“That’s Tiffany,” Rose said, pointing to the women with the black framed glasses who raised her wine glass in greeting. “And this is her sister, Margo. They’re identical twins, if you can’t already tell.”
Margo, who wore funky multicolored retro glasses, gave a short wave.
I held up the hand holding the malbec in an awkward hello gesture. “Hi, I’m Polly—Leah’s former friend.”
Rose and the twins cackled while Leah could only let out a disgruntled noise as her mouth was full of taco dip.
“It’s alright. We’re used to Leah at this point, we won’t hold her against you,” Tiffany joked.
Rose pointed toward the woman with dark hair carrying over the cookie tray. “This is Eliza. She works at the superintendent’s office, so you might see her from time to time.”
Eliza nodded hello and said, “I was happy to hear that the district was getting a new medical director. It’s nice to meet you. And Rose isn’t joking about her hair. I helped her dye it last month.”
“And then she gave me a ride to the salon the next day to fix it!” Rose exclaimed.
“Thank you all for having me,” I said softly once the laughter quieted, looking between Tiffany, Margo, Rose, and Eliza. I slid my eyes to Leah. “Though it doesn’t seem like you had much of a choice.”
Leah, who’d been pouring herself a healthy serving of white wine, rolled her eyes at my comment.
I held up the malbec I brought. “I brought wine!”
“Sold!” Tiffany toasted her wineglass.
Rose took the wine bottle from me and set to open it as Tiffany said, “I’ve been looking forward to this all week. I slowly lose my sanity every day watching my three boys. It’s nice to have some real adult time.”
“And you think you get that here?” Margo raised an eyebrow at her sister.
“As long as none of y’all barge into the bathroom when I’m in there, it counts as adult time. And adult time talking about books? Yes please!”
“How old are your kids?” I asked.
“Five, three, and my youngest just turned one.”
“I have two boys, four and eight.” Margo bumped Tiffany’s arm. “Guess we don’t know how to make anything else.”
“So, what you’re saying is, you both have a lot of free time?”
Margo chuckled. “Spoken like a fellow mom. You must have kids, too?”
“A ten-year-old son, and my daughter just turned six.”
Margo sighed wistfully. “I think it’d be nice to have a girl. Though I don’t know if I’d have enough energy to try for one more. We might have another boy and then I’d be in real trouble.”
“Don’t do it!” Tiffany coughed into her fist.
Eliza took a seat next to Margo. “You recently moved back here, right? Leah told us you live near the Donner Lodge. It must be gorgeous out there in the fall.”
It was, from what I could remember. I glanced at Leah, who was eyeing up the cookie tray. “You really did tell them everything, huh?”
“I don’t know why you ask questions you already know the answer to,” Leah mumbled.
“Oh, sugar beets!”
We all looked to Rose, seeing that the handle of the wine opener had snapped off, leaving the metal corkscrew stuck in the cork of the bottle.
Tiffany blew a raspberry, Leah made a sound of distress, and Eliza and Margo asked if Rose was alright.
“I’m fine, though I ’reckon we’ll be sticking to sweet tea for the rest of the day.”
