Page 88 of The B!tch List

“Yes, kind of.” I grinned. “Anyways, the main thing is everything is going along smoothly now. It shouldn’t be too long before the contracts are complete.”

Nancy smiled, crinkling her eyes and a whole host of regret reared its head again. If only I’d just kept my mouth shut and not tried to be funny, things might have been different.

“Good luck with the custody case, Shaw.” She lifted her hand and gave me a quick wave. “See you around.”

“Yep, catch you later, Nancy.”

Then she was gone, slipping out through the side gate and leaving me wanting to punch myself in the balls.

“Hey, Shaw.” Bronte lifted her hand to shield her eyes against the sun. “Mom wants to know if you want some lunch. She’s going to make some sandwiches.”

She walked closer to me and poked me in the stomach with her index finger.

“What was that for?” I asked, rubbing at the spot.

“For saying what you did to Nancy and then letting her go again.”

“What do you mean? Letting her go again? She left Bronte, what am I supposed to do, force her to stay like some creeper?”

“You are so clueless.” She looked up to the sky and then back to me. “Do you not see why she did that for you today?”

“Because she’s my friend and wants me to keep Tia.” I got that strange feeling again at the thought of us just being friends. No more sex with Nancy was a kind of shitty thought.

“Friends,” my sister scoffed. “I’m friends with Ellie and Hunter, but I’m not just friends with Carter.”

“Mom always says you should be best friends with your partner.” Hah, so take that, Bronte and stop with whatever shit advice you were about to come out with.

“I know. And Carter is my best friend, he’s also the man who gives me amazing orgasms, who drives me crazier than anyone that I know and the man who I’d actually perjure myself for.”

“She did not perjure herself,” I replied, with a roll of my eyes.

“Pretty much.” Bronte grinned. “Surely even you with a brain full of cotton candy understood why she did that.”

“No, I didn’t, because she didn’t.” I shrugged, not at all sure what Bronte was talking about. “It was a little white lie.”

“Whatever, Shaw.” She turned and pointed at the house. “That in there was so much more than a little white lie or even perjury. Now, come on before Mom comes looking for you. Oh, and FYI, we’re all going out tonight to celebrate the babies, and Mrs. Dalhousie from two doors down is sitting Rett and Tia.”

“Stinky Dalhousie? Are you insane?”

“She’s much better these days since she gave up playing Dodgeball. Dad says you don’t have a choice anyway.”

“What if Tia needs me?” I was happy for my sister and Ellie, but I was not in the mood for celebrating babies. Especially as I could lose my own.

“Then there’s this thing called a cell phone and it will ring, and Mrs. Dalhousie will say, ‘hey Shaw, Tia needs you’. Then there’s this great invention called a car which will bring you back here in, oh let me see.” She put her finger to her lip and frowned like she thinking, although it looked more like constipation. “Ten minutes, tops.” Bronte then landed me with a pretty scary stare. “So, you’re coming with, no arguments.”

“Bronte,” I protested.

“No, Shaw, no arguments and just as a sweetener, you’ll be pleased to know Dad is making Austen stay home with her too.”

Wow, sometimes my sister was great at persuasion, and this was most definitely one of those times.

“I’m in,” I said, jogging up beside her. “As long as I get to be the one to tell him.”

Her steps faltered for a second but then she held up her hand and I high fived her.

“You’re on,” she replied and then sashayed back into the house, leaving me feeling just a little better and wondering whether I should just tell Nancy how I felt.

Stars & Stripes was not where I wanted to be. I’d tried crying off with a headache and Bronte sent Ellie round with a doctor colleague to check me out. Apparently, I’d been slipping off a lot lately with a headache, so she felt I should get a physical. I have no idea whether the guy was a real doctor, but I gave in and said I’d come when he pushed a thermometer in my face and told me to bend over.

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