"The point is," Jamie continued, "you had the big emotional moments and the unhinged sex?—"
"I never said anything about it beingunhinged."
She shot me a flat stare. "Well, your face said it was unhinged and I'm going to trust that a lot more than I'm going to trust the maidenly version of events you fed us."
"These arereallygood," Ruth said, holding up half a cookie.
"Thank you. Baking makes me happy. It helps me unwind," I said. "I'll make you some next week. Cinnamon buns too."
"Her buns will change your life," Jamie said.
She peered at Jamie. "Are you talking about actual cinnamon buns or is that a reference to something else?"
"You'll get used to her," I said to Ruth. "Actual buns. I make my own dough."
"Yeah, you do," Jamie howled.
I shrugged. "See what I mean?"
"We have to stay on track here," Jamie said, nudging Ruth's leg. "No more buns. Not unless they're your hot fiancé's buns."
"Hold that thought. Do you have pics of this guy? I need a visual," Ruth said.
Jamie sprang up, the pillows scattering to the floor. "We definitely need photos."
I reached for my phone. Not that I'd spent the past week stalking Janet's social media accounts or anything but I didknow she'd posted a few photos from the engagement party. I'd saved a screenshot but that was only because I didn't want to accidentally like the post. God forbid I stumbled into a situation where Janet wanted to follow me on social media or we ended up chatting in DMs. Just thinking long-range.
I handed over my phone, saying, "Have at him, you little hyenas."
"Oh shiiiiiit." Ruth motioned to the screen. "That's not a man, that's a pile of bricks."
"Who needs an ox when you can have this boy plowing your fields?" Jamie dissolved into giggles.
Ruth zoomed in on where his palm rested on the curve of my hip, his fingers spread out to cover a wide territory. "Would you look at that hand? It's like a baseball mitt."
"Another inch and he'd be knocking on your front door," Jamie said.
"He doesn't bother with places as trivial as gyms," Ruth said. "Not when he could walk into any parking lot and lift cars instead."
"Protein eats him," Jamie said, still giggling. "He looks like he could pick you up with two fingers."
"He looks like the kind of guy who could walk into a bar fight and end the whole thing with one punch," Ruth said.
"He looks like the kind of guy who would take on a bear just for the challenge of it," Jamie said.
"He looks like the kind of guy who doesn't have a bed frame because he breaks all of them without even trying," Ruth said.
"He looks like the kind of guy who has reason to believe it might notfit," Jamie said. "Honestly, honey, I'm impressed. I bet he's more than a handful."
She mimed struggling to wrap her hand around a certain object. Ruth swatted her shoulder and they both fell overlaughing again. A beat passed and I couldn't hold back anymore. I laughed too.
"He's looked like that since he was sixteen," I said. "More or less."
"Okay, now you're just bragging," Jamie said. "We get it. The goddesses have chosen you as their favorite." She zoomed in on a few different angles. "How did he not split you like a snap pea the first time around?"
Ruth pressed both hands to her eyes. "I will never recover from that mental image."
"I don't know. I don't remember it being bad." Very much the opposite but I wasn't getting intothosedetails right now. "It was his first time too. Maybe that was part of it."
