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I shook my head, my eyes going wide. “It wasn’t. It was the boy I’d been crushing on since the start of middle school—Brian Kegan. ‘You’ve got blood on your butt’ were the first words he’d ever spoken to me.”
Rolling her face into her pillow, she groaned mournfully. “Nooo. Did you drop out of school?”
“Unfortunately, my parents wouldn’t let me. They wanted to celebrate my ‘becoming a woman,’ as they’d put it, by taking me out to dinner. My mom made me a chocolate cake with congratulations written on the top, and I was totally devastated by all of it. I cried and yelled that I wasn’t a woman and didn’t want to be. That I was still a kid, and they couldn’t make me accept being a grown-up. Thank goodness I have a really patient, understanding mother.”
“She didn’t get mad when you yelled?” Sage asked.
“Not at all.” I lifted her hair, rubbing my thumb over the silky strands. “She held me in her lap—something she hadn’t done in ages since she’s a tiny woman and I’d already been taller than her by then—and told me I would always be her little girl.”
She gave me a dubious look. “Do you think that’s true?”
“Yeah. My mom would totally hold me in her lap now if I’d let her.” I scooted down even farther to lie beside her. “A few years ago, I went through something really sad. My mother tucked me into bed with her, fed me chocolate, and promised me everything would be okay.”
“I’m glad you have a mom like that,” she whispered.
“Me too.” I brushed her hair off her forehead. “Getting your period is part of your body growing up and a step toward you becoming a woman, but that doesn’t mean your girlhood is over. It doesn’t mean you aren’t your dad’s girl anymore or your mom’s baby. You are, and I think you always will be.”
She nodded. “My dad seemed really worried about me.”
“He definitely was.”
Her nose wrinkled. “I just felt so gross. I didn’t want him to be grossed out.”
I poked her shoulder. “He changed your diaper, honey. Believe me, there’s nothing that can gross him out now.”
“Oh no,” she moaned. “I didn’t even think about that. How can my dad even look at me? I’ve seen Dex’s diapers, and they’re—” She gagged as dramatically as a girl with tears in her eyes could.
“That’s how much he loves you.”
Her shudder shook the mattress. “It has to be a whole lot to get past that.”
I chuckled, but what I wanted to do was give this girl a big hug. She really was something special. But then, she had Jake and Carly as her parents, so that made sense.
“When you’re feeling up to it, I know your dad would love to see you with his own eyes. Nellie too, for that matter.”
Her eyes brightened, and she wiped away the few tears that had escaped. “Nellie’s here? Really?”
“She’s my sidekick. I don’t go many places without her. Your dad’s tackling her tangled rat’s nest while you and I hang out.”
She gave me a wobbly smile. “I was thinking, at least I didn’t bleed in front of the boy I like.”
I snorted a laugh. “Girlie, that happened more than twenty years ago and I still think about it. For your sake, I’m relieved too. No one needs that kind of trauma.”
“Did you ever talk to him again?”
I solemnly shook my head. “Not in middle school. The little twerp had spread it around to everyone.”
Sage gasped. “Oh no. That’s the worst.”
“It sucked, but guess what? When we grew up and I started working for Rossi Motors, I happened to see him there for a job interview and looked at his résumé. He wasn’t at all qualified for the job he wanted, so I took the opportunity to tell him Rossi doesn’t hire dipshits.”
Her mouth fell open. “No. That’s epic.”
I laughed. “Okay, not really. But I did tell him we weren’t interested in hiring him, and that made up for all the mortification I went through because of him.”
She stared at me, her eyes alight. I could practically read the millions of thoughts bouncing around her mind. Perhaps it hadn’t been the best story to tell her, but it was one of my favorites.
Her brows waggled with mischief. “You got your revenge.”
