I loop my hands around his neck and pull his smiling face to mine, the entire world falling away the moment his lips hit mine. I drink him in, not at all worried about what the people around us might be thinking, and realize that I don’t need a drink anymore.

I’m already drunk off of Jasper.

CHAPTER 15

“Are you sure none of the kid germs are hiding under your fingernails or something?” I eye Elsie with suspicion as she dips her chip into the salsa. “I can’t get a stomach bug. You know I can’t handle throwing up.”

It’s been a few weeks since my concert date with Jasper and things have only gotten better. I’ve been dying to tell Elsie about everything, but she’s selfish and had a life of her own to tend to.

“First of all, you’re rude. Do you really think I don’t wash my hands on a regular basis and go crazy when my kids are sick? My hands are still raw from how many times I’ve washed them and bleached the house.” She holds her unpolished hands in front of my face like it’s proof of anything other than busy mom life. “Second, bitch, how long do you think that stuff lasts? The kids haven’t been sick for like three weeks and you know if there was any chance I could spread the hell I lived through to anybody, I’d be at home.”

This is true. While Elsie can be a major asshole—like the one time she forced me to go on a double date with her cousin who got accepted into an Ivy League college and spent the entire night telling me all the reasons the schools I applied to weren’t up to par—she wouldn’t put my health at risk.

“Fair.” I show my faith in her and decide not to ask for another basket of chips and salsa. “I’m glad everyone is on the mend in your house.”

“Girl. You have no idea.” She takes a sip of the giant margarita she ordered. “When you have as many kids as I do, when one gets sick, you try to fight it, but it’s really a waiting game until it filters through the entire house. It’s the saddest game of dominos ever played. I’ve never seen so much vom—”

“Nope!” I cut her off, not needing to hear that word while we’re at lunch. “No details. I didn’t want them on the phone and I don’t want them now. Not ever, actually.”

She rolls her eyes to the back of her head.