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final time then, and satisfied that things were ready, she turned to her friends.
    “Ready to head to the backyard?” Emily asked, “We'll have to take a couple of trips.”
    Isis handed baby Max to Juliette and she and Emily loaded the appetizing food onto several trays. Isis and Emily filled both arms then the four of them headed out to the backyard. The delicious scent of grilling vegetable skewers filled the air.
    The guys fell silent as the girls came outside. Emily and Isis put the food onto the patio table. Victor stared at Juliette; she looked unbelievably sweet holding the baby. It almost took his breath away. God, how he wanted to make her happy.
    Edwin blew a kiss to Isis. She caught it and giggled. Lost in thought, Max didn't acknowledge Emily. No one else seemed to notice but Emily and Isis.
    Emily turned her back on the guys and started to toss the salad and tried not to cry. Isis came up beside her and tried to help. She wasn't sure how to respond. She didn't want to sound flippant about it as Emily was obviously deeply upset.
    “See what I mean? It's so embarrassing,” Emily said, barely holding it together as she tossed the bright green lettuce with raspberries, slivered almonds, capers, and artichoke hearts and a raspberry vinaigrette. Isis nodded and quickly squeezed Emily’s hand.
    “We need to talk un peu deu . The salad can wait,” Isis whispered. Emily nodded, wiping at her cheeks with the back of her hand. Isis took baby Max to Max Sr. Edwin was flipping burgers. Victor was well on his way to being trashed.
    “Here, daddy,” Isis said to Max as she handed the baby over. The baby pointed at the burgers as his father took him into his arms.
    “Boeuf, bouef,” said the baby. Max senior beamed then chuckled to hear his little boy struggle to name the meat. His son was adorable. The lightness of the moment made Max feel as if he could forget their business and book issues, at least for the afternoon. Max nuzzled his child and kissed his sweet-smelling cheek.
    “Wrong, silly boy. It's beef,” Max said, laughing happily.
    “No, daddy's wrong,” Isis said to baby Max, “…because you're speaking French, aren't you bébé?” Baby Max laughed and pointed at the burgers on the grill. Emily watched the interaction as she and Juliette ferried out the trays with the rest of the food.
    “What?” Max asked in a wheeling voice, that sounded slightly pathetic to him. His own tone of voice made him feel weak; he hoped that Isis was joking.
    “He's saying ‘bouef’, not beef,” Isis said drily to Max and grinned to herself.
    It was so funny, people who acted like they knew everything, and lorded their knowledge over others. Isis had observed that such people often really didn't know all that much. Isis liked Max, maybe even loved him a little, but damn wasn't the man annoying at times. She remembered long weekends, before the toddler arrived, when the six of them had played trivia games and snacked on junk food and drank for hours.
    Max had often been dead certain that he knew some obscure fact that, in actuality, he did not know. Isis noticed that her educating Max wasn't based in a love of truth and knowledge. She found that she instead wanted to take Max down a notch, since he was being such a crap husband to Emily lately.
    Max’s face fell. He was clearly entirely bummed to discover that he himself was "wrong." Isis wandered off back to where the other women were.
    Max felt even worse when he realized that, not only was he wrong, but he was too stupid to recognize that his child was some kind of baby genius with a gift for languages. The kid was learning to speak both English and French.
    How he regretted not continuing with Spanish or French. Well, too late now.
    Max juggled the baby and turned to the guys. He didn’t catch their entire conversation but it sounded like Vic was admitting to some kind of marital issues with Juliette. Edwin was keeping a close watch on the grill and Vic, his