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36: July

After that recent talk about family, Betty kept it quiet, about that theme. It didn't bother me that much now, since we had the start. She had to be thinking about it. She'll tell me someday. Soon. That's the hope. So I decided to leave the topic too and enjoy other things.
It wasn't all easy though.

Fourth of July is the day for a party. And we had that yes. It was a nice barbeque thing in our parents garden with JB, Polly and the twins. Me and dad did the burgers, I was so proud of me. Dad too. I even made the majo myself. Who would have thought it was that easy? Why people buy that from store.. But back to that day.. if you are in Riverdale during that time of year, you just can't forget the one Riverdale family member, Fred Andrews. It was imbossible to forget, I mean the house was right there.

He was my dad's best friend, even they had their time apart. Alice's neighbour for so long. Like the other father to me. And to Betty. Our day of celebration was also a day to remember Fred. Me and Betty even started our day by visiting on his grave. It was hard for Betty, and I saw how she was looking at his father's grave, few looks here and there. She tried to do that quickly but I saw. "You wanna check on your father's?" I asked and I was a bit scared how she reacts. "Not the time for that. For that I need more time. I have lot to discuss with him," she sighed quietly and wiped away the tears on her cheeks.

Those words, I was thinking about those for awhile. I couldn't figure out if there was some spesific meaning, for her discuss. Lot of stuff has happened. I don't know. She'll tell me. I have to just trust that.

After those words, she gave me a wide smile, took my hand and we walked to our parents house. Right there, next to Fred's, the man who was too good to this world.

. . . . .

Friday night in New York City. Third weekend of July. Glass of wine with my boyfriend, my best friend and her husband. Betty from this year's April wouldn't have believed that one. But here I am. Just an hour ago we arrived driving on FP's truck to get Jug's stuff to Riverdale. We are gonna keep the apartment, it's good income, but we need to clean that one and left only basic things. And also, it's good to have a place to stay if Jug does weekend trips here. His manager is here and many of the book events, so those kind of weekends, they are coming for sure.

"I can't believe you are here, in New York with us. The dream coming fucking finally true!" Vee shouts and raises her glass. She likes making toasts, this is already the third one today. "This is all new Manhattan for me too, my life wasn't that great back then. I'm actually happy our paths didn't across in last couple years, I looked like shit" Jug says and lays his arm on my shoulder. I stroke the top of his hand softly, it doesn't matter anymore, now we are here, together. "If we did, I bet my wife here would have kicked your ass," Reggie laughs and soon after that we all. "That sounds about right," Vee agrees.

We had a fun with our snacks, drinks and talks about past month and up coming fall. It is weird how good Jug and Reggie acts with each others, a jock and a weirdo, previous enemies from high school. As an adult, they have many things in common including same kind of taste of humor (and I don't always know if it's a good thing). They left us to the table to get more drinks and I'm with my best girl.

"So, was it only me and my imagination, or was there some tension about that baby talk in our group chat?" Vee blurted as soon as our men left us. "Right to the point as always," I laugh but I'm not sure this is the topic for that kind of reaction. "There was. We are being double sure and it is my decision. And I think Jug has had these thoughts about kids and family. He is so into Polly's twins and he spends so much time with them. I promised I would talk to him about the reason I wanna do the double checking. But I haven't done that yet. I don't even know what to think about this," I say and all the fun is gone. I have tried for past weeks, I ran and tried to figure out this, but nothing. So next step is got to be this.