Passionate Kisses

by Various

“Forget it.” Ryan realized he sounded like an idiot.

  “No, I think it’s nice. My big brother finally fell in love.”

  It hit him like a punch to the gut. He loved Liz.

  He felt winded and took a few deep breaths. That realization was quickly followed with the stupidest thing he’d done to date—loving a woman who didn’t love him. She chose a baby over him. No room in her heart for both because she didn’t love him.

  “Leave it to me to fall for someone who doesn’t love me back,” Ryan said bitterly.

  Shane patted his back. “I wouldn’t say that. Just give her some time. The baby will grow up a bit, things will get easier, then maybe she’ll be more open to a relationship.”

  He stared at his brother. “How long will that take?”

  Shane shrugged.

  Why did I think Shane would have the answers?

  He stood. “You’re no help at all.”

  Looked like it was back to Jorge’s idea. Action was the way to go if he wanted to win Liz’s heart. The alternative made him want to puke.

  Love sucked.

  ~ ~ ~

  “You’re a life saver,” Liz said as she helped Rachel unload the Chinese food she’d brought with her to Liz’s apartment. “We were so busy today I didn’t get a chance to think about dinner.”

  Bryce was in his swing, positioned just outside of the kitchen, where he could watch them unload the bags. Daisy was on the phone in Liz’s bedroom.

  “So, it’s been a week since the breakup,” Rachel said. “How ya doing?”

  “Shitty,” Liz admitted. “And I have to see him again at the wedding.”

  “I’ve got your back,” Rachel said.

  “And I’ll take all the slow dances,” Daisy chimed in, back from her phone call.

  Liz laughed.

  They made it halfway through dinner before Bryce started crying. Liz and Daisy groaned. This always happened.

  “It’s like he doesn’t want us to finish a meal,” Liz said. “It’s the baby diet.”

  Daisy stood. “I’ve got this. You guys finish up. Milk is coming, baby!”

  She scooped Bryce out of his swing and carried him to the living room. A few minutes later, he quieted. A half wall separated the kitchen from the living room, so Liz couldn’t see him nurse, but she could still hear a slurp now and then.

  “You think Maggie will have a stripper at the bachelorette party tomorrow?” Rachel asked.

  “I know she’s not, because I already ordered a psychic,” Liz said.

  “Oy!” Rachel rolled her eyes. “You know they just say what they think you want to hear—you’ll be rich, have a handsome husband, live a long life.”

  “It’s just for fun,” Liz said.

  Rachel picked up some lo mein with the chopsticks. “I guess it’s all right if you don’t believe it.”

  “I believe it,” Daisy called from the living room. “Once a psychic told me I’d be a mother at a young age, and here I am.”

  Rachel and Liz exchanged a look. Thirty-three wasn’t exactly a young age.

  “Cool,” Rachel finally said.

  They grinned at each other.

  “Weddings are good for meeting people,” Liz said. “Maybe you’ll meet Jorge’s hot nephew or second cousin.”

  “He probably wouldn’t be Jewish,” Rachel said.

  “Since when do you care about that?” Liz asked, taken aback.

  “Maybe it’s time for me to stop screwing around and find someone to spend the future with. I think it’d be nice to be with someone who shared my faith. We could raise our kids Jewish.”

  Liz stared at Rachel in shock.

  “What?” Rachel asked.

  “Nothing, it’s just I’ve never heard you talk this way.”

  “Maybe seeing you guys with Bryce has made me rethink things a bit. You’re busy over here with your family, and I’m going home to an empty apartment. I signed up for JDate.”

  Liz’s jaw dropped. “But I thought you said online dating was full of weirdos and creeps.”

  Rachel shrugged. “I had a talk with my rabbi, and she said several people in our congregation used it with great success.”

  “Wow.”

  “Good for you!” Daisy piped up.

  “I’m working on my profile, but I haven’t set it up yet. It’s hard to find a good description of me. Like, hobbies. I don’t have any hobbies. Books are my life.”

  “Put reading,” Liz said.

  “It sounds like I sit home all the time.” She pushed her plate away.

  “You don’t want to lie.”

  “I don’t want to be boring.”

  Liz sipped some water. “Maybe you could say you love the beach.”

  Rachel rested her head on her hand, considering. “I like to read on the beach.”

  “There you go!” Liz said. “Still true that you love the beach.”

  Daisy appeared with a satisfied-looking Bryce in her arms. “Could one of you burp him while I use the bathroom?”

  Rachel held out her arms, enfolding the baby close. She breathed in his baby hair; then she patted him on the back. “He’s so precious.”

  Bryce let out a belch.

  “Good boy,” Rachel said, still patting his back. “Anything else in there?”

  PFFFT. Rachel held him an arm’s length away. “That’s powerful. Your turn.” She handed Bryce back to Liz to change.

  Liz took the baby and headed to the living room. “No rush on the baby thing, huh, Rach?”

  Her friend laughed. “I still gotta get started on the manhunt. I might end up going through a lot of kosher pickles.”

  She turned. “Rachel! You know what that sounds like?”

  Rachel smiled dreamily. “Yup.”

  Oh, boy!

  Chapter Thirty

  “Let’s get this party started!” Daisy hollered as Maggie answered the door.

  Maggie swung the door wide open. “That’s the spirit!”

  “Woot-woot!” Liz added, pumping her fist in the air. Daisy burst out laughing.

  They’d dropped off Bryce with his dad so they could have their first baby-free night out at Maggie’s bachelorette party.

  “You girls are just in time,” Maggie said. “Come on. Help me get these dippables ready.”

  Daisy and Liz exchanged a look. Dippables?

  They walked into Maggie’s house and followed her to the dining room table, where a chocolate fountain was set up in the center. Waves of chocolate poured from the top down the sides. Liz’s mouth watered. Skewers and plastic plates were stacked on the table.

  “Here, you put out the marshmallows; you do the graham crackers,” Maggie said, handing them the goodies. “I’m going to get the strawberries and raspberries.”

  Daisy ripped open the marshmallow bag and dipped one in the fountain. “Mmm,” she said over a mouthful of chocolate-covered goo.

  Liz did the same with another marshmallow. The warm chocolate was so-oo-oo good. She opened the graham cracker box and dipped one of those too. More graham crackers and lots of chocolate later, Liz was feeling pretty happy.

  Maggie returned with the washed berries. “You might want to use a napkin, dear.”

  Daisy smirked. “Or a roll of paper towels.”

  Liz ran to the bathroom to survey the damage. Chocolate was smeared all over her mouth and chin. She looked like a toddler who’d gotten into the chocolate cake. She washed off in front of the mirror. She’d have to be more careful at the party. It was just that the chocolate made her feel better. Things had been rough all around with the breakup and the demands of mothering Bryce.

  Liz’s mother arrived with some hot dishes catered by Garner’s—rigatoni, chicken wings, and bacon-wrapped scallops. Soon, everyone was there: Rachel and her mother, some of Maggie’s church friends, and Jorge’s daughters, thirty-year-old identical twins Grace and Faith. Grace was a pediatrician, and Faith was an at-home mother to a two-year-old son. Sweet Pam had also shown up, having forgiven Magg
ie’s insults at the knitting club because Maggie had also introduced her to Jorge’s dance class, which she loved. The rest of the knitting club hadn’t been invited.

  Liz hit play on some peppy Latin music on an iPod with speakers she’d set up. The playlist was by Maggie’s special request. Faith and Grace showed the women some merengue dance moves—dance seemed to run in the family. The volume of the party rose as everyone danced, talked, and enjoyed the food.

  Liz had just filled a plate with chocolate-covered raspberries when the doorbell rang. She heard Maggie answer, “You must be Madame Clarity.”

  Liz stuffed some raspberries in her mouth and returned to the living room to see the psychic she’d hired. She was just as funky as she’d hoped. Long waves of gray hair, large silver hoop earrings, and a flowing purple caftan.

  “Hi, I’m Liz,” she said.

  “Could you show me to the loo, luv?” Madame Clarity asked in a terrible British accent. Liz knew her area code was from Queens.

  “Sure, right this way.” Liz led the way to the powder room and then went in search of Rachel. She found her talking to Faith about the Thinking Mom’s Book Club. “Could we have a minute?”

  “Sure,” Faith said, heading over to Maggie.

  “The psychic is pretending she’s British,” Liz told Rachel.

  Rachel shrugged. “So? She’s also pretending she’s psychic. No big deal.”

  Madame Clarity returned to the center of the living room, raised her arms dramatically, and keened, “The dead woo-ould like to speak!”

  Maggie clapped her hands. “Ooh, a séance.”

  They gathered around the coffee table. Liz and Rachel brought in some more chairs from the dining room. Madame Clarity produced a crystal ball. Rachel elbowed Liz and grinned.

  Madame Clarity closed her eyes and rubbed her hands over the crystal ball. “Speak to us, oh depaw-ted loved ones from o-ur past! Give us a sign!”

  A few moments passed in silence, and the tension ran high as everyone waited, looking at each other and Madame Clarity.

  Suddenly, Madame Clarity shook dramatically. “Patrick is here.”

  “Oh, my Patrick,” Maggie said, getting choked up. “Hello, love.”

  Liz felt a chill go through her. Had Maggie told Madame Clarity about her first husband, or was she really psychic?

  “He says hello,” Madame Clarity said.

  Maggie smiled. “Patrick, it’s been a long time. Do I have your blessing to marry again?”

  A beat passed while Madame Clarity rubbed her hands over the crystal, eyes closed, rocking from side to side. The ladies looked at each other nervously.

  “You have his buh-lessing!” Madame Clarity declared.

  A sigh of relief went around the room.

  “Do Rita next,” Maggie said. “Tell her I’m getting married.”

  Another flourish with the crystal. Madame Clarity opened her eyes and looked around the room. “Rita is quite pleased.”

  “Give peace to my daughter-in-law,” Maggie said. “Tell her Ryan, Travis, and Shane are doing wonderfully.”

  Liz swallowed hard. The list of Maggie’s losses was difficult to hear, but the older woman seemed at peace, joyful with the life she had.

  Madame Clarity rocked back and forth, fondling the crystal, then straightened suddenly. “She is at peace.”

  “Woo!” Maggie exclaimed, looking around the room at her friends. “Enough of the past, let’s hear some predictions of the future. You do palm reading, right?”

  “Right-o,” Madame Clarity said.

  “Come on over here, ladies.” Maggie gestured them closer. “Liz, you go first. I want to hear what she says about you.”

  Liz stayed where she was. The last thing she wanted to hear was some pie-in-the-sky version of her future. She knew her future—raising Bryce. Case closed. There wasn’t any point in getting her hopes up for a psychic’s silly prediction.

  Rachel pushed her forward. “Don’t disappoint the bride.”

  She crossed the room and sat in front of Madame Clarity, who was busy dabbing the sweat off her face with a folded tissue she’d produced from under the shoulder strap of her bra. The psychic chugged some water and set the glass down with a flourish. “Ah, quenched my thirst. Now I’m ready to go into the psychic unknown. Let me see your hand.”

  Liz opened her hand, palm up. Madame Clarity traced some of the lines, muttering to herself, “Life line, mmm-hmmm, heart line, ooh—very interesting, head, fate…” She looked up, eyes wide. “It has never been so clear for me. Your soulmate is nearby, waiting for you to take your rightful place at his side.” Her eyes bored into Liz’s. “Do you know this man?”

  “No, I don’t think I do.” Liz pulled her hand away and stood on shaky legs. “I’m done here, next person!” She slipped away and back to the dining room to dip into the chocolate fountain. Four raspberries, two strawberries, and a marshmallow later, Rachel and Daisy joined her.

  “What’d she tell you?” Daisy asked Rachel.

  “She said my”—Rachel finger quoted—“soulmate was waiting for me. I hope he signed up for JDate ’cuz that’s where I’m looking first.”

  “She told me the same thing!” Daisy said.

  Liz felt giddy with relief. “Me too!”

  She didn’t have to worry that she’d done the wrong thing breaking up with Ryan. Her first instinct was right. Bryce came first.

  Daisy dipped a strawberry and chomped it down. “Guess you were right, Rachel. They just say what they think you want to hear. Who says we even want a soulmate? I just want my baby to sleep through the night and be happy. I don’t need a man who needs me to make him happy too.”

  Liz studied her sister. Daisy wasn’t the cheerful free spirit she used to be. Motherhood had changed her. It wasn’t a good or bad change, just different.

  “It’s just a parlor game,” Liz said. “Come on. Let’s go see if Maggie likes her fortune.”

  “It’d better be good,” Rachel said. “The woman’s getting married tomorrow.”

  They found Maggie in the living room, chatting with her friends.

  “Did you like your fortune?” Liz asked.

  “Sure! She said I’d be marvelously happy, and I am.” She put an arm around Liz and squeezed her close.

  A little while later, Liz handed Madame Clarity her check. “You made Maggie very happy, thank you.”

  “Yous guys were excellent clients,” Madame Clarity said. Her Queens accent had gotten stronger as the night wore on. “Enjoy ya night!”

  After the psychic left, the ladies gathered their purses and began their goodbyes.

  “Just a moment,” Maggie called. “Liz, don’t let them leave.”

  Liz grabbed sweet Pam before she could head out the door.

  Maggie approached with a pink bag tied with a ribbon. “Party favors, enjoy!”

  Liz helped her hand out the party favor bags to all the departing guests. Finally, there was only one left. “Who’s that one for?”

  “I had to keep one for myself,” Maggie said. “Could come in useful on the honeymoon.”

  Liz, Rachel, and Daisy opened theirs at the same time. Daisy and Rachel burst into laughter. Liz stared at the cherry massage oil, edible underwear, and vibrator.

  This was what she’d been handing out to the church-going folks of Clover Park? To the women old enough to be her grandmother? To her own mother? She shuddered and put the bag back on the table.

  Maggie pressed it back into her hands. “Keep it, my dear. You never know.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  “Oh, Maggie, you look beautiful!” Liz dabbed at her eyes as she viewed Maggie for the first time in her full bridal glory.

  Maggie wore the bright orange full-length dress with shiny sequins, and she’d added a jaunty orange beret with a single feather on one side.

  “Thank you!” Maggie pointed a finger at her. “Don’t cry; you’ll get me started.”

  “I’m just so happy for you.” She hugged her
friend.

  “I like the dress you picked too,” Maggie said.

  “Thanks.” Liz smiled. She’d worn a pale lavender cocktail dress with cap sleeves and a modest V-neck. Maggie had told the bridesmaids—Liz, Daisy, and Jorge’s daughters, Faith and Grace—to wear whatever they wanted. In an attempt to mute the color palette next to Maggie’s tangerine orange, Liz had gone with the pale lavender. She’d asked the other bridesmaids to stick with pastels too.

  A car honked outside.

  Liz pulled the lace curtain aside to peek out the bedroom window and nearly did a double take. “Omigod. Daisy bought a station wagon!” The two together were so incongruous that she had to laugh.

  Maggie joined her at the window. “It’s a nice safe car for my only great-grandbaby.”

  “I’ll go tell her you’ll be down in a few. Take your time on the stairs,” she ordered.

  Maggie rolled her eyes.

  She headed outside. It was a gorgeous fall day, seventies with a cool breeze. Daisy waved, her usual sunny smile back in place. She wore a pale pink cocktail dress with a plunging neckline to show off her nursing-mom cleavage.

  “Awesome, right?” Daisy indicated the tomato-red car. “Trav surprised me with it this morning. It’s one of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s top picks. Look, even Bryce likes it.” The baby was conked out in his car seat in the back.

  “We should drive him around every day,” Liz said.

  “I won’t mind that at all. I’ve never had a new car before.”

  “That was really sweet of Trav,” Liz said.

  “Yeah.” She turned and admired the car.

  “So how are things between you two?” Liz asked.

  Daisy looked in the side mirror, checking her teeth and rubbing some lipstick off a front tooth. “Don’t get any ideas. He’s just being a good dad.”

  “Nice car!” Maggie called from the porch.

  Daisy gave a wolf whistle. “Lookin’ good! Love that dress!”

  “Thank you,” Maggie said. Liz helped her into the front seat and climbed into the back seat next to a sleeping Bryce. He looked so angelic when he slept, it made her forget how difficult he was when he was awake.

  “I’ll roll the windows up so it doesn’t mess up your hair,” Daisy said, reaching for the button.