Ella gave her sister a look of sympathy before saying, “You’ll find your Mr. Perfect, and then you’ll just be a married pervert like Suzy.”
Instead of being offended, Suzy seemed to take Ella’s statement as a compliment. “Ah, my little innocent one, you’ve come so far. It seems like only yesterday you were carrying around the big V-card and praying that Declan would punch it for you. Now, you’re ogling other men and insulting your friends—honey, I couldn’t be prouder.”
Their conversation was interrupted by their server and they all placed their lunch orders. Beth, who had been one of the quieter ones so far, looked over at Gwen and asked, “So, Dominic, huh? Is he as good as he looks like he would be?”
Claire, who had just taken a drink of her tea, ended up spitting it out as she started coughing. “Beth—God,” she groaned as she mopped up the mess in front of her.
“My sister was a bit blunt, but we would like to know,” Suzy smirked as if not really expecting Gwen to answer.
Gwen, however, surprised herself yet again by saying, “He’s unbelievable.” Knowing her face was probably on fire, she added, “I never knew a man could go like that. He never seems to get tired or—lose interest.”
Just then, a female voice behind them said, “I made it! Ava’s a PMSing ball of female attitude this morning. Even out of the office she’s still torturing me.” The woman slipped into an extra chair at the table and looked around. “Okay, what’d I miss?”
Claire spoke up, running through the introductions again.
“Holy sexy ass,” Emma groaned in Gwen’s direction. “You’re dating one of the GI Joes? The things those men do for cargo pants should be illegal.”
Gwen was grateful when Suzy changed the subject by turning her attention to Beth. “Hey, sis, you remember Mia’s boyfriend, Seth Jackson, don’t you?”
Instead of looking embarrassed, Beth looked down at her watch and then held her hand out to Ella. Everyone at the table watched as Ella scowled before handing Beth ten dollars. Beth tucked the money in her wallet before looking at her sister. “I bet Ella ten bucks that you wouldn’t make it twenty minutes without mentioning Seth.”
“Thanks a lot, Suzy,” Ella grumbled. “I didn’t think you’d bring it up after all this time.”
“All right, what am I missing here?” Emma asked when she finished ordering her drink.
Mia and Beth started laughing as if the conversation didn’t bother them. Finally, Beth said, “I had gone out with Mia’s boyfriend a few times before I married Nick and before Mia started dating Seth, of course. Our last date was a bit of a—disaster.”
“Come on, spit it out,” Crystal urged Beth to continue.
Beth rolled her eyes but said, “Well, most of you know that I was pregnant before Nick and I got married. Heck, it was a great big surprise that I was in serious denial over for a while.” Giving her sister an evil grin, she added, “It all started when Nick and I had sex on Suzy’s kitchen countertops. I think we slid all over the place—probably touched every available surface.”
Everyone grinned as Suzy’s face turned red before she gave her sister a disgusted look. “You tramp,” Suzy mumbled before motioning for Beth to continue.
“Anyway, before Nick came along, I had joined a dating service. I met Seth through it, and we went out a few times casually. After I had found out I was pregnant, I made another date with him just to prove to Nick that I wasn’t ready to settle down.” Shaking her head, Beth winced. “I know it sounds bad, but it was a confusing, hormonal time. Nick just happened to be at the restaurant where I met Seth, and he proceeded to tell him that he was living with me and that we were having a baby together. Seth didn’t waste any time getting out of there. I actually have to give him credit for remaining polite even when his face showed that he was appalled.”
“That’s my man,” Mia said happily. “He can hold it together no matter what the circumstances. And don’t feel too bad, Beth. I managed to embarrass myself in the course of dating him as well. My meddling mother bought him for me at a bachelor auction!”
“No shit.” Emma gave a thumbs-up, looking impressed. “Heck, I thought I was the only one who had to deal with crap like that from her mother. Mine tried to pimp me out all over our home state of Florida from the time I was eighteen. It was actually earlier than that, but it sounds kind of bad to use the words pimp and sixteen in a sentence, doesn’t it?”
“What about now that you’re with Brant?” Claire asked.
Twisting her lips into a wry smile, Emma answered, “Oh no, that man can do no wrong where my family is concerned. He could probably kick their cat and piss on the front door and they’d shove me aside while pulling him in and clapping him on the shoulder. My mother is thrilled that I’ve finally met a man who ‘meets all of my needs.’”
“Ugh, tell me she doesn’t mean sexually?” Crystal shuddered. “Our mom,” she added, pointing to her sister, Ella, “pretends that we were born from Immaculate Conception and frankly that’s one of her lies that I’m more than happy to believe.”
Ella wrinkled her nose. “You’d all have been my age with the V-card as Suzy calls it if you’d lived with our mother. When she walked in on Declan and me in bed together while we were dating, I didn’t think I’d ever recover.”
“I’m surprised Declan was able to get it up again after that,” Crystal added.