Page 25 of Captivating Mr. Second Chance

“You’re twenty-eight, not eighty-eight.” Gem polished off the rest of her popsicle. “And that’s exactly why you need to have sex again. You’re aging too early.”

“That’s not a thing,” Laney grumbled, rolling off her bed to slink to the closet, one hand holding her phone while she flipped through her clothes with the other.

“Actually,” Sam said, the brain of the group. “Orgasms are proven to keep your stress level low. There was a small study done that found if you have sex at least once a week, it could delay the effects of aging because it keeps up your physical and mental health.”

“Is that a fact?” Laney propped her hand on her hip.

Gem smiled. “It’s science.”

“I know you barely passed chemistry in college,” Laney said with an accusing finger at the phone.

Gem shrugged. “Yes, but my struggle with covalent bonds has nothing do to with your sex life. Unless, of course, you’re going to do some covalent bonding with George.”

Laney squinted at Gem. “If you can tell me what covalent even means, maybe I’ll consider it.”

“Jason!”

Laney, Bronte, and Sam all giggled when Gem’s husband appeared behind her, their daughter, Willow, in his arms.

“What’s a covalent bond?”

“You do know what Google is, right?” he asked her then waved to the screen, and their toddler followed suit. “What’s up, girls?”

“What’s a covalent bond?” Gem repeated.

“It’s when atoms share electrons. Everybody knows that,” he said to her, and then to Willow, “Right, even you know that?”

Gem plopped her chin in her hands, saying to the girls, “He’s bought this entire series of science for babies books.”

“We’re really into quantum physics lately,” Jason said, and Willow shouted out, “Dis a ball!”

Jason kissed his daughter’s head. “Right. That’s the first line of every book.”

“Laney has a date,” Gem told him, and he pumped his fist.

“Yeah? Did we vet this one?”

Bronte raised her hand. “I did.”

“Good.” Then he wiggled Willow’s hand at the screen. “We’re going to have dinner. Hope you have a good time, Laney. Me, Chris, and Mike have our date night too.”

The three boys got together a couple times a month to play online video games, and even though Bobby had been invited to be part of their little group, he’d never accepted. He was either too busy or said that he didn’t want to take Laney’s friends away from her. At the time, she thought it was okay Bobby wanted to keep his friends separate from hers, but now she realized he never wanted to combine their lives. No matter how many times he’d told her he loved her, it was surface level.

“Okay, I have to get going anyway,” Laney said.

Sam waved. “Let us know how it goes.”

“And make sure you wear something cute underneath,” Bronte said. “At least for a confidence booster.”

“Or don’t wear anything at all,” Gem suggested.

Laney only snorted. “Bye!”

After her primping and pruning, she was ready but not so raring to go. She made her way downstairs to find Dean and Hank on the couch, watching some sci-fi movie.

She swatted Hank’s socked foot, a big hole on the bottom. “Why’re you always here? Youaremarried, right?”

He munched on a chip. “She says she likes me better when I’m not around bugging her.”

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