“The plan was to sleep here. I have another bottle of champagne chilling in the fridge. And unless you’re going to stick the crème brûlée where the sun don’t shine, and go in after it, I’m not sure you can top the honey.”
“Yeah, just watch me.”
15
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“Okay, I have to confess. If Michael wants to do a top-ten sex list every month, I will become an exhausted, overwrought housewife. Except I work, so I’m not technically a housewife in layman’s terms, but it’s no lie. I will become overwrought,” Piper told Caroline over the table at Enzi’s, an Italian fusion restaurant. “Don’t get me wrong. It’s totally fun right now. I’m up for seeing it to the end. But this can’t be our new normal. Good Lord, it’s exhausting!”
“I don’t think Michael expects that. But you’re going to have to tell him your concerns,” Caroline said. They’d gone out for this week’s STD meeting because Piper had invited Emma to join them and they were waiting for her to arrive.
“I know I’ll have to bring it up eventually, but I already kind of tried when we had a little heart-to-heart on Saturday and couldn’t. We’d just had the greatest sex ever, and he was so happy.” Piper picked up her drink. “We were wrapped up in orgasmy bliss and agreed we were finally on the road to sexual happiness. We were both excited. I couldn’t put a damper on that. My Debbie Upper wouldn’t let me.”
“Hi, guys.” Emma greeted them as she came up to the table. “Thanks for inviting me.”
“Of course,” Piper said, getting up to give her a quick hug. “We’re happy you could make it. Have a seat.”
This was the first time Caroline and Emma had seen each other since what Piper referred to as Video Sex Night. Piper glanced over at Caroline, who was smiling widely. “It’s so nice to see you again, Emma,” she said. “It really is. I’m glad you could join us.”
Emma sat next to Piper. “Caroline, before we start,” Emma said. “I just want to let you know again how sorry I am for everything that happened. I’m glad I finally get a chance to tell you that in person. I know what we did was way out of your comfort zone, and I apologize.” She dropped her voice to a whisper. “I’ve been feeling terrible about it for months. If I could go back in time and change it, I would. I promise you.”
Caroline swished her hand over the table. “No worries, Emma. Really. I’m the one who needs to apologize.” She leaned in, keeping her voice low. Enzi’s had an open floor plan. “Honestly, I’ve wanted to call you and reach out, but I couldn’t get the courage up. I’m a huge chicken when it comes to stuff like that. But now that you’re here, I can let you know personally that you guys did us a favor that night. It all ended up being for the best. Jace and I couldn’t be any happier than we are right now. So I’m the one who owes you a huge thank-you, along with my humble apology for acting like a total witch the night we left.”
“We did you a favor?” Emma looked skeptical. “You don’t have to go that far.”
The waiter arrived at the table. “Can I get you a drink, ma’am?”
“Sure,” Emma said. “I’ll take one of those.” She pointed at Piper’s martini. After he left, Emma continued, “But honestly, I’m so glad to hear everything turned out for the best for you guys. I hope giving you the video was okay. It was our little token of good faith.”
Piper couldn’t help but snort. “You mean the video they watch daily? The super sexy one that she won’t let me near? I think it was more than okay.” Piper saw a blush form on Caroline’s cheeks, but she didn’t want to embarrass her friend or make this too awkward right off the bat. “Okay, so I know it’s a little strange, all of us being here together after sharing very intimate things together. But that’s also why it’s so great. And necessary. We’re the ones who can help each other when the going gets tough, and I don’t want it to be weird. I hope you guys will be okay with being here together.”
Caroline answered first. “I’m totally fine with it.” She told Emma, “Yes, the video was very welcome, thank you. It helped this work in progress gain some much-needed perspective.”
“It’s settled then,” Piper said. “We’re all works in progress, and we’re here to learn to better handle our lives, so they don’t handle us. That sounded kind of poetic, don’t you think?” Piper smiled at her friends as she lifted her glass. Tonight she’d gone with a house martini. It had some sort of berries floating on the surface and was delicious. “To girlfriend therapy.”
“To girlfriend therapy,” Caroline chimed in, clinking her glass against Piper’s.
Emma held up her water glass. “To girlfriend therapy.”
Before Piper could say anything more, the waiter returned with Emma’s drink and took their order. Once the waiter had left, Emma propped her elbow on the table and picked up her drink. “So I heard the tail end of what you were saying when I got here. Someone was finally excited, and you didn’t want to put a damper on it. I’m assuming you were talking about your sex life?” She chuckled as she took a sip of her drink. “Oh, this is tasty.”
“I was indeed talking about my sex life,” Piper said. “I’m not sure I’m actually capable of talking about anything else. But in the future we might want to try to mix it up a bit. We could get bored talking about nothing but sex.”
“Mix shmix,” Caroline said. “Sex is why we’re here. When we get old and gray, we’ll talk about the mundane stuff. But right now, I want the goods. I can see you’re struggling a little with this, Piper, and I love you. I want to help—we want to help.” She gestured across the table and smiled.
“I agree with Caroline. We’re here for the nitty-gritty,” Emma said. “Though I could talk about my neighborhood all day long.” She chuckled. “But that would be ninety percent about sex, too. Just not my sex.”
Piper appraised the beautiful redhead with one eyebrow raised. “You’re going to have to spill about your neighbors at some point, because Lord knows we want to hear all the details. I mentioned to Caroline that it was like real-life Desperate Housewives up there, but first I’ll fill you in on my wild Saturday night with Michael.” Piper related the story to Emma, leaving nothing out, because that would defeat the purpose. “So, after the strap-on sex, we had this great meeting of the minds, and then more sex after, and I didn’t have the heart to tell him I couldn’t keep up this kind of pace. Planning isn’t as spontaneous as one would think.” She winked at her own joke.
“Wow, that sounds totally hot,” Emma said. She fanned herself with one hand as she took another drink of her martini. “I understand why you wouldn’t want to ruin the moment. Even though it probably wouldn’t have spoiled it like you think it would’ve. Michael’s such a great guy, and like I told you before, at the end of the day, all he really wants is to make you happy.”
“I know he does,” Piper agreed. “But we’ve had this weird roller-coaster sex life for so long, and we’re doing so well now, I’m scared to lose this new thing. I’m more connected to him now than I ever have been—even while we were dating—and if inventing a top-ten list every month is what it takes, I’m in. I have to be in. There is no other choice. Even though that will make me an overwrought housewife.”
Caroline shook her head. “It’s not your only choice, because I don’t think he expects that from you. He’s likely in the same boat—tired out from trying to up the ante each time. It has the potential to exhaust both of you more than satisfy you.”
“I know,” Piper said. “But the movie-theater sex was amazing, and he was really excited about it. It was short and sweet, but so sexy and unexpected. It pushed all the right buttons. I don’t want to take that away from us, or tell him I’m not interested just because I’m not cut out for long-term planning. That’s lame.”