The Dirty Book Club(67)

Sixteen days until the next full moon. Better get cracking.

XXX The Dirty Book Club.

P.S. You owe us a letter from that old Henry and June meeting. Don’t forget.

And so my dear friends, this is that letter. Thank you for resurrecting me from the dead and saving us. You have renewed my faith in all that is holy. See you in sixteen days!

—L.M.H.

Born again



* * *



M.J. GLANCED AT Addie, expecting to find her ashamed; after so brazenly rejecting the three things that defined Liddy’s life—a child, the bookstore, and this club—how could she not be? But all she said was, “Who knew that old lezzer wanted kids? I always assumed she didn’t want any.” Then she plucked a chunk of deli meat out of her julienne salad and dropped it on her napkin.

“Sure makes you appreciate the miracle of conception,” Jules said.

“Contraception is the real miracle,” Addie told her.

Jules blinked. “So does that mean you’re not—”

“I can’t believe the Dirty Book Club broke up,” M.J. interjected. “Twice!”

“The second time didn’t surprise me at all,” Jules said. “Trust is everything. And when that’s gone . . .”

“That’s your takeaway?” Britt said, judging. “Wow, I always pegged you for an optimist but . . .”

“But what?”

“To me that letter was about how they were there for each other in the end,” Britt said. “You know, a real forgive-and-forget kind of thing.”

“Hands up if you googled Ana?s’s girl crush to see if she was hot?” M.J. said, raising her hand. Was it a weak transition? Yes, but this conversation had become a minefield of explosive topics and if she didn’t lighten the mood it would blow up in her face. “Really? I’m the only one who image-searched June Miller? Well, for the record, she wouldn’t sway me gay. And what about the book itself? Personally, I think it lacked drama. Like a sense of what was at stake for Ana?s and Henry if they got caught.”

“A bunch of lawless sex addicts if you ask me,” Jules practically spat.

“Sex by its very nature is lawless,” Addie said.

“And marriage, by its very nature, is not,” Jules countered. “There are rules in marriage, and they were married.” She sighed. “At least they didn’t have children.”

“I’m confused. Who are we talking about here?” M.J. asked, “Ana?s and Hugo, or Patrick and Liddy?”

“Both.”

“Maybe it’s a good thing Liddy couldn’t conceive,” M.J. said. “If she had kids she probably would have stayed married to Patrick. She would have forced herself to live a lie.”

“But she would have had kids,” Jules said.

“Kids but no sex.”

“True,” Britt said. “Kids are to sex what coffee is to alcohol—a total buzzkill.”

“That is not true,” Jules insisted. “I have tons of sex in my life.”

“Courtesy of Fat and Natural,” Addie said. “Not Brandon.”

Jules stomped her foot. “You don’t know the first thing about—” She inhaled deeply. Then a blustering exhale, “Brandon was right. You girls are not very wholesome.”

“Why would he say a thing like that?” Britt asked with a nervous grin.

“He didn’t think you could be trusted. He said it the moment you left the hospital.”

“He was right about that,” Addie said.

“Meaning?” Britt and M.J. said at the same time.

“Cut the innocent act, M.J. You went behind my back and told David I was pregnant.”

A rush of heat needled M.J.’s skin. “No, you went behind my back and told him yourself, after we said no cell phones.”

“No, I didn’t!”

“You must have because he’s the one that brought it up.”

“That’s impossible. What did he say?”

“We ran into each other on our decks while you were surfing with Destiny and he said you were playing the kid card. Basically implying that you trap men with fake pregnancies, so I defended you by saying it was real. That’s all.”

“?’Scuse me?” Jules said. “When did you go surfing with—”

“He wasn’t talking about fake pregnancies, M.J., he was dissing on me for hanging out with a fifteen-year-old. He thinks I befriend girls who look up to me so I can feel important. It’s bullshit. But either way, I never told him about—”

“Shit. I’m so sorry. I thought—”

“When did you go surfing with Destiny?” Jules asked again, eyes wide and marble-hard. “Why didn’t you say anything? Why would you cuckold me like that?”

“Babcockold,” M.J. said, desperate to lighten the mood.

No one laughed.

“You were in the hospital,” Addie explained.

“And when I got out?”

“It’s no big deal, Jules. Destiny needed someone to talk to, that’s all.”

“About what, abortion?”

“Reality.”

Jules uncrossed her legs and stood. “You know Brandon wanted me to quit the ‘Downtown Beach Club.’ And I was sick over it. I couldn’t imagine being responsible for breaking us up. But if we’re keeping things from one another, then maybe it’s for the best.”