The Lovely Garden by Emma Mohr

“Oh, shut up! It wasn’t that long.” Five minutes was like one minute in Jenny time.
    We walk into Smithy’s Pub and was greeted by the too cheerful hostess. Since it was a Monday we were seated and our drinks ordered in under two minutes. I got a glass of red wine, which I desperately needed, and Jenny water. Jenny had never ordered water when we had gone to Smithy’s before. Something was up, and I thought I knew what it was.
    “What’re going to get?” Jenny asked staring at her menu.
    I didn’t have much of an appetite. My nerves were still shot from work. I wasn’t a big eater when I was stressed. “I’m just going to get the grilled chicken salad.” With Italian dressing. Ranch was my usual dressing, but I didn’t want something so heavy.
    Jenny cocked a dark blonde eyebrow. “Hard day at work?” She knew me all too well.
    “Don’t get me started,” I said shaking my head. My voice cracked and lower lip trembled.
    “We’ll talk about it. But first, we’re going to order, because the waitress is headed our way.”
    “Hey ladies,” Tara greeted, knowing us on sight. We have been coming here for years and most of the staff recognized us. Every once in a while Smithy, real name Sam, came and talked with us. “You getting the usual?”
    Jenny replied, “Not tonight. I think we’re going to get the same thing. The grilled chicken salad.” Salad was her usual order. So, she was trying not to act to out of the ordinary. “I’ll have your house dressing with that.”
    “I’m going to have Italian with mine.”
    “I’ll get that right for you, ladies.” Tara took our menus and all but skipped away. She was very enthusiastic. It made her a great server, though a tad annoying to me. I like calmer people. Jenny was the most hyper person I could take, and she was pretty tame. Just a little more outgoing than I was.
    Jenny took a sip from her water. “So, first things first. What happened at work?” This was serious Jenny. The Jenny who was ready to listen to my problems and help me bury the body if it came to that. Believe me, if we could get away with murder, Jerry would have been dead long ago. The shit he pulled was unacceptable in Jenny’s eyes. And this was going to take the cake.
    “He fired me.” My hands shook in time with my voice. “That mother fucker actually fired me!” The room went silent as my voice carried. My face flushed red, and I hid my face between my hands unable to face the crowd that was definitely staring at me. I told her the entire story from the coffee all the way to Charles leaving.
    “So,” Jenny took another sip of her water, “wine and ice cream tonight?”
    I sighed back my tears. “Sounds good, though I’m going to be drinking alone since you’re pregnant.”
    She made a noise between a choke and a whimper. “How the fuck did you know?!”
    “Oh, come on! In all the years we have come here, you have only ordered water once. When you were pregnant with Caleb.” I sat back in the booth, gloating. It wasn’t often that I got the upper hand on Jenny, but I did that evening. Then, I had to ruin the mood just a bit. “I thought you didn’t want another kid?”
    She placed her chin in her hand, elbow resting on the table. “I honestly didn’t. It just kind of happened.” I guessed a combination of Jenny forgetting to take her birth control and the two having drunken, unprotected sex. It was how Caleb had come to be. “I haven’t even told Billy yet.”
    Now, that, was a huge surprise, and fuck up on her part. “You told me before him!” To be fair, she didn’t even tell me, I just guessed and happened to be right.
    “I wasn’t planning on telling you.” She was so flustered she nearly spat it out. “I was planning on telling him tonight after dinner, but my best friend needs comforting so that can wait.”
    “Nope. Don’t you put that on me. You’re just too pussy to tell him.” I got her there. The way she crossed her arms over her