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“Can you quit calling me that?” the redheaded woman laughed nervously. “I promise there is no meaning behind that nickname except that she gives them out like they are candy… and you can’t shake it.”
“I need one for Elana…”
“Uh, no, you don’t,” Elana blurted out.
“Smart girl,” Karen whispered to Emily.
“I reeeeally like her…” Emily grinned.
Glory gave up her seat to Dixie, who opened a box toward her.
“Croissant?”
“No, thank you.”
“They’re divine…” Glory sang happily, plucking one out of the box.
“I’m trying to watch my figure,” Elana explained… and Glory paused mid-bite to look at her, her eyes widening in shock.
“Why?”
“What do you mean ‘why’?” Elana blurted out, feeling her paranoia and temper rising. “Because it’s my business, and I want to feel comfortable in my clothing.”
“So buy different clothing,” Glory retorted. “More comfortable stuff, lots more sparkles, and I have found after the kids that elastic is my best friend.”
“Glory…” Karen hesitated.
“Oh no,” Emily grinned, putting out a hand to stop Karen. “Let her dig her hole with that backhoe-of-a-mouth, and let’s see if she can get out of it. This is gonna be great.”
“It’s none of your business…”
“I know,” Glory smiled. “I just think that if we put a bunch of heads together, we come up with some brilliant ideas, and my hubby is one of the smartest…”
Karen coughed.
Emily snorted, bursting out laughing as Glory continued to look at Elana unphased.
“Men I know out there. He’s gentle, kind, and blunt when I need to hear it. Do you know that I went to a baby shower, and my sweet huggy-bear-monster told me that he didn’t want me on a diet because it gave him something to hang onto in bed.”
Elana’s mouth dropped open at the shocking statement made so casually to a stranger. Didn’t the woman want to keep things private? And she wasn’t that big, so what was the big deal? Yes, she had a little bit of weight, but she was still slim in Elana’s eyes… and the woman and kept talking.
“I mean, it’s things like that – the glimpse inside a man’s head – that really makes a woman feel loved. He claims that a man likes a girl who is healthy, plus he continues saying that women are supposed to be soft and motherly. He was actually mad that I was trying to lose a bit after the twins,” Glory shook her head, causing her pigtails to swing. “Here I thought he might not want to look, but it turns out he was looking anyway… and watching to make sure I take care of myself.”
“He was?” Elana rasped, shocked to her core as she thought about Max.
“Lee always touches my hair,” Dixie admitted. “I hate the curls, and they get so snarled with tangles, but he gets really upset when I straighten my hair with an iron. Said he misses ‘the real me’… he’s so sweet.”
“I’ve never seen you with straight hair.”
“I know!”
“I’m paranoid about my glasses and knobby knees,” Emily admitted. “I’ve tried for years to gain a little – and John worries about me. I eat all the time, in front of him, and I think that is the only reason he doesn’t have me at a doctor’s office getting everything checked.”
“You’ve always been scrawny,” Karen grinned, winking at her sister. “Why do you think Chase called you ‘stork’…”
“Because he’s my brother?”
“I think everyone has something they worry about, and honestly, Elana – I would pay to have curves like yours. I mean, seriously,” Karen muttered openly, pointing at her shirt. “I’m barely an ‘A’ cup, and when I mentioned getting implants, my husband flipped out for a month.”
