Page 63 of Broken

Danielle picked Aine up to take her shopping for camping gear. She insisted that her brat needed the best gear for her first trip. Tess volunteered to go with them.

Every day that Danielle wasn't with us, Tess asked some sort of questions about her.

"I'm pretty sure she's straight," Mia told Tess one night as the three of us were drinking wine.

"Well, so is spaghetti until you get it wet."

I almost spit my wine all over the carpet when Tess responded to her sister. I knew Danielle was bi, but I didn't feel like it was my place to say anything. They'd get a chance to talk at some point, Danielle could tell Tess if she wanted.

The three of them came back laughing and making jokes. Tess took to calling Danielle by Aines nickname for her, Dani.

The four of us spent the evening getting Aine ready for her trip, making sure she had her sleeping bag, water bottle, lantern, and flashlight.

Mia insisted that she have plenty of sunblock and citronella spray for bugs. A very reasonable request from a person who practically grew up in the woods.

After Aine was all set to go camping, we settled in and watched My Fair Lady because Aine wanted to watch an Audrey Hepburn movie, and she thought it was funny that Auntie Tess hated musicals. She swore she would change Tess's mind.

By the end of the film, Mia fell asleep. Aine, who started out between Tess and Danielle, was curled up in my arms fast asleep.

The other two women closed the gap that Aine left, and Tess grinned from ear to ear with her eyes fixed on the screen.

That morning, with my tribe of chosen sisters, I hugged my daughter and sent her off on her first camping trip; for her first whole week away from me and the comforts of home.

It was bittersweet. I didn't know what to do with myself without Aine around. She had been the center of my world since I was barely an adult.

Tess and Danielle decided we needed a girls' night. I was hesitant to go out.

"What if Aine calls?" I asked.

Tess countered "Uh duh. You have a cell phone. It'll be with you."

"What if something happens and she needs me?"

"Then you'll answer your phone, and we will go from there. Stop making excuses." Danielle put her arm around my shoulder and laughed at Tess as she rolled her eyes.

After that, I had no excuse to stay home and mope about. They dragged me to the nightclub. This would be my first time drinking and dancing, as a legal adult, with Mia and Tess.

Mia picked my outfit for the night. She chose a pair of black leather short shorts, a matching corset, and some heeled strappy sandals.

"Babes, don't you own anything with any color?" Mia questioned my taste in fashion as she tossed pieces of clothing onto my bed.

I just shrugged. I owned clothes with color in them, but most of my favorite pieces were black, red, or some variation of the two.

"That'll work!" Mia exclaimed. What the fuck did she find in my closet? I rarely went out like this, to begin with, so the clothes that I typically wore hung in the front and most accessible places. I was genuinely worried about what Mia just found.

Oh, dear god! I completely forgot about the sequined monstrosity that Mia dredged up from the bowels of my closet. It was a gold sequined mini halter dress that I found for a dollar at a discount clothing store. I forgot what I wanted it for. Hell, I forgot that I even bought a skimpy thing, until now.

"You know, you can keep the dress. It's not my style."

I admit, it looked amazing on Mia, she was totally keeping the dress.

Tess insisted on doing our hair and makeup. When we were all done, we looked fucking amazing. I couldn't remember ever looking this good for a night out. I usually had that barely put-together mom look. I think I rocked that just fine, but this was something wholly new to me.

The club was loud and draped in neon pink lighting. A crush of people stood at the bar, making it difficult to get drinks, but Danielle claimed she had a connection who would give us free drinks all night.

After a few minutes, she came back and led us to a private booth. Not VIP, but private enough that we could hear each other talk without yelling.

The booth came with strings though. They went by the names of Eric and Joel. This was fucking awkward. I hadn't seen Eric since I blew him off the night, I went to Kai's hotel room.

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