Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 128260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
“God, you make me feel short,” I said, looking up at her beautiful face. Julia was blond like me, but she had gotten our dad’s height and towered over me at 5’9”. I was insanely jealous of her long legs and supermodel figure. She could and did eat anything she wanted.
“Audrey should be right behind—” Julia started to say, just as I heard the door slam and Audrey’s voice call out, “Hellooooo!” A brunette head peeked around the doorway and Audrey’s pretty grin lit up her face. Audrey had gotten my mom’s side of the family’s height like me but had brown hair like my dad. She was adorable in every way—I had practically raised her when Andrew died and my mom had checked out. I considered myself almost more of an aunt to her than a sister.
She ran in the room and launched herself at me, practically toppling me over as we both laughed and jumped up and down.
My dad cleared his throat.
All three of our heads turned toward him.
“Do you girls mind? Jeopardy! comes on in five minutes and I can’t hear it over all the clucking.”
I started moving first. “Of course! Here, you sit down.” I pushed him into his daisy-covered recliner and handed him the beer that he had set down on the table next to him before I had launched myself into his lap, and I turned the TV on the right channel.
Julia and Audrey were both rolling their eyes at me as I went about making our dad as comfortable as possible. Well, whatever, some habits were hard to break. He was my dad. I took care of him. That’s what I did. And I was going to follow my dream! With my dad’s blessing. I threw an afghan over his legs and grabbed my small suitcase and all of us girls ran up the stairs, pushing and giggling like kids.
We went into my old bedroom and Audrey and Julia flopped down on my bed as I opened my suitcase and started putting clothes into the dresser drawers.
“So what’s new, chickadees?” I asked.
Silence. I looked over at them and they were shooting looks back and forth. I put my hands on my hips. “What?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.
“Julia has something to tell you,” Audrey offered, grinning broadly.
My eyes swung to Julia, who was looking at me nervously. “Yeah?” I let the word drag out, raising my eyebrows.
She started playing with a string on her ripped jeans. “Well, the thing is, I kinda met someone.”
I raised one eyebrow. “As in a boy?”
“Yes, a boy—”
“Well, that’s not all. Tell her the big news,” Audrey said, and Julia shot her a warning look.
I sat down on the bed with them. “Julia, just spit it out,” I said.
“I’m not a virgin anymore,” she blurted out. “I’m de-virginized. I’m a woman!” she finished, giving me a small, nervous laugh.
“The cherry is popped,” Audrey offered reverently.
I looked back and forth between them. “You were nervous to tell me, Jules?” I asked on a small frown.
“Well, no, I mean, a little, it’s just…” She took a deep breath. “Yes, I was nervous to tell you.” She took my hand. “You’ve just always been kinda like a mom to us, and face it, you’re kinda straitlaced, Gracie. I mean, are you a virgin? We talk about everything, but you’ve never talked about sex with us. At least not on a personal level. You’ve just always been so driven, so focused on other things…”
I stared at her, thinking. We joked about sex. We made references to sexiness and hot guys, stuff like that, but I guess she was right. I had never talked about sex on a personal level. I had never really gone to parties or dated boys much in high school and so there really wasn’t anything to talk about there. I had never told anyone, except Carson, about my guy plan. That stupid plan that didn’t even exist anymore.
I took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, girls. You’re right. I haven’t been a good older sister in that category. I should have been more open with you. I just…I had all these dumb ideas that, up until a couple months ago, I didn’t even know were dumb ideas. I probably needed the talk more than either of you. It’s just, without Mom here…I never… I’ve treated you both like babies. I’m sorry.”
“No, Grace, we’re not trying to make you feel bad. You’ve always taken care of us. We love you for that. We just didn’t know how you’d react to this kind of specific information.” Audrey gestured her head toward Julia.
I grabbed Audrey’s hand and squeezed it, and then looked at Julia. “Who is he?”
She grinned, her eyes sparkling. “His name is Evan and he works as part of the hospital administration where my class has been doing some training. He’s twenty-two. We’ve been dating for three months and I’m in love, Grace. Truly in love. He treats me like a princess, like I’m the most precious thing on the planet,” she finished dreamily, flopping back on the bed.