Page 3 of You Can Leave Your Hat On

“Oh, lord. That would probably be a mistake,” Cherilyn said and rolled her eyes. “I’d never get out of the house. Shaw would corner me and carry me off to the bedroom.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Carly whispered.

“No. It’s just that we spend so much time in there now since we decided to…” And Cherilyn stopped.

Two pairs of eyes swiveled toward her. “Since you decided to what?” Maisey whispered.

She leaned in as though she was about to divulge the combination for the bank’s vault. “Since we decided to try to get pregnant.”

“Us too!” Maisey almost screamed. “Oh my god! That’s amazing! How great would that be? Us having kids at the same time? It would be amazing!”

“Yeah, and it’s not like Belle would be that much older by the time they were born. They’d all be instant friends,” Carly pointed out.

“Yes! Oh my god!” Cherilyn stared at the dress. “Maybe I should buy that.”

“Oh, now Idefinitelythink you should,” Carly said and thrust it toward her. “Go try it on.”

“Okay.” They watched as the slight blond disappeared into the dressing room.

“Compared to her, I look like a Teletubby,” Carly murmured.

“No you don’t! You’re beautiful! Compared to her, I look like one of Snow White’s dwarfs.”

“No you don’t, Maisey. You’re gorgeous. And that dress… Wonder if you can find some shoes to match the belt?” Carly reached out and stroked a finger over the wide red patent leather. “Red patent shoes and a big red hat!”

“A fascinator,” Maisey said.

“No. An actual hat. Wide brim. Oh, god, you’ll look like a forties glamour girl! Maybe with some white flowers and a white hat band and?”

“No. None of that mess. Just a plain red hat band. That’s all. And a red patent leather purse.”

“Small bag. With a brass snap top,” Carly said, still looking at the dress.

“And red heels. Pumps. Not stilettos.”

“Why not stilettos?”

“Because I want to have fun, not die from falling off of my shoes,” Maisey insisted.

“Okay. But I’m wearing stilettos,” Carly informed her.

Maisey grinned. “Great. Nobody will see us for ogling that ass of yours. They’ll all be watching you swish past.”

“Doesn’t matter. I spend my weeks in black leather oxfords with my uniform. I wanna look like a woman.”

“Oh, you’ll look like a woman. We’ll have to carry fire extinguishers for any men and lesbians we see. They’ll spontaneously combust when they take a look at you in that dress, woman. Up in flames in zero point six seconds.”

Carly laughed. “You’re so funny.”

“I’m not being funny. You’re hot.”

“Well? Whaddya think?”

Maisey and Carly turned to find the voice and gasped. The dress Cherilyn was wearing did everything right, and she had beautiful cleavage to boot. “Wow. Somebody needs to get a hose. I’ll have to assign deputies to you to keep the guys off you,” Carly answered.

Maisey nodded. “That’s… You have to get it, Cher. It’s perfect.”

Cherilyn pivoted in the mirror and took in her image. “It does look great. I actually look like a woman and not some stick figure in an oversized sweatshirt and leggings.”

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