Guilty as Charged

to slide in easily as I fire up the engine, drop the top down, and take off for my best friend’s house in the quaint housing community where she lives with her husband and their own picture perfect family.
As the humid air whips through my dark hair that I released from my bun before taking off, I inhale the thick moisture and with each exhale, release the tension from another long week of battling custody cases and dividing assets.  Lucky for me, I don’t take too many custody cases on, most of my time focusing on estate planning and property settlements.  But sometimes you get a week like mine that calls for a wide glass of red wine and conversation with my closest friend to unwind.
“Auntie Sydney!”  The high-pitched squeal of Taryn, my pseudo niece, rings through the doorway as soon as the knob turns.
“Taryn the tornado! Did you grow again?”
“Yes! I growed! I growed up really tall!”  The three-year-old lifts her hands as high as she can above her head to indicate her height.
“You grew.” Ally comes up behind her with her son, Tanner, balanced on her hip.  Her light brown hair is thrown up on her head, her dark purple shirt covered in stains skewed across her body as Tanner grabs at the neck, borderline exposing her breasts.  She’s wearing black capri leggings and looks like she needs wine as badly as I do.
“Hey, Mommas. How’s it going?”  I step through the threshold as soon as the three of them move aside for me to enter.
Ally lifts one brow and gestures around me with her hands, drawing attention to the state of her house as I take it in.  Toys are scattered all across the hardwood, crumbs of snacks are spread along the floor like breadcrumbs Hansel and Gretel style, and the television is blaring a cartoon that as we draw closer to the sound, I can actually make out to be T.O.T.S.  I may not have children of my own, but I’m over here enough to recognize a few of their obsessions, promoting me to professional auntie status.
“Please tell me you have wine.”  Ally moves around me in the kitchen as I set my duffle bag on her white and gray marble counters.  I reach into the bag and extract the biggest bottle of red I could find.
“You know I always come prepared.”
“Thank God for friends like you. Collin should be home within the hour, finally granting me some peace.”
“Hard day?” I ask while searching for the wine opener in the drawer I know it’s in.  I locate the corkscrew and get to work on the cork in seconds.
“Don’t get me started. Plus one of my favorite authors released a book today, so I had to make sure my photo and reviews were posted.”
Ally is a stay-at-home mom right now, but in a few years she plans to go back to work as a lawyer as well.  She barely started practicing law when she and Collin found out she was pregnant.  To pass the time and give her something that brings her joy, she took up bookstagramming in the past year when she discovered romance novels and became sucked into the world.  Now she has an Instagram account with over five thousand followers that look to her for recommendations and new authors to support.
I peer into her office off the corner of the kitchen and see enough fake flowers and props scattered all over the floor to give Hobby Lobby a run for their money.  “You need to tell me about this book later. I finished one last night and I think I’m in the mood for something forbidden.”
The corner of her mouth tips up as she adjusts Tanner on her hip.  “Oh, girl. I got you.”
As I fill two glasses with red wine and check on Taryn parked right in front of the television, entranced by the cartoon, I turn to my best friend and hand her a drink.  “And I’ve got you.”
“God bless you, Sydney Matthews,” she says before taking a large gulp and then setting the glass down on the counter.
“Let me go change and then we can sit down and chat.”  I grab my bag and move down the hallway, itching to release my body from my pencil skirt and bra.  Generally, I like dressing professionally for work, but by the end of the day on Friday, I’m desperate to strip out of these clothes.
Comfortable in a sport bra, loose green tank, and black capris with my hair pulled back up in a messy bun, I make my way back to the family room as the tune of Pop Goes the Weasel filters through the front door.
“Auntie Sydney! The ice cream man is here!”  Taryn screams, sitting on the front entryway, frantically trying to put her shoes on.
“Are we getting ice cream now?”  I look to Ally as she slides her flip-flops on and grabs a stroller from the closet by the door, setting Tanner down inside and strapping him in.  When she pops back up, her mouth is spread into a mischievous grin as she nods.
“Oh, we’re getting ice cream alright, and a free show. Here,” she declares as she hands me a plastic cup with a lid and a straw.  “I put your wine inside so we don’t look like alcoholics, even though it is after five on a Friday. Come on, we don’t want to miss him.”  She bounces her eyebrows at me and then shoves the stroller out the door while placing sunglasses over her eyes, chasing after Taryn who’s already halfway down the driveway by now.
I reach for my own glasses from my purse by the door, then close it behind me and race to catch up.
“Apparently you three take your ice cream addiction very seriously.”  I stroll in tow while sipping my red wine through a straw.  It’s not the way I envisioned my drink in my hand tonight, but it does have its advantages.  And now