Page 15 of Piece Of Me

“No way was I letting him go. We broke up for exactly one month when he went off to college.” Lacey laughed and winked. “I heard you were back. It’s all anyone is talking about after your trip to town on the weekend. Glad to see you got dressed for this one.”

Scarlett sighed. “I thought I’d give them something to talk about. But I thought the conversation would be over by now.”

“A woman walking down Main Street in a see-through nightgown isn’t something we see every day. But you know how it is. They always move on to someone else just as quick.”

“Big Bend will never change,” Scarlett replied, glancing toward the other two women. She knew them as well. Donna Major and Presley Darlington. “Hey girls.”

“Hey,” they replied in unison.

“Do you want to join us for a bit?” Lacey asked, moving out of the way so Scarlett could maneuver her stroller over the grass.

Scarlett hesitated, a quick hello was a lot different than a sit down and catch up, but with all three of them looking at her expectantly, she felt she had no choice. She pushed Hank forward and stopped under the shade.

“You look great,” Donna said, moving aside and making room at the picnic table. A tall brunette with an easy, open smile, she’d been a few years ahead of Scarlett. “How old is your son?”

“Six months.”

Donna pointed to a little girl playing with a yellow block. “That’s Minnie, she’s nearly two. And that”—she pointed to another girl, this one laying on the closest blanket, cooing to no one in particular—“is Velvet.”

“The boy in blue overalls is Walter,” Presley said shyly. A quiet brunette, with the prettiest green eyes, she was a shy girl from what Scarlett remembered.

“And the boy with the mess of black curls is mine. He’s almost two.” Lacey looked at her son with the only kind of love a mother possessed. All consuming. “His name is Johnny, after his daddy, but we all call him Punk.”

“Punk?” Scarlett asked with a grin.

Lacey threw her hands into the air. “One of Johnny’s buddies came up with it and it stuck.”

For the next forty minutes or so, Scarlett caught up with the women. They were easy to be around. Donna was athletic, still played fastball every Tuesday and Thursday night and taught at the local elementary school part time. Presley on the other hand was happy to spend all her time with her husband and child—save for her weekly trips to the park with the girls and their Friday nights together at the Sundowner. Lacey worked from home as a copy editor for a publishing house in New York, and with a four-year-old, was currently trying for baby number two.

“I swear Johnny has had so much sex lately, I’m afraid he’s going to get bored of it all.”

Donna snorted. “Men don’t get bored of sex. They get bored of the same kind of sex. Trust me, you have to mix things up if you want to keep your man happy.”

“Says who?” Lacey replied with a chuckle.

“Says Maddison Brinkwell. Her husband has been stepping out with one of the Simms girls.”

“Angel?” Scarlett asked, joining in on the conversation.

“No,” Lacey replied, a small frown on her face. “The other one, her sister, what was her name?”

“Victoria.” The answer was from Presley, who looked as if she’d just opened a box of spoiled eggs. “She was inappropriate with my husband once.”

“Really?” Donna sat down on the grass, cross-legged. She reached for her bag and withdrew an apple. “What did she do?”

“Why she sat down beside him like she had every right to be there and touched his leg,” Presley said indignantly.

“With what?” Donna asked, giggling.

“Her hand, of course.” Presley’s voice rose. “In church.”

“What did you do?” The question came from Lacey, who leaned forward, obviously invested in the turn of conversation.

“I removed it and asked her to move to another row.”

“And did she?” Donna asked.

“Well not at first, but then I pinched her.”

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