“Oh!Speakin’ of Instagram!” Sarah exclaimed and turned tome with clapped hands. “Chad! Have you seen that hashtag? Um,Cholly?”
Oh, here we go. Isighed and nodded. “Chally.”
“Yes!That’s the one!” She clapped her hands again and turned to Mama. “Con, have youseen this? It’s practically a phenomenon.”
“Oh,I’ve seen it.” Mama nodded assuredly. “All those pictures. Hard to deny it.”
“Absolutely,”Sarah agreed.
“Hardto deny what?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.
“Oh,that you and my baby are meant to be together,” Sarah replied casually beforelifting her glass of iced tea to her lips.
“Oh,you think so, too, huh?” I challenged, folding my arms on the table.
“Yep.”Mama nodded.
“Andwhy is this the firstI’mhearin’ about it?”
Sarahlaughed. “Well, it’s a recently revived dream of ours. Right, Con?”
“Yep,”Mama repeated.
“See,”Sarah continued, “your mama and I had always wished to have two little girlswho would be best friends, just like us.”
“Oh,naturally.” I couldn’t fight my smile. “Then I came along and screwed the wholething up.”
“Well,actually, baby,” Mama chimed in, “it was my endometriosis that screwed thewhole thing up, or so we thought. Your daddy and I tried for a very long timeto get pregnant and it wasn’thappenin’. Then, thisbitch went and got herself knocked up,” she jabbed an elbow at Sarah, “and Igottaadmit, I was jealous as all get-out. Nearly broke ourfriendship.”
“It’strue,” Sarah confirmed with a deep nod. “She didn’t talk to me fordays.”
“Butthen, a month later, I realized I’d missed my period.” Mama’s eyes teared upimmediately as she laid her hands over her stomach, like I was still in there.“My little miracle.”
Ismiled into my mother’s tearful eyes. “Yeah, some miracle I turned out to be,huh.”
Shesmiled right back. “The best. Even if you did give us a scare in thebeginnin’,” she said, referring to my premature birth andthe touch-and-go beginnings of my life.
“Andnever mind the fact that you’remissin’ a vagina,”Sarah grumbled under her breath, and I laughed heartily.
“Sosorry to ruin your plans,” I sympathized, laying my hand against her shoulder.
“Notyour fault, honey,” she assured me. “You couldn’t have known you’d be a part ofthe flawed sex. I don’t hold it againstya.”
“Oh,thank you. I feelsomuch better.” I shook my head, chuckling.
“Anyway,” Mama went on, “after you andMolly were born, our dream of our babies being best friends forever sort of,um,” she looked to Sarah with playful eyes, “shall we say,evolved?”
Sarahnodded. “We’ve already toldMolly,we gave up after awhile. She wasgonnabe a serial dater forever, andyou, well, we were pretty sure you weregonnasignyour soul over to that Ali eventually.”
Mamamade the sign of the cross. “Praise Jesus that ship’s sailed.”
“Yes.”Sarah grinned mischievously, her eyes meeting mine. “Praise the Lord.”
Ichuckled. “So, what? You guys arehopin’ forChallyto confirm their undying devotion toeach otherso they’ll live happily ever after, ‘til death dothey part, the end?”
“Ina nutshell,” Mama confirmed. “And it appears the entire internet shares oursentiment.”
“Hm.”I nodded thoughtfully.
