Page 91 of Nuts

“Enough about that for now. Are you planning on bringing Joey around the fellas?”

“Sure am.”

“No shit?”

“Told you things have changed. They have.”

“Glad to hear it,” he said.

“Not as glad as I am to say it.”

“What’s that mean?”

“It means what it means.”

“It means what it means,” he said mockingly. “Some things never change.”

I accepted Joey as she was, and neither expected – nor desired – any changes on her part. She accepted me, wholeheartedly. I wasn’t changing to please Joey, and she wasn’t changing to please me.

Some things simply didn’t need to change.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Joey

“Try this with this.” Sandy handed me sleeveless top and a pair of leggings. “I think that little peplum will look cute with leggings.”

Sandy was Eddie’s stepmother, and she was pregnant. With twins. She couldn’t have been any cuter. She stood my height, was still very thin despite being pregnant, and barely had a noticeable baby bump. With her blonde hair, large boobs, and perfect posture, she could have been a model.

I reached for the clothes. “Huh?”

“Cute. I think they’ll look cute. Try them on.”

“What’d you call it?”

“Call what?”

“The top.”

“Oh. I grabbed a peplum.”

“Peplum?”

“Yeah. And a pair of leggings.”

“Peplum. That’s a funny name.”

“You’ve never heard of a peplum?”

“No. I uhhm. I haven’t.”

She scrunched her nose. “Really?”

It may have sounded crazy to her, but I grew up with a stepfather who never took me shopping, and most of the clothes I wore were purchased online. I wasn’t versed on the names of all things female.

“I just…” I offered an innocent shrug. “I haven’t shopped much. Weird family.”

“My dad takes me shopping all the time,” Eddie said. “You can come with us. Shopping is fun, even if you don’t buy anything. Sometimes I go for an entire day, and he’ll even sit and wait at the fountain for me.”