At the nail salon, Josephine takes the massage chair next to me while the other four sit opposite. Josephine is smiling so hard that her cheeks are likely to ache as she soaks her feet in the warm water.
“This is so fun,” she says, her eyes shining brightly.
And it is. I’ve had plenty of manicures and pedicures, since Dad likes to spoil “his girls”, as he calls Mom, my sisters, and me. It’s even more fun seeing Josephine experience it all for the first time.
“What color are you going to get?” Lainey asks Josephine. “I’m getting pink. It’s Mom’s favorite color.”
Josephine asks me, “What’s your favorite color?”
“Yellow,” I say, flipping through the ring of plastic nails that have been painted with all the colors the salon offers. I point to the bright, sunshiny yellow polish I’ve picked. “What’s your favorite color?”
“Yellow,” she answers quickly.
“A girl after my own heart,” I say, reaching across to caress her cheek.
Josephine shows the tech the same color I picked, and she vibrates in her seat when a second tech rolls a short stool to her side to start prepping her fingernails.
I relax back in my chair, enjoying how it kneads my sore lower back. I might not have been seriously injured in the car crash, but I’ve been left with some lingering side effects that require, at a minimum, monthly massages. That reminds me, I need to book my next appointment. I’m willing to bet I can get Forest to pay for it when I babysit for him during the next game night. I wasn’t lying when I told him I don’t mind watching the kids, though I absolutely do mind the ooey-gooey looks Forest still gives me whenever he sees me with them. I need to nip that in the bud.
My nail tech, who has started on my toes, looks around. Making conversation, she asks from behind her face mask, “Are you all sisters?”
“Shayla and I are,” I tell her, nodding to my older sister, who has been curiously watching Josephine and me. I lift my brow, silently asking her what’s up. She just shakes her head.
“We’re sisters,” Lainey and Ivy say at the same time, grinning at each other, seated between their mothers. They share the same deadbeat biological father, but James and Martin adopted them, respectively, when they married their mothers. If they didn’t go to separate schools, they’d be inseparable, and poor Grayson would be even more put out if he didn’t get any one-on-one time to play with his adopted sister.
“Jinx,” I say to the girls with a laugh. “You owe me a Coke.”
“What about you?” the tech asks next, the skin at the corners of her eyes crinkling when she gazes up at Josephine, then at me, trying to make the connection since we share some similar features. “Mother and daughter?”
“Oh, uh, no. I’m not old enough to be her mom, can’t you tell?” I joke, my smile faltering when I look to the side, at Josephine.
Josephine deflates, ducking her head. My stomach sinks, and Shayla and Eden’s brows draw together with concern. Josephine will never get the chance to experience this with her mother, as Lainey and Ivy often get to do, and my heart breaks for Forest’s little girl.
Lainey and Ivy say simultaneously, “She’s our best friend!” Then, “Jinx, double jink!” It’s what I would usually say when that happens, but I’m too busy biting my cheek, wondering if I’ve done more harm than good by correcting the tech.
I try to make up for it when we’re done at the salon by asking the group, “Want to hit up the mall?” To Josephine, I say, “We could grab lunch from the food court and spend all your daddy’s money on some new clothes and jewelry. How does that sound?”
Josephine brightens and slips her hand in mine. “Yes! That would be awesome!” She doesn’t let go of my hand, so I end up having to share the third row of Shayla’s pink Suburban with her during the drive. I don’t mind it one bit.
Chapter Eight
Forest
We’re approaching dinnertime when Autumn and Josephine finally get home, laden with a shameless amount of shopping bags. Autumn grins like a fiend when she sets them on my coffee table.
“I saved all the receipts,” she says, producing a tall stack she pulls from her purse.
“I’m sure you did,” I grumble. In truth, I can’t be too miffed about how much today is going to cost me, considering Josephine is over the moon, her cheeks warm and rosy.
“Look, Daddy! We got the same color!” She splays her fingers and nudges Autumn so she’ll show me her nails as well. Then she wiggles her foot to show me her pedicure.
When Autumn does the same, jutting out a long, bare leg to show off her toes and a new ankle bracelet, my mouth waters. I lock down my expression…or so I think I have.
After Josephine bounces away, taking only half the shopping bags that likely weigh more than she does to herbedroom, Autumn says, “For two hundred bucks, I’ll let you suck one of my toes for thirty seconds.”
I jerk my head up. “You say the most out-of-pocket shit I’ve ever heard.”
“Am I? Out of pocket?” She taps her foot. With a sultry voice, she says, “Come on, baby, you know you want to.”
