Page 44 of The Wilder Widows

My mind wandered, moving backward through my life, searching for any instance I’d done something crazy. Something wild and exhilarating. But each step back in time revealed only more and more of the same. Motherhood. Marriage. Responsibilities. There was no memory of any wild adventures. Except...

“Once!” Holding up my finger, I lit up, remembering the one time I’d done something wild in my life.

“Well? What was it?” Sylvie asked while she picked up another strange looking device and turned over the box to read the back.

“When I was sixteen, there was a dance. Homecoming, I think. It was just a few months after Harold and I started dating. After the dance, he and I went with a group of friends to the water tower. We climbed up to the top, and it was exhilarating! And then the girls I was with decided we should flash the town!”

All those feelings of excitement and terror bubbled back up inside me. I remembered how scared I’d been climbing to the top. How small everything had looked down below while I clung to the railing until the color drained from my knuckles. Harold had kissed me on the cheek that night for the very first time. After months of only hand-holding, he’d taken our relationship to the next level, and when I’d felt his lips on my cheek, my heart had raced even harder than it had when I’d looked out over the horizon.

I could almost feel the butterflies fluttering around again. It had been so long since I’d thought about that night, and now I felt like I could close my eyes and open them once again and be peering out over the little suburban town I’d called home.

“You naughty little minx, you!” Marge bumped my shoulder with a fist. “You flashed people! And here you let us think you were a prude.”

Shaking my head, I snapped back to the present. “Oh no!” I tittered. “I never flashed anyone. The other girls did, but I couldn’t. I turned away while they lifted their shirts.”

“Wait a minute.” Sylvie closed her eyes and lifted a hand. “Are you telling me you didn’t even do the wild part of the night?”

“I told you! I climbed the water tower!”

Three sets of blinking eyes stared blankly back at me. Alice broke the stare and shook her head.

“Doris. Darling.” Her soft ivory hand pressed into my cheek. “Climbing to the top of the water tower is not the wild part. Flashing people. That’s the wild part.”

“Well, it was wild for me.” I scoffed.

As Alice stared me down, I saw it again. That light. The mirth. The idea coming to life, and I knew she was up to no good.

“Well, if sex toys and hooties aren’t your wish, what if we say climbing to the top of the Eiffel Tower is your wish? Helping you relive that moment of your youth when you climbed the water tower.”

I nodded my head as the smile spread across my face. “Yes! That sounds like a wonderful wish! Oh, yes!”

“And flashing Paris from the top.”

My face dropped along with my stomach.

“Oh! Yes!” Marge clapped, and Sylvie bounced beside her.

“What? No!” Stepping back, I shook my head harder, but their heads nodded in response.

“Yes.” Sylvie smiled.

“Yes.” Alice put an arm around my shoulders. “We’re going to the top of the Eiffel Tower, and this time you’re going to do it. You’re going to flash Paris.”

My mouth opened and closed, but it felt like someone shoved a ball of yarn in my mouth. Flash Paris? Impossible!

“Doris. It’s time.” Marge narrowed her oversized eyes. “You need to break the mold. Step out of your comfort zone. Live a little. And we’re going to be right by your side.”

“And we’ll flash Paris with you.” Alice gave a sharp nod.

“We will?” Sylvie and Marge mirrored.

“All for one, and one for all. Doris, we’ll do it with you. What do you say?”

I chewed on my lower lip while I thought back to the night I’d stood on that water tower. Deep down, I’d wanted to lift up my shirt and scream to the world. To feel the freedom those other girls experienced. But I had been too scared. And while the widows stared at me, I felt the same fear once again.

“Well?” Sylvie arched a brow. “If we do it, will you?”

Fear. Excitement. Exhilaration. More fear. Emotions I hadn’t felt since I was seventeen flooded back into me. I wanted to say no. Say that God wouldn’t approve, or I was too old, too insecure, or too scared. Instead, my head nodded.