Her voice is cold, full of stung pride. She lifts her chin and stares me down with a sheen of tears in her eyes and lips that tremble until she presses them together.

“It was a long time ago. I hardly remember it,” I tell her, trying to be kind. Or maybe because my lie will hurt her worse than the truth.

“I bet you remember it every time your husband comes to bed,” Beth says.

“Huh?”

She and Lisa share a look. Lisa shakes her head. Beth sits back in her chair with a triumphant smile.

“Your husband and Christian could be brothers. You can’t tell me you never noticed.”

“Maybe more like cousins,” Lisa puts in.

I blink rapidly, my breath clawing in my throat. “I don’t … No. I mean, no, they don’t look that much alike.”

“Girl.” Beth sounds more sympathetic than smug. “Please.”

Lisa comes to my rescue. “So what, she has a type. So do you, Beth. So do I. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“The night of the reunion. After we left,” Beth asks, her gaze gleaming, holding mine tight. She leans closer. “You got some of that, didn’t you?”

“No. I’m married.”

“So am I, but I’d sleep with C.C. in a hot minute.”

“And then your husband would find out, and he’d kick your ass to the curb,” Lisa says.

“Christian’s a surgeon. Steve’s a freaking manager in a furniture warehouse. I’d leave Steve for Christian like that.” She snaps her fingers.

“If he won’t fuck you, then he wouldn’t marry you,” I tell her, remembering the vague look of disgust on his face when we’d all been together in his hotel.

Beth’s lip curls. This shot hit her someplace soft. Lisa leans in between us to refill Beth’s glass.

“I already told you, Beth, get yourself a tall ladder and a leaky roof,” she says breezily, although underneath that light tone is a hard kernel of something that sounds like sincerity. “Then you and me can retire someplace together. Total Golden Girls. How about you, Jewelann? You in? We’ll get a house in Florida. No boys allowed except our sons.”

“Not me. I like dick,” Beth says.

Lisa puffs out a breath through pursed lips. “Jesus, Beth. You know what? When you drink and vape at the same time, you’re a real bitch.”

“Being a real bitch is better than being a fake one,” Beth says with a haughty lift of her chin.

The two of them crack up. They clink their glasses together. Once again, I’m left out.

Christian’s SUV pulls into his half of the driveway. We can see him easily from the deck, but he doesn’t seem to notice us as he goes inside. I watch Beth watching him. She looks at me with a small smile that does not match the look in her eyes.

“It’s a good thing you have such a great marriage, Jewelann. I hate to think what would happen otherwise, with your old high school fling living right there. Not that I’d ever tell your husband I saw the two of you making out or anything.”