Page 90 of Tank’s Weakness

“Be nice,” Kelly says as she joins us.

Sloane looks affronted. “Me? I’m always nice.”

I can’t help but laugh. “For the record, I never clean them. I was just bored.”

“I don’t even want to know what else you did,” Sloane says.

“If you get bored, I have an entire laundry basket of socks that need folded. One of the tall ones,” Jane teases, making us all laugh.

“See, the key is to buy socks that all look the same. No matching required,” I quip.

Jane sighs. “I wish. Emily likes her socks being all sorts of colors and patterns. Tanner goes between white and black, it just depends on what he’s wearing. Someone in school convinced him that white socks smell worse than black after gym class.”

Sloane and Kelly look at her in shock.

“That’s so random,” Kelly says after a minute.

I tip my head side to side. “Eh, it’s not the weirdest thing I’ve heard kids saying. I mean, kids still think that brown milk comes from brown cows and white from white cows.”

Sloane’s lips twitch. “My mom used to tell me that if the dome light was on at night while she was driving, she would get pulled over.”

“I’m pretty sure every adult has used that at one point or another,” Jane says.

Kelly laughs. “Smoke was riding with me about a year into our relationship and turned on the light to look for something in my purse. I turned it off so fast that he thought I didn’t want him to see something I had in my bag. I had to tell him I didn’t want to get pulled over. He looked at me like I was crazy.”

“You poor sheltered thing,” Sloane teases.

“Maybe I should confess to the kids that you won’t actually get pulled over if it’s on but that we just don’t use them unless we have to,” Jane muses.

“Nah, wait until they are older. Have fun pulling one over on them while you can,” I tell her.

“It’s so quiet in here today. Where are all the guys?” Jane asks.

“Oh, they are working out in the yard. Smoke decided that this would be the perfect time to build a chicken coop for the chickens I want to get,” Kelly says.

“Do you want to start a little homestead?” I ask.

She tips her head from side to side. “I’m playing with the idea. Chickens are an easy choice because I already get farm-fresh eggs from someone, so I might as well do it myself. I’m not sure about a garden, though. I like the idea, but I’m a little intimidated.”

“That’s something I always wanted to dabble in, but my ex would never let me. He said it was beneath us to do things like that,” Jane says with sadness in her voice.

“So why don’t you now? It’s definitely trial and error, but it’s not that hard. Are you interested in food or flowers?”

“Both?” she asks rather than tells.

“Oh god. This means we are entering our farm girl era, huh?” Sloane groans.

Kelly nudges her. “You don’t have to participate.”

“Oh, I’m not going to. I’ve seen enough videos. One second you’re cool, and then the next second you are sitting out by your garden telling plants that you believe in them. No thanks, but I’ll support you guys,” Sloane says, making us laugh.

“I actually saw this really cool method where people in snowy climates start their seedlings, both flower and vegetable, in milk and soda jugs. They cut them in half and fill the bottom with three or four inches of dirt. Then when it’s time, they are easy to transplant,” I add.

Kelly looks between all of us. “Are we planning this? Are we really going to tell the guys we want a garden?”

“Might as well. I mean, they are already building the coop. Might as well go full send,” Jane says, excitement bleeding into her voice.

Kelly claps. “Yay! I’m so excited.”