Page 52 of Playing for Keeps

Clover distracts me from my worries by being weirded out by the jumpsuit she’s tried on. “It’s very feminine,” she mumbles.

“Well, I guess I could change the color to black.”

“No,” Clover insists and nudges me as we stand in front of the mirror. “I’ll wear whatever you want. This is your wedding. But I feel like a phony standing in this outfit next to the rest of them.”

“You look so pretty,” Roxie reassures her. “I’m going to do the jumpsuit style, too.”

“My girl likes to cover her sexy parts,” Tuesday says from where she tries on a strapless dress. “I’m planning to remind Bullet why he married me.”

“Don’t you do that every moment of the day?” Roxie asks, sounding like the exasperated teen she is. “You were half-naked at breakfast this morning.”

“I was fully naked before breakfast this morning. Wink, wink,” Tuesday says and tugs up the front of her dress. “It’s toobig in the boob section. How is that even possible? Are my girls not proportioned right for the rest of my body?”

“We can have the front fixed for you,” the clerk offers immediately and hurries over.

While Tuesday remains still for the measurements, Alexis and Oana walk over to me.

“You need a dress,” Alexis says.

“I picked one out with Val.”

Oana nods. “Shouldn’t you try it on?”

“I thought I might come back later for that.”

“Why?”

“She’s afraid you’ll think her dress is slutty,” Clover says and grins at me. “Because it is.”

Looking around at the women, I admit, “Val and I decided to have a horny wedding.”

“That was also the theme of my wedding!” Tuesday cries from the dressing room.

Roxie rolls her eyes and glances at Clover. “She isn’t wrong, though.”

My sister smiles immediately. Though shopping is one of her least favorite activities, she seems to be having fun today. She remains in her jumpsuit while Roxie tries on a matching one. They laugh in a silly way at their reflections. Clover’s giddiness makes me feel better about dragging her here.

With gentle nudging from Oana and Alexis, I locate the dress picked by Val and me in between sex romps.

“That’s beautiful,” Edith tells me as the clerk holds it up. “It’s not slutty.”

“The off-shoulder sleeves make it seem like the top might fall off and reveal my breasts.”

“Sure, it’s sexier than most people would wear, but it’s not slutty,” Edith insists and takes the dress from the clerk before holding it in front of me as we look in the mirror. “As long as it’sfitted well enough to not fall off and show your breasts, it’ll be fine.”

I take a moment to admire Edith up close. She’s intimidating when she frowns like a high school mean girl. Her mom is known as a tough chick. Edith might be tough, too, but she looks like an Instagram model. Though I’m not a weakling and get plenty of male attention, I find myself intimidated by her.

Suddenly, she smiles brightly and all the bitchiness drains from her face. “Will your hair be up or down?” Edith asks as I admire the dress.

“I think down looks better.”

“Women with great hair should always go with down.”

Smiling at her, I’m curious about Val’s family. His mom and dad seem put out by my existence, but he swears that’s temporary.

“They’ll love you when things are official,” he promised last night. “You’re too great for them not to adore.”

Even if he’s wrong, these women today could be my support system in Tumbling Rock. Though I view myself as an independent woman capable of holding my own, I’ve only ever lived in Basin Rock. That’s where I’m at my strongest.

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