"Read it again, Manny."
"Again? I've read it six times."
"Just one more time. Please?"
"Okay," Manny sighs and scrolls back to the top. "Degrassi Community School Hosts..." Before she finishes reading the headline of the article, her screen changes, revealing a picture in the center of a man grinning broadly, with two children smiling out from under each of his arms.
"Oop, that'll be Jay. Just a second."
Emma watches from the chaise end of the sofa as her friend scoots and rolls this way and that to try and hoist her pregnant belly into a standing position. By no means a small feat these days.
"Tell him I said 'hey'," Emma shouts to her back while Manny disappears into the kitchen.
Emma's own phone lets out a small ping as a new wave of photos from her mom are received. Christine and Archie had been saving for the Caribbean cruise since Jack left for university. It was well deserved and the pictures were cute at first, but now looking at them only increased Emma's guilt.
A soft knock at the door shakes her from her quick spiral. "I'll get it," she says.
Not for the first time, she curses Manny and Jay's house for not having a peephole and pulls open the heavy door. Spinner stands on the threshold awkwardly.
"Hey, Em. This should be the last of it." He holds up a floral photo box. "And unclaimed burritos," he says around her as a take-out bag is snatched from his grasp by Manny. It took her three full minutes to stand from the couch, but for this she could apparently appear out of thin air.
"Weren't you talking to Jay?" Emma asks.
"She was," Jay says as he folds up a stroller behind Spinner and two small children rush into the house with a chorus of "Uncle Spin!".
"Are you staying for dinner?" Manny asks.
Emma turns a hard stare at her best friend. Spinner doesn't miss it.
"I wish I could, but I just remembered ...that other meal...that I left running." He scratches at the back of his neck. "Em, can you walk me out?"
"Sure," She smiles and passes the photo box to Manny.
Spinner waits until the door is shut and they are on the sidewalk before he begins. "So...how bout that cruise?"
"Those photos are terrible. A man his age shouldn't limbo."
"When are you going to tell them, Em? I shouldn't be in the group chat."
She pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs, "I know, okay? I'm going to tell them. Just not while they're on vacation."
"Or during the holidays, right?"
"Spin..."
Spinner opens his car door and sits down inside."I'm ready to move on. We've been divorced for years. COVID complicated things but we're not trapped under the same roof anymore. No matter how they react it can't be as hard as keeping up this charade. I'll tell them with you. Whatever it takes."
Emma only nods as Spinner shuts the car door and pulls away.