The Bromance Book Club (Bromance Book Club, #1)(41)

There was a happy pause and then a chaotic eruption of applause and congratulations and all the other things that normally greet a pregnancy announcement. Gavin stood and reached over to shake Del’s hand. “That’s awesome, Del. Congratulations.”

A few minutes later, Nessa sat back down, and Thea pulled her in for a hug. “I’m so happy for you guys.”

Nessa laughed weakly. “I’ve been dying to tell you, but we’ve had two miscarriages, and we just wanted to be sure.”

Thea grabbed Nessa’s hand and squeezed it. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”

“I guess I also didn’t want to upset you, because I didn’t know what was going on with you and Gavin. It felt wrong to throw our good news in your face when you guys were having trouble.”

Somehow, that felt worse—knowing that someone withheld good news out of fear that Thea couldn’t handle it. It was even worse, though, when she looked up and realized Rachel had heard every word.

Rachel pounced immediately. “Thea, what about you and Gavin? Are we going to hear any good news anytime soon now that you two have patched things up?”

“Not unless you’re talking about me finishing my bachelor’s degree.” She smiled.

“Oh, you never finished college?”

“Not yet.”

“And why’s that?”

Jake slung an arm over the back of Rachel’s chair. His fingers appeared to dig a little too tightly into her shoulder.

“Well, Rachel, as I’m sure you know, I had to quit college because I got pregnant.”

“Oh, that’s right. I knew that. You guys hadn’t been dating very long, right? And didn’t Gavin get called up to the Majors right after that? What amazing timing for you.”

Thea felt the pressure of Gavin’s hand on her knee under the table.

“Thank you for that accurate recitation of the timeline of our relationship, Rachel. Can we hire you to write our Wikipedia page?”

Gavin’s fingers dug into her knee as Rachel’s mouth dropped open again.

“Remind me where you went to college, Rachel,” Thea said.

Tension soaked the air as half the table hung on their every word while the other half ate as if it were their last meal.

“I was a pre-law major at Ole Miss.”

“You didn’t go to law school?”

Rachel turned a luminous smile at her husband. “I did not. I happily gave it up for Jake’s career.”

Jake pretended to be fascinated by the stuffing on his plate.

“But surely you still wish to be a lawyer, don’t you?” Thea prodded, because the impulsive side of her was operating her voice like a puppet.

Gavin’s hand tightened on Thea’s knee. She shoved it away.

Rachel preened prettily before answering. “No, I don’t,” she said. “We all make sacrifices to support our husbands. Most of us don’t mind.”

Rage colored her vision red. Rachel had no fucking idea how much Thea had sacrificed for Gavin’s career. She was just about to tell her when Soledad Feliciano, Yan’s wife, broke the tension.

“So, Thea,” she said in the kind of nervous tone one might use with a rabid dog, “with your art background, you might be able to help us with some design ideas for the new logo for our charity softball game.”

The softball game was another WAGs tradition. Every summer, some of the Legends’ wives and girlfriends competed in a game against the wives and girlfriends of the Nashville hockey team to raise money for school supplies for needy children. For years, the game had been called WAGs vs. HAGs, because, you know, there’s an “h” in hockey. Ha-ha, so funny. It was astonishing how few people failed to see the problem with it, but maybe someone had finally convinced them that they needed a new name.

“I didn’t know we were getting a new logo,” Thea said.

“It was decided at our last meeting.” Rachel smiled.

The one Thea hadn’t been invited to.

“I’d be happy to,” Thea finally said, “if we can also get rid of the term WAGs.”

Rachel sputtered into her wineglass. A fork fell against a plate, and someone at the table uttered a blasphemy.

“Why on earth would we do that?” Rachel asked, wiping a splatter of wine from her cleavage.

“Come on,” Thea said. “Wives and girlfriends? It’s so limiting. What if a woman makes it to the Majors someday? What would her boyfriend be called?”

“Since I highly doubt there are any female players who are anywhere near good enough for that, I don’t think that’s something we need to worry about,” Rachel said.

“Fine, then what about a gay player? The term WAGs is completely heteronormative. Don’t we want something more inclusive?”

“What exactly do you suggest?” Rachel asked.

“How about spouses and partners?”

Rachel paused for a moment and then said, “That would make us SAPs.”

“You’re right. It sure would.” Thea stood and picked up her plate. “I think I’ll check on the kids. Anyone need anything?”

Thea walked out of the silent dining room and around the corner. It wasn’t long before Gavin appeared. “What the hell was that?” he asked.