The entire table burst out laughing at Morgan's joke, which in actuality, reflected reality quite well, she liked to think.
"Ew, I did not need to know that about my dearly departed friend," Chase chortled.
"Ditto," Killian said, "though, I've always liked to think that he had a flair for pleasing the ladies and an aptitude to satisfy —" he paused to add effect, earning a knowing eyeroll from Morgan "— sexually."
"He had a taste for the finer things in life," Addie agreed, laughing.
Morgan didn't have to think it over. She quickly joined in, "And I'm the finest."
She bounced up and down on her seat giddily, her tongue caught between her teeth, as the excitement of banter coursed through her veins.
She had to admit, she had forgotten what it was like to be with friends, to enjoy other people's — beside her son's — company. She knew then that she's missed it terribly — not just the company but this specific company — Addie, Eric, Killian, and Chase.
It was nice that they could fall back into old patterns as easily as they were, Morgan thought, and she was grateful for that because not all friendships work that way.
However, the warm feeling of the sweet thought was short-lived because it then hit her like a bus, the realization so painful that she had frozen physically — her six-year-old son was within earshot of everything they had just said, every dirty comment about his father.
She had been so carried away with reconnecting with her old friends that she seemed to forget she was a mom now — she couldn't just say anything and get away with it.
Horror-struck, Addie quickly picked up on Morgan's panic, though Morgan had no idea how. Perhaps all their years together had finally granted the pair a sense of telepathy.
"Er —" Addie mumbled under her breath, suddenly remorseful for joining in with the inappropriate behavior. Without giving it much thought, she quickly clamped her hands over Nick's small ears, and when Morgan shot her a questionable look, she shrugged defeatedly.
Morgan shook her head and chuckled bitterly — she can handle this.
She gently pulled Addie's hands off Nick's ears and smiled at the boy, who had a perplexed look plastered across his face.
"Nicky, honey," she began slowly, "er — how much of that did you get?"
Nick shrugged nonchalantly — a shrug that bore a sharp resemblance to the way Trevor used to do it. "That daddy used to be quite the Casanova?" he ventured in a tiny voice.
Eric gasped histrionically, clasping a hand over his open mouth; Addie and Chase stared blankly; and Killian, gaping open-mouthed, clapped a hand to his forehead in a dramatic facepalm.
"H-how do you know that word?" asked Eric, pointing a shaky, accusatory finger at Nick.
Nick, in turn, shrugged once again, as though entertained by the adults' reactions of shock and wonder. "Mommy always says I'm quite bright." He said this like it was nothing.
"Damn right you are," exclaimed Killian, reaching across the table to ruffle the young boy's fluffy hair. He giggled at the contact.
"Language, Kill," scolded Eric with a small frown, but his crescent eyes seemed to indicate that he was quite amused with the brunette.
It suddenly occurred to Morgan to ask about what's been going on in the three boys' lives. Last she checked, Chase had just gotten together with Eric, and apparently, she was dying to know the juicy details of the gay lives the three live.
YOU ARE READING
Blinded by Limerence
Teen Fiction"You, uh, plan to go out like that?" Furrowing my eyebrows, I cast my gaze downwards, and that's when I remembered I had changed into pajamas after my date. My face heated up - it was embarrassing to unintentionally let Trevor see my pajama set that...
