Not Quite Forever (Not Quite #4)(44)
Author: Catherine Bybee

Dakota took in her sister, Louise, and Sis and grinned. “I’m ready. So long as no one asks about him. I’m not ready to talk about him.” They referred to the guy who shall remain nameless, as him. Him was the man they all collectively hated on principle. If himself did bad by one of them, he did bad by all of them.

Sis wove her arm through Dakota’s and offered a side hug. “Are we back to the hims? Who was the first him?”

Louise raised her hand. “That would be my Tommy.”

“Of course,” Dakota said. “Tommy became him when he did Daphne Mayson.”

Louise dropped her fake smile. “That was a long time ago.”

Dakota laughed. “You showed him by doing half the football team.”

“I did not.”

“That’s right,” Sis corrected. “You only did three of them . . . all within two months.”

Why Louise had to scold them with a look at her age was yet another reason why Dakota left home. There were more Louises in her circle of friends than Sisses. “She’s right.”

“Doesn’t matter. Tommy and I are very happy.”

Dakota doubted that. Tommy had always been a player. Louise had served a purpose and was discarded. Then her football team debacle nearly ruined her reputation. Dakota always thought Sally was conceived on purpose. Tommy really didn’t have much of a choice but to stand up and do the right thing. His parents . . . her parents . . . wouldn’t have tolerated anything else. And since his parents held his trust fund, he wasn’t going to disappoint them.

Carol Ann chimed in. “Kevin was the second him.”

“Barely.”

“Yeah, like for three seconds. Standing you up because he was grounded and not able to call you only made him a him for one night,” Sis reminded them.

Carol Ann offered a smile. “Well, when Dakota is ready to tell us about him, we’ll be here to listen.”

Louise grinned. “That doesn’t mean we won’t pry.”

“I would think you were ill if you didn’t. Unlike you, I know how to keep my lips shut. My him shall remain nameless, faceless, and enemy number one.”

Sis laughed. “Well c’mon. I never have time to shop so let’s get to it.”

Shopping actually involved some shopping . . . but it also involved manicures, pedicures, sometimes a trip to the salon or day spa. There was usually lunch included with mimosas, sangrias, or something equally sickeningly sweet that a good Southern woman could drink in the middle of the day and not be considered a lush. If one of them was on a mission to buy a new dress, then the four of them would concentrate on that one purchase and be happy with the outcome.

By the time the lunch portion of their day had passed, Dakota was feeling ten times better than when she woke that morning.

Sis pulled them all into a toddler clothing store for a special outfit for Junior.

Dakota pasted on a smile and walked through racks of pink, yellow, green, and blue. Tiny sweaters, tiny jammies, socks so little they wouldn’t serve as thumb warmers.

She ran the tips of her fingers over a mini white angora sweater that reminded her of the one she’d ruined.

“Dakota? Dakota?”

She forced a smile and glanced up.

Sis held a little dress jacket. “What do you think?”

“I think your husband would rather it be in leather.”

The three of them laughed and Dakota’s focus centered on the sweater once again.

I’m pregnant.

Without words, she swiveled around and left the store. She found a bench outside and sat. The cool slap of wind helped push her thoughts away.

One at a time, her friends found her.

“You’re thinking about him, aren’t you?” Louise asked.

Actually, she’d been thinking about what him left her. “I guess. And here I thought I was doing so well today.”

Carol Ann draped an arm over her shoulders. “You’ve smiled more today than I’ve seen all week. It’s perfectly normal to have a small setback.”

“So long as it doesn’t linger.”

Sis jumped up, gathered her bag in her arms. “I know exactly what will cheer you up.”

Please don’t let it involve alcohol. As it was, she’d poured most of her mimosa into Carol Ann’s glass when she wasn’t looking. “It’s a terrible idea when Sis has just the thing,” Louise said.

Unaffected, Sis rolled her eyes and pulled Dakota to her feet. “C’mon. Follow me.”

They walked around the far side of the shopping mall and over to the independent bookstore. “What are we doing here?”

Sis grinned, opened the door. “You’ll see.”

Dakota hovered in the doorway. The smell of leather and books met her nose and the quiet that always accompanied a bookstore or a library kept her from raising her voice. Her first love of books came from reading. She’d spent hours in bookstores like this one long before she wrote her first novel.

Dakota looked up when she heard Sis squealing like a teenager being asked out to prom. She hovered at the register and two sets of eyes swung Dakota’s way. The woman at the cash register hustled around the counter and beelined to her side. “It is you. Sis promised to drag you in here one day. I’m such a fan.”

“Thanks.” Even though Dakota wasn’t ready to face the public, she felt a genuine smile on her face. “Is this your bookstore?”

“It is. Been in business for three years. I’m not afraid to tell you, your books sell well here. Seems there are a lot of people who knew you when.”

Dakota had a hard time imagining that. Polite society referred to her as the woman who wrote smut. Then again, they had the most hidden Playboy magazines, which she’d always found when she did the babysitting circuit.

Sis kept her Cheshire Cat grin.

“I did grow up here.”

“Would you mind signing the books I have in stock? It won’t take but a few minutes.”

“Oh, well, I’m with my friends—”

“We don’t mind . . . do we?” Carol Ann asked the others.

“Of course not,” Sis chimed in.

Louise painted on a smile. “Don’t be silly.”

Within seconds, Lillianna, the owner of the store, found a table, tucked it and Dakota beside a row of romance novels, and started bringing over armloads of books.

“You absolutely must sign one of each for me. My personal collection. I can’t wait for the next Surrender book to come out. That Mathew is one hot man.”