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“Exactly,” I chime in, pointing a finger at Penelope. “It’s not that I don’t want to get married one day, but I’m not going to settle on the first guy I cross paths with just so I’m not alone anymore.”
“And you don’t need a man to experience sexual pleasure,” Amelia adds, the quiet one of our group but definitely not the least outspoken. “Most women can get themselves off better than their partner can. Believe me…”
Penelope grins from ear to ear. “I always love when you remind us that you sell dildos for a living, my little Amelia Be Delia. So please, elaborate further…”
Amelia rolls her eyes as she takes a drink of her mimosa.
Amelia practices as a sexual therapist, helping couples with their physical and emotional relationships, and has developed a line of products they can purchase to aid them along their journey, as well as helping single women be more confident sexually, particularly after experiencing trauma. Thus, she obviously sells toys, but she’s used her sexual psychology degree and minor in business quite well since we graduated. However, it always still shocks us how she makes her living given how well we know her and how she can be perceived as the shy, quiet type.
Although, you know what they say—it’s always the quiet ones that are freaks in the sheets.
“I don’t just sell dildos, Penelope,” Amelia chastises just as Frankie arrives with our food. Her cheeks light up like Rudolph’s nose while Penelope laughs at her reaction. “I help people achieve the best sex of their lives.”
“Anything else I can get for you lovely ladies?”
My eyes scour the table. “Maybe another bottle of champagne?”
“You got it.” He walks away as we all get ready to devour our food.
“I know, Amelia. I just like giving you shit. But this reminds me, I think my Rabbit died, so I’m going to need a replacement soon.”
Amelia takes a bite of her oatmeal and replies without even looking up from her bowl. “I’ll send you an invoice.”
Then Penelope turns back to me. “Well, just know that if your mother says something to me while we’re in Hawaii next month, I’m not holding my tongue,” she says around a mouthful of her waffle. “Lord knows I have to watch what I say around enough people working in PR that I’m bound to slip up at one point and she may just be the not so innocent victim.”
My parents decided to do an anniversary/vow renewal in Hawaii next month and invited anyone who wanted to come, which included my three best friends. No way were they going to pass up the opportunity for a vacation, and to offer me the support to deal with my mother reminding me over and over that I’m still single.
I will be there for almost an entire week though as there are multiple events with family and friends of the family leading up to the ceremony, so the girls will be flying out after me.
My parents come from old money, which basically means they’re royalty down in the south. Think of my childhood as countless country club outings, debutante balls, and pressure to live up to the Montgomery name.
And lord knows I played into that role far too well. Of course, beating out one person in particular from our circle in certain circumstances helped fuel that fire for me.
“She means well. I get that she just wants me to be happy, but her definition of happy and mine are completely different. Her and my dad will be in L.A. on Friday for a layover on their way to Napa, by the way. That was her reason for calling me. They want to visit, so I’ll be subjected to her ridicule in person for a change…always something I look forward to.” Rolling my eyes, I slide another bite of my blueberry pancakes in my mouth, knowing I made the right decision with this sugar-laden breakfast this morning. “She’ll probably criticize my hair color and my clothes on top of that since we’ll be face to face. You know how my L.A. style is so outlandish for a southern girl.”
“Oh, we haven’t been to Napa yet on a girls’ trip,” Noelle acknowledges, bypassing my complaints completely. “I think we definitely need to make that happen.”
“You had me at Merlot,” Penelope jokes, which makes us all laugh around our food.
We finish up brunch while catching up on our weeks. Sunday brunch is a meeting we keep with one another as much as possible. My girls are my family out here, the people I know will always have my back and that I can count on the most.
Every woman needs a group of women to surround herself with that make her feel confident enough to be exactly who she is. I found my tribe at eighteen, and now we’re all stuck together until one of us kicks the bucket. Penelope jokes that she already has our cemetery plots picked out and paid for, but at this point, I wouldn’t put it past her.
* * *
