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“Almost.” Elise’s eyes gleamed with devilment. “I’m just as virginal now as when I left this morning.”
Before her mother could form a comment, Elise’s cell phone pinged. Elise shot out of the kitchen to chat in private.
Noreen sighed. “To think I have to go through this twice. When I got pregnant with that girl, God did not have his eye on me. He had it on the sparrow or a hundred pimply teen-aged boys.”
“Well, at least you talk about sex with Elise,” said Janice. “That’s more than my mother ever did with me. If she had just explained to me about an erection and what a man expected to do with it, I’d never have even considered…”
The women laughed, and Stormy used the moment to update Noreen about Liane and Janelle’s scientific discussion. Noreen winced.
“I’m trying my dangdest to hold off on the actual technical explanation until Janelle is at least in fourth grade, but I may have to speed it up. Why can’t they just get into dissecting frogs or something?”
“Well, I kinda like the idea of getting pollinated by a bee,” said Thelma. “It shows imagination, which reminds me, I gotta go. I promised my mom I’d pick up my two hellions before eight p.m. If I don’t, I won’t hear the end of it. I’m not exactly her fair-haired girl as it is.” She glanced at Stormy. “We live in public housing, two bedrooms, a miserable kitchen. I’m a fanatic coupon clipper, so if you don’t use ’em, pass ’em on to me.”
“You have a job?”
“Waitress in a honky-tonk. It pays the bills, just.”
Amid hugs and good cheer, the group broke. Sandy and Noreen helped Stormy drag the boxes of leftovers from the garage sale to her car.
Twilight had slipped like a soft shawl over the neighborhood. Tyler was a mere silhouette inside his car. Stormy glanced his way. He didn’t move.
“Something’s wrong,” Stormy said, stifling her alarm. “He wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to check out who you are and what we’ve been doing.”
Followed by Noreen and Sandy, Stormy led the way and peeked into the car window. Tyler was sound asleep, his head thrown back, his Adam’s apple prominent.
“They look so harmless when they’re asleep, don’t they?” Noreen said in a whisper.
“This one would be a rogue asleep or awake,” Stormy insisted, backing away.
Janice sighed. “Rogue, indeed. Handsome as that detective in that series…” She snapped her fingers. “Oh, who cares who he looks like? He’s hot.”
Noreen smirked. “Not with his mouth hanging open. He’s gonna catch some flies.”
“You know what I mean. Geez. Look at that stuff on the console. He’s got a whole office inside his car. There’s a phone, a laptop, a little black notebook, too.” She shifted, so her shadow didn’t block the fading ambient light. “I see mini file cabinets in the back. And luggage. He’s removed all of the back seats.”
Stormy shrugged. “He’s an asset recovery agent. He travels all over, I guess.”
“How do you resist him?” Janice asked, eyeing Stormy with curiosity.
“I remind myself why he’s in my life. I don’t want another man. I have Liane. She keeps me from being lonely.”
Noreen sighed. “We all say that, but we don’t really mean it because there’s lonely, and then there’slonely.”
“True,” said Thelma. “But where do we find good men we can trust who are willing to take on all of our baggage?”
“Make it a topic for next time,” said Janice. “I’ve got to go. One minute late, and I’ll have to listen to my mom spew a litany of all of my bad choices since I was two years old.”
There were soft goodbyes among them. Stormy touched Noreen’s arm as they approached the front door. “Will he be okay here until he wakes up?” she asked, nodding toward the SUV.
“Sure. This is a quiet dead-end street.”
“Then I’ll just collect Liane and be on my way.” She paused. “And thanks, Noreen. I’m glad I finally got to meet all of you.”
“Same here. Next Monday, okay? About seven-thirty. If the weather’s nice, we put the kids out in the backyard with bean bags and a croquet set. Otherwise, we plop them in front of a movie with popcorn and live with the interruptions.”
“I’m really not sure I can contribute anything.”
“Yes, you can. You’re smart. And don’t forget the cheesecake.”
