Page 102 of More, Daddy
He took me to the farmers market where he introduced me to all of his friends. Of course, I knew most of them already, but I didn’t know themas West’sfriends. I knew them as coworkers, or people around Bluebell.
Knowing Dean McAllister now, getting to be his friend because my boyfriend is best friends with him? So much different than knowing him as Coach McAllister from the sidelines. The same goes for Riley Rivers Turner. I’ve always loved Riley and looked up to her. She and I share a silent bond over our dislike for the gorgeous, butsecretly evil, Cadence Caine. And it turns out, the pregnant woman from the market last weekend? Dolly Gray? She’s married to Hudson, one of West’s friends, too.
Kismet. It all feels like kismet. Like I was meant to grow up here, and he was meant to move here, and just like the palm reader told me six months ago, my life lines lead me to knowing him. Even just meeting Dolly a week ago and seeing her again now feels like a little wink from the universe. I love it so much.
After the farmers market, a group of us decide to head to Goode’s Diner for a late lunch. West, Dean, Jake and Hudson have been summoned out of Goode’s, onto Main Street, where Sterling, the garbage man, has pulled up in his new pickup.
The four of us stare out the foggy front window of the diner, watching as Sterling points, and the men all bend at the waist in unison, peering at something under the chassis of the truck. Dean nods his head in approval, and Jake and Hudson share an excited look.
“They’ll be looking at that stupid truck for thirty minutes,” Riley says, popping her gum as she flips the laminated menu over.
Dolly puts her hand on Riley’s menu, shoving it down. “That gives us time to fully welcome Briar to theclub.”
My brow arches automatically. “Club?”
Riley and Dolly share a look, smirking and giggling, while Clara June turns bright red. Riley grabs Clara June’s hand but looks at me. “She’s still new, too. She hasn’t got past the shyness of being part of a club.”
Clara June shakes her head. “We’re not a club, not really.”
Dolly pops a grape into her mouth. “Well, we meet often, and swap secrets, so… I’m pretty sure that’s a club.”
Riley volleys her head. “A club has minutes though, right?”
“I think that’s board meetings,” Clara June says.
Dolly gets a pen out of her purse, clicking it open. On the napkin in front of her she writesKMMC Minutes:before looking at her watch. Returning to the napkin she writes2:37pm Briar’s initiation. She slides the napkin to the center of the table, and we read it.
“There.” She makes a show of dusting her hands together. “We have minutes. We’re an official club.” She squeezes Clara June’s hands. “Don’t worry CJ, we’ll force Briar to tell us her thing, and then you won’t feel so shy about yours.”
“Not that you should anyway,” Riley says, wrapping her straw wrapper around her finger repeatedly. “Everyone has a thing.”
Excitement glitters in my stomach. “What do you mean, a thing?” I think I know, but it feels like a fever dream. First falling in love with a guy way out of reach and then landing him? Then finding out his friends are kinky, too? I’ve always said I love small towns. Without big movie theaters and shopping malls, we get kinky. I try not to let my eyes widen at the prospect of having friends who also havekinky things.
Dolly smiles, but the waitress approaches, and we’re forced to take a moment to order. It takes a minute, and since the guys are still outside checking out Sterling’s truck—I peer out the window to see five grown men staring at a mud flap—we order for them, too.
After, Dolly smiles. “Okay, so every couple has one kinky freak that turns the other into a kinkster, too.” She dances her eyebrows, and because I purchased a greeting card from her (that she hand painted) featuring a woman catching a man’s spit with her mouth as she sits naked at his feet, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say Dolly’s the kinky one. She presses herhand to her chest, adding, “That’s me, between me and Huddy.”
Riley crunches a piece of ice from her Diet Coke. “Jake’s a kinkster. Totally.”
I glance out the window and look at Hudson, who has a large bruise on the back of his neck. Dolly seems to notice me looking at him, and leans over, adding, “Human swing trials.”
I nod. “Ah.” My eyes slide to Jake, wearing a long-sleeved flannel, cowboy hat stained with sweat, and worn black cowboy boots. His jeans look like they’re the first pair he’s ever owned, the place where his wallet is stashed permanently white from strain. He doesn’t look like he’d be anything other than a kind of boring middle aged farmer type who is also hot.
I am dying to ask what his thing is, but it feels like way too much of an overstep. Riley nudges me, and when I glance at her, she winks. “You’re trying to figure out his thing, aren’t you?”
I laugh. “I really am.”
Riley puts her arms over the table, and one at a time, tugs up her long sleeves, exposing rows of bruises in the shape of… I reach out, and run my fingers over what looks like a new mark on her bicep. “Is that from rope?”
She nods. “It is. Jake’s like a hot cowboy Christian Grey.”
Dolly giggles. “Jake Turner Grey.”
Clara June gives me a small smile. “You don’t have to share anything with us that you don’t want to.”
Dolly smacks Clara June in the arm. “Shut up. She does, too.” Dolly levels her serious and kind of scary blue eyes on me. “You have to tell us, Briar. That’s what the club is for.”
Riley smirks. “Did she tell you what it stands for?KMMC?” She looks at Dolly and Clara June, and the three of them share a laugh that has me giggling in anticipation.
