“What do you mean?”
Blakely wrapped her arms around her body and brought one hand to her mouth. She chewed on her thumbnail as worry poured through her. Was it so obvious to them that she didn’t know how to dress? She never learned how to do her makeup or hair. The clothes she’d picked up at the charity shop hadn’t seemed that bad when she’d bought them, but it turned out no one dressed like the old movies she’d watched with her family. She should have used some of the money and bought more clothes, but she didn’t know where to shop because everything nice had been so expensive.
“Your clothes are all gone, so you get to decide what you buy, how you dress.”
She weighed their words as she studied them. They looked good. They knew how to do their makeup and hair. They were polished, while she’d looked like an idiot who didn’t know how to dress herself.
“So, could you two help me?”
They both nodded. “Sure,” Willa said.
“I never learned how to do makeup or my hair. I wasn’t allowed to wear anything other than what our faith said was okay. So I don’t know what’s in style.”
Pen tapped her chin. “You know what, being comfortable is important. So no matter how good you look in the clothes, you need to be comfortable.”
Willa nodded. “That’s very important. You can be comfortable and look good. Why don’t you try on the clothes that we brought, and we’ll help you determine what you should keep.”
“Thank you.”
The door opened, and the guys stepped in, their smiles wide. She could easily see that both Pen and Willa were lucky. Their men really seemed to like them.
“We’re going to help Blakely decide what to keep,” Willa said.
Cy moved to Willa and kissed her cheek. Blakely noticed how Cy smiled when he looked at his wife. Foster was the same with Pen. It was obvious they really liked their wives. She hadn’t ever seen loving couples like this. It was nice, but so different from what she’d grown up with.
She didn’t think she would ever find someone who loved her the way these women were loved. Everything was very confusing and made her really think about how she’d grown up.
Could life be this simple? Could she actually find real support with these people? She’d been warned by the members of the cult that if she left, she would end up in terrible situations, but that wasn’t the case. Other than Grayson targeting her, she’d been okay. And Jump and his friends were better than okay. They seemed to really want to help her.
CHAPTER NINE
The clothes were perfect, but she felt bad taking them. She screwed up her lips to the side. “Are you sure?” Her gaze swung from Willa to Pen.
“Absolutely,” Pen said.
Willa nodded. “Yes. They weren’t that expensive. You need casual shirts, shorts, and jeans.”
“It’s so weird having clothes like this. When I bought clothes before, I had no idea what I was doing. I ended up at a thrift store and bought what I thought was good, but I stood out, and not in a good way.”
“How so?”
Heat rushed up her neck to her face. “It’s embarrassing.”
“Don’t be embarrassed,” Willa said.
“Yeah, don’t be. Honestly, you’re safe with us.”
She clasped her hands then dropped them to her sides. Her father had hated when she held her hands together in front of her body.
“Growing up in the cult was weird. Like we never watched new movies. Everything we watched was from the fifties or earlier. So when I went to a thrift shop, I bought a lot of stuff that didn’t fit in.”
Willa’s lips screwed up to one side. “Well, fitting in can be overrated.”
She shrugged. “Yeah, but there is already so much about me that doesn’t fit.”
Pen reached out and took her hand. “We accept you no matter what. You don’t have to fit to be our friend.”
“I don’t know what to say. I’ve never really had friends.”
