Page 5 of Mission: Possible
"That's so cute," whispered Lily as I turned back.
"It sneezed right in my face," I said in barely concealed horror.
"Adorable," said Lily.
"Would you call it adorable if it were thirty-five?" I whispered furiously.
"No, I'd kick it in the..."
"And down," said the instructor. "Feel the love in your glutes!"
Lily raised her eyebrows at me and I giggled.
"And now, table top position. Encourage your darlings to join in this magical journey."
We moved onto all fours and Poppy wobbled under me. I blew kisses at her and pulled faces while the instructor directed us through different positions. Finally, when the class was over, I picked up Poppy and snuggled my face into the crook of her neck.
"Who's broody?" asked Lily when I refused to hand over her baby.
"Maybe a little," I admitted. Poppy was soft and cuddly and she smelled so nice in her little, blue dress and white leggings. She was way beyond adorable. I wasn't so sure about the sneezy baby however.
The woman in front of me turned around. "I can recommend some great..." she started to say.
"Thanks, Janet!" said Lily. "We've already got that covered."
"It's so nice that you're sharing the baby-bearing burden," said Janet, beaming at me before she turned away.
Lily rolled her eyes. "Jord and I are thinking about having another baby," she said. "We're only planning to have two so it makes sense to have them close together. Oh! Oh!" She flapped her hands, her face looking excited.
"What? Is it your pelvic girdle?" I asked in alarm as Lily dropped to the floor and rolled up her mat, tucking it into a bag and slinging it, as well as Poppy's diaper bag, over her shoulder.
"No! I just had the best thought!" she said, springing upright and pushing her feet into sneakers. "Why don't we conceive our babies together!? It would be so exciting and fun! We could time it just right and have them at the same time and experience the whole process together."
"You've mentioned that before." I thought about it. "That would be kind of nice. Our babies could be best friends," I added. I followed Lily to the door and deposited my mat on the pile before looking around for any kind of sanitizer I could use on my face, but there wasn't any.
"We should go through our diaries and pick a date. We should set up a WhatsApp group: you and Solomon and Jord and me... we could work out the best dates to conceive our babies!"
I thought about that and had the strangest sense of déjà vu. I was sure I must’ve shot similar ideas before. "Ew!" I spat distastefully. "Jord is my brother! I don’t want to discuss that stuff with him."
"I don't mean all the gory details! Maybe we should just all go away together, relax, see what happens…"
The idea of attempting to conceive a baby within a few feet of my brother and my best friend doing the same thing sounded horrific. Maybe even bad enough to register for one of my mother's classes. "I think that's the most off-putting thing you've ever said to me," I told her. I held open the door and we filed out, leaving the mommy group to crowd the instructor with questions about yoga poses that didn't sound real.
"Do you think your mom would want to join us? Should I ask her?" asked Lily.
Scratch that.Thatwas definitely horrific. "Yes, she would want to join us, and you must never,everask her," I warned her sternly as I restrained the urge to vomit.
Lily pulled a face. "I meant the WhatsApp group!"
Fortunately, I was spared the next horrendous idea Lily had when my phone started ringing. My sister-in-law's name flashed on the screen. Alice was delightful and one hundred percent sane, which was more than I could say for Lily at this moment. "I have to get this," I said, kissing Poppy's cheek first, then Lily's. "Love you both."
"See you soon! Poppy, say 'bye!'"
"M-m-m," said Poppy as she waved.
"Bye, Poppy! Hi, Alice," I said into the phone as I headed to my car, waving again when Poppy fluttered her chubby hand.
"Lexi, hi! I'm so glad you answered. Do you have a moment?"