Baumgartner generations: Janie

“Just Lily.” I rolled my eyes. He teased me all the time about not dating, and it was true, I didn’t-at least, I never brought anyone home. “Beth, sweetie, all those vegetables you’re pulling off your sandwich are the best part.”

“Nuh-uh.” She stuck out her overly-red tongue-she’d been drinking a cherry Icee-and opened her sandwich again to show me the myriad of lunchmeat on it. “The cow is the best part!”

“And the pig,” I reminded her, eating another baby carrot. “There’s pig in there.”

“Yum!” She took a big bite, her grin doughy and huge, and I could see her lunch through one missing front tooth.

“Just hurry up and eat it.” Ronnie snapped the brochure she was holding closed.

“The crowds are crazy today and the Picasso exhibit is going to be mobbed.”

“Good salads,” TJ remarked, shoveling in another huge bite of his Cobb salad.

“They should be, for the price.” Ronnie took a much more delicate bite of her Chinese chicken salad. “We should have eaten before we left.” I swallowed a sigh and looked between the two of them, sitting across the table from one another, silently chewing lettuce. I knew it was going to be like this. I’d tried to talk to Ronnie before we left, but she kept changing the subject, and she brought her Kindle and read on the subway while Beth and I played I-Spy, so there was no opportunity there, either. I felt totally shut out. This wasn’t like her at all, and I hated to admit, even to myself, how much it hurt my feelings.

“Daddy, Janie said there are cow pictures.” Beth sucked hard at her straw to get the last of her Icee, making loud slurping sounds.

“You like cows?” TJ asked, looking amused.

“Knock-knock!” Beth grinned. Even her teeth were red!

“Who’s there?” He indulged her current love for knock-knock jokes much more than Ronnie or I did.

“Cows go.” Beth licked mustard off her upper lip.

TJ smirked. He knew this one. So did I. “Cows go who?”

“No, cows go MOO!” Her voice rose to a yell on the last word and several people around us looked over from their tables.

“Beth, shh!” Ronnie said, but she was laughing. She obviously hadn’t heard that one yet.

“God I love your laugh.” TJ’s expression softened when he looked at his wife and she smiled back at him. It happened just like that. Whatever had been stretched between them had snapped and recoiled and the distance between them was now much shorter.

My cell vibrated again in my pocket and I pulled it out, reading the text under the table.

WAN2 TRY 1OAK?

I contemplated the screen. 1 Oak was an exclusive club. We’d been turned away a couple of times, although if Lil and I dressed to the nines, we usually managed to finagle our way past the bouncers.

CAN WE GET IN?

Going out clubbing was the best part of New York. I’d met Lil when I was finishing my creative writing degree at NYU and she’d been the one who introduced me to the clubbing scene and I couldn’t get enough.

HOW SHORT IS YR SKIRT?

I snorted, texting her back.

INVISIBLE

“You and Lil going out?” TJ slurped the last of his Diet Coke and I glanced up, seeing him watching me.

“1 Oak.” I looked down to see Lil’s last message: CW2CU! I couldn’t wait, either. I suddenly had a lot of restless energy I needed to get rid of.

“Expensive, isn’t it?” Ronnie raised her eyebrows, finishing the last of her salad.

I smiled broadly. “We hardly ever pay for drinks.”

“I bet that’s true.” TJ gave me a knowing look and I blushed.

“Just be careful.” Ronnie stood, gathering up garbage to toss out.

I stood, too, helping her. “Yes, Mother.”

She stopped and looked at me and then smiled. “Have fun.”

“I always do.” I smiled back and felt it in that moment-things were okay again.

“Can we go see the cows?” Beth helped us carry our garbage to the trash bin and toss it in.

“Actually, they’re bulls, I think.” TJ tossed his empty soda container in.

“Yes, very twisted bulls.” Ronnie snorted as TJ slipped his arms around her from behind. He nuzzled her ear and I saw more than heard him whisper, “I love you.” She turned in his arms, kissing him lightly. “I love you, too.”

“Are you ready to go see some crazy cows?” I asked Beth, watching her watch her parents. Her eyes were as glued to them as mine were.

“Bullcows,” she corrected me, taking my hand and swinging it as we walked.

“Let’s go!”

Chapter Two

The secret to getting into a club was acting as if you couldn’t care less, no matter what. You couldn’t beg or plead or make up some story about knowing someone inside-the guys at the door had built-in bullshit radar. You just had to stand there and expect to get in.

“Sorry, we’re closed for a private party.” The bouncer at the door was a big guy-

they were always big guys who stood there with their arms crossed, making their pecs and biceps stand out even more. Of course, they weren’t really closed for a private party. That was just what they said when they didn’t want to let someone in. We’d heard it before.

“Who’s this, Sailor Moon and her lesbian lover?”