I watch as Britton grabs one of her ginger candies and pops it into her mouth. When she sees the concern on my face she tells me, “Some days the anti-nausea medication works better than others. For the most part, I’ve been keeping more things down than what comes out.”
“She’s been drinking those sugar free electrolyte drinks to help her keep from getting dehydrated. So far, they’re working,” LoneStar states.
“Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help,” I plead. “I don’t like watching you struggle.”
“Pregnancy is no joke,” Britton says, snorting. “I’ve both read and written about the symptoms, but until you live with them, you can’t understand the struggle.”
“I’m not in any rush to experience those first-hand,” I tease. “I’ll live vicariously through you.”
“I wouldn’t say it’s vicarious,” Britton mumbles. “I wouldn’t wish this on you, sis. But I do wish we were able to keep our plans.”
“What plans would those be?” LoneStar asks.
“We already broke the first half of that plot, Britton,” I point out before turning my attention to LoneStar and confessing. “We made an oath that we’d get married together and have our kids around the same time so they could grow up together as cousins.”
“I think that would’ve been broken anyway. Britton had no plans of settling down before she met me,” he boasts.
“At the time we made those promises, I had good intentions,” Britton defends. “I thought I’d marry a man who would want to travel the world and we’d come to Jersey’s house for holidays, birthdays, and vacations. I’d be there, but not all the time.”
I gasp before accusing her, “You found a loophole in our vows!”
“Don’t blame me, Jersey. You know how my mind works, I can’t always help it when it goes into survival mode and looks for a way out.”
LoneStar leans over and whispers, “But not anymore.”
“No, not anymore,” she whispers back.
Feeling like an interloper, I stand up and start clearing the table. Over my shoulder, I ask, “Do we know when to expect Slayer, Boston, and Carolina?”
“During church, Rip got a text from Slayer. In the message he stated that it shouldn’t be more than a couple of days. They already have the therapist’s report and a time scheduled with the judge. Carolina’s grandmother will be moving a few towns over at the retirement complex. That way, she’s close enough to see her granddaughter but won’t be in the thick of the impending war.”
Britton snorts before mumbling, “Impending my ass. It’s an ongoing thing. I wish those assholes would come out of hiding so y’all can take care of business and the lockdown can be lifted.”
“It’s not a hard lockdown, not anymore,” LoneStar reminds her.
“Hard or soft, it’s all stifling,” she argues.
Not wanting their banter to turn into an argument, I decide to pipe in and remind Britton of a few things that she seems to have forgotten. “If you’d been under lockdown and adhered to it, you wouldn’t have been taken and held captive.”
LoneStar barks out in laughter before inserting, “We were under lockdown when she took off.”
I glance at him, place my hands on my hips, and say, “You’re right, but you also have to remember that neither one of us understood what that meant. We believed that was for members and their old ladies, not those of us who are here for a different purpose.”
LoneStar narrows his eyes at me and harrumphs before stating, “Once you crossed those gates, got a key to a house, and unpacked, that made you family. We made that pretty fucking clear.”
“Y’all need a handbook to pass out to those of us who don’t have a clue about this life, LoneStar. Saying something and explaining it with bullet points is different. I need to see things in black and white… I’m a visual person,” I explain.
“Ditto,” Britton agrees.
“And with people, like my sister, loopholes can be found in anything,” I point out. “And they will take that and run with it.”
“Touche, sis, to-motherfucking-che,” Britton grumbles.
I toss her a wink before replying, “Truth hurts sometimes. But you and I promised each other a long time ago we’d never beat around the bush when it comes to being honest with one another.”
“You’re right. I don’t like to wade my way through bullshit if I can walk around it,” Britton remarks.
“Back to the topic of Slayer, how do you feel about his brother and his girl staying with you, Jersey?” LoneStar asks.
