“My book club,” Tina says as they pull into the driveway of her friend Patty’s house.
“Your- we’ll be there for hours!”
“And you’ll fit right in. Plenty of the girls bring in babies.” Tina takes Leah out of the car seat and brings her into Patty’s house. “Hello, ladies!”
“Hi, Tina!” voices chorus back. Tina walks into the living room. Chairs have been arranged in a circle and are occupied by the members of Tina’s book club. Like Tina said, there are babies in the room. Specifically, there’s two, sitting inside a large playpen tucked away in one corner.
“Babysitting fell through, so I had to bring my niece, Hailey,” Tina says.
“Not a problem!” Patty says, waving a hand. “Go ahead and put her in the playpen with Ryan and Tristan.”
“Got it.” Tina brings Leah over to the playpen. “Just play nice and I promise I’ll make it worth your while,” she whispers to Leah. Leah merely nods. “Oh, don’t forget your paci!” Tina pops the pacifier Leah was sucking on earlier back into her mouth. She sets Leah on the floor of the playpen.
The book club meeting begins. Suckling on what she’s begun to think of as “her” pacifier, Leah looks at the other occupants of the playpen, Ryan and Tristan.