWants

Jackie

“Are you making two separatedinners?”

Sharon Zennaro sounded irritated. She was sitting at my kitchen breakfast bar with a half-empty glass of pinot noir in front of her. Sharon was a sturdy, attractive woman whose cropped black hair was streaked with strands of grey. Her grimy t-shirt and brown overalls were jauntily accessorized with a red bandana, and she looked exactly like what she was: a competent woman working in the man’s world of homerenovation.

“Nooooo,” I hedged. I was actually makingthreedinners. Sharon and her daughter coming over for dinner meant a chance to try an intriguing chickentikka masalarecipe. But that might be too spicy for the kids, so I was doing grilled chicken with fruit salsa for the girls, and chicken strips with fries for the fussy Tristan. Of course, Sharon would see this once we all sat down for dinner, but I could escape her lecture about spoiling the kids for anotherhalfhour.

Sharon’s scowl showed her opinion of all my hard work in the kitchen. We’d been best friends for years, ever since Brent and I moved into our home in West Van, right next door to Sharon and Peter. Now both our husbands were gone and Sharon had moved to East Van, but we were still best friends. Our daughters stayed best friends too, despite the move. Right now, we could hear hysterical giggling from behind the closed door ofHannah’sroom.

“Hannah is like a drug for Kayla,” Sharon declared. “If she’s moody, I get them together and she’s back to her cheerful self. But I foresee that the teen years are going to be challengingasfuck.”

I nodded. “I took Hannah bra shopping yesterday. I have to confess, I was shocked at all the cute bras they have for girls who basically have no breasts. When I was her age, I think I had a choice of two styles—ugly and uglier. Oh my God, do I sound like an old lady?” I raised my voice to a cackle. “Back in my time... kids today are so lucky... we had to dial up theinternet.”

Sharon laughed. “Yes, clothes shopping is a pain in the ass now. I’m not allowed in the changing room anymore, and it takes twice as long. I have no clue what Kayla is actually doing in there. Sleeping? Starting a YouTube fashion channel? Plotting worlddestruction?”

All the food prep was now done, so I put a bowl of my spicy nut mix on the counter and poured my own glass of wine. I leaned across the counter and lowered my voice. “Brent says we have to sell thehouse.”

“Really? I thought you two had worked something out.” Sharon and Peter had sold their house shortly after he’d left. It was pretty traumatic at the time, but now Sharon compared it to ripping off a bandage. She had moved to a place in East Van, reno’d it, and started a whole new career for herself. Sharon’s dad was a carpenter, so she already had some skills, and she had learned a lot onthejob.

“Yes, I reread terms of our divorce. The house will be sold when both parties are in agreement or at the end of five years. Now one of us is in agreement. I think he wants to buy a new place or maybe something’s going on with Margaret.” Fighting Brent for a couple of extra years waspointless.

Sharon reached across the counter and squeezed my hand. I was shocked at the warmth that spread from that touch. Other than Tristan’s sudden hugs, there was so little human affection in my life. Iwasgetting to be a dried-upoldlady.

“Oh Jackie, that sucks. I know how much you love thisplace.”

“Yeah, it does suck. I tried so hard to keep things the same for the kids. But what can I do?” It was funny how quickly I had gone from shock to acceptance. Nothing in my life was permanentanymore.

“Well, if you need a good real estate agent, the one we used was great. She negotiated our battles like a fucking peacekeeper. Where are you going to live?” Sharonwondered.

“I’ve been looking around, and I think with my half of the house money, I could buy one of those new townhouses in Dundarave. Then at least, I’d still be in the neighbourhood and the kids could still go to the sameschools.”

“Why don’t you move near us? The school’s pretty good, and Hannah would have a built-in bestie. Besides, a townhouse around here is going to take up all your money. It’s good to have a nest egg for unexpectedexpenses.”

I nodded. Brent had always taken care of everything financial since it was his area of expertise, but I’d learned a lot in the past couple of years. Unfortunately, even with the child support, I couldn’t manage to save much. “Brent thinks I should get a job—arealjob.”

“As much as I hate to agree with that douche-canoe, he’s right.” Sharon’s brown eyes met mine. “Jack, there’s nothing like a real job to make you feel competentasfuck.”

“But I don’t have marketable skills like you. Before I got married, I worked in cosmetics at The Bay. Those skills are worthless now, unless someone needs a punk eye shadow look or dark lipliner.”

“They’ll be flocking to you when Eighties Dance Night rolls around.” Both of us snorted and clinked their our wine glassestogether.

Downstairs, there was a knock on the front door. Before I could move, the door opened and a voice called out, “Helloooo, it’sjustme.”

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