Taylor
“HEY THERE LITTLE MOTHER, HOW are you doing?” I asked.
“Your timing is perfect.”
“Is everything okay with Parker?”
“Yes. He’s sleep. Do you remember Benny?”
“Benny? I can’t say that…wait a minute. Are we talking about your Summer Love, Benny?”
“Exactly.”
“Talk about a name from the past.”
“I saw him.”
“Where?”
“At Alex and Moses’ the other night.”
“You lost me.”
“Turns out my Summer Love, is Moses’ best friend.”
“Moses’ best friend is Collier Benj…oh, my God, Chloe. Are you kidding me?”
“No.”
“Dish.”
“Alex called me last week about this party they were having to introduce Moses’ best friend to everyone. When I walked inside it was like we’d never been apart. He looks the same.”
“Boyfriend is fine. He’s not my type, but…did he look like that back in the day?”
“He has a few more pounds and muscles in the right places and that tight beard is…girl, if we’d been in Vegas, I would be married.” We laughed.
“Really? So what happened?”
“We had lunch and I laid it all out there.”
“It was only lunch. There was no need to jump into relationship talk.”
“I’m a mom now, and I don’t have time to waste.”
“I see your point. So what did he say?”
“He wants to pick up where we left off.”
“Where you left off was getting busy in a hay loft,” she teased.
“Girl, don’t I know it,” we laughed.
“So what’s next?”
“He’s going to be in town for a while. He’s coming over Sunday after church. He wants to meet Parker.”
“Isn’t it a little soon?”
“That’s what I said. However, it feels right, you know what I mean? It’s not like we’re just getting to know each other. We’ve already had our first date, first kiss, first…”
“Roll in the hay, literally,” I laughed.
“Are you finished?”
“Come on girl, lighten up. You know I’m telling the truth.” I heard a faint giggle. “Was that a laugh I heard?”
“Shut up. Am I insane?”
I think she wanted me to give her a reason not to see Collier, but after listening to her go on and on about him for three years, I knew what she needed to hear. “I think it’s very romantic…no serendipitous, that you two hooked up…oops, bad choice of words…found each other after all these years.”
Her sigh came through loud and clear. “It is kind of romantic, isn’t it? Oh, my God. I sound like Dionne and Alex,” we laughed.“I can hear Alex now, “If Taylor hadn’t thrown me that party and introduced me to Moses, we wouldn’t have gotten married and…”
“Please don’t say it.”
“Chloe and Collier wouldn’t have been reunited.” We laughed harder. “You know I’m telling the truth. I love my cousin, but she is a diehard romantic, and I love that about her.”
“Me, too. So what’s up with you?”
“Girl, Jason and I are chaperoning Zac’s school dance tomorrow.”
“What are you wearing?”
“Why did you ask?”
“Because I know you,” she laughed, and I couldn’t help but laugh as well.
“You joke, but the head of the PTA gave me a copy of the chaperone duties, and attached to mine was a suggested dress code.”
Chloe laughed harder. “Oh, my God. That’s going to be me when Parker gets that age.”
“Girl, listen to this. Chaperones will not wear form fitting dresses, mini-skirts, form fitting trousers, skinny jeans, midriff tops…they actually used the word midriff.”
“This is hilarious.”
“Then it goes on to say. No high heels, low cut tops or anything that would mistake you for a lady of the evening.”
“What kind of school are you guys sending Zach to?”
“And here’s the kicker. Anyone not conforming to the dress code will not be allowed to chaperone for at least a year.”
“So, I’ll ask again. What are you wearing?”
“I was going to wear my favorite lady of the evening outfit and try to drum up some business, but…” We laughed.
“Seriously, Taylor. You have to behave. You don’t want to embarrass Zach.”
“I’ll be good. I asked a couple of other moms how they felt about the dress code. Turns out, I was the only one to get it.”
“Girl, whose feathers did you ruffle?”
“Missy Sharp, President of the PTA. She’s been a little strange towards me since she found out I was with Jason.”
“There you have it. Seems Miss Missy, is jealous. You better be careful. She might give you detention,” she teased.
“So, what else is going on?”
“Seems Kendell has a new man.”
“What? Does Bas know?”
“He’s the one who told me.”
“Please don’t tell me he’s become a stalker,” she teased.
“No, silly. He went to get lunch and saw her with her new man.”
“Wow…that didn’t take long.”
“Nope. But here’s the good part. I know her new man. He tried to hit on me, before he knew I was married.”
“What…does she know?”
“Not unless he told her.”
“Please tell…”
“Oh, but it gets better.”
“Better than his asking you out?”
“Yep. He’s sexually fluid.”
“SHUT UP! You’re lying.”
“No.”
“Does she know?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you sure?”
“I had him checked out.”
“Chloe you didn’t? What am I saying? I forgot who I was talking to. What did you find out?”
“Seems Kendell’s new man has been with a man or a few in the past..”
I gasped. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Nope. I’ve got the report and pictures to prove it.”
“I’m done. Little Miss Up In Everyone’s Business, is sharing her man with another man…or more.”
“Yep.” We laughed.
“We shouldn’t be laughing, but it serves her right. For years she’s been talking about our men and now…this is…man…we really should tell her.”
“We’ve all tried talking to her, but she won’t listen. She said we can talk to her about anything except her personal life. So, I’m done.”
“But she needs to know.”
“I’m not telling her. I could be mean and send her a copy of the file.”
“That is mean.”
“Or better yet, I could send it to him. What do you think?”
“I think it’s sad. She had a good man, who loved her and only her, and she tossed him to the side. How’s Bas doing?”
“Girl, it breaks my heart to see him like this. I think this is his first broken heart.”
“Damn Kendell.”