Page 104 of Flirting with Trouble

“Hadley calls these outings my booby parties,” Daphne, Jock’s curvy blond wife, says about her adorable, serious-faced little girl. “Hadley is such a daddy’s girl, if she were with us, she’d run right home to Jock and repeat every word I say out of context.”

“You girls should be thankful you got to learn from our mistakes,” Margot calls out to us over her shoulder. She and Gail are holding on to each other as they make their way down the hill. Margot’s wide-brimmed sun hat has a blue paisley scarf tied around it that matches her cover-up. “I cannot tell you how many times I had to bribe Bellamy to keep her chatterbox closed.”

“News flash, Mom,” Bellamy calls out. “I knew you’d buy me ice cream if I said I’d tell Dad what you talked about.”

“News flash, my sweet girl.” Margot looks lovingly at Bellamy as we come off the hill onto the beach and says, “I knew it all along, and I cherished those ice cream trips.”

Bellamy rolls her eyes, but her smile tells me she’s as touched by her mother’s admission as I am. I treasure the stolen time my mother and I had for walks or moonlight talks after my younger brothers went to bed.

As we set up our chairs and umbrellas, Shelley says, “We’ve had a lot of fun bringing our girls into our brigade, but the most memorable was the first time Keira, Leni, Randi, and Abby came out with us.”

“Our little stripper girls made quite an impression,” Margot says as she and Gail work together to get an umbrella pole upright in the sand.

“Mom,” Keira chides. “Can we not relive that?”

“Sorry, honey,” Margot says. “But as your moms, it’s our job to make sure you never forget our best memories.”

“That’s right,” Gail chimes in.

“Like we could ever forget that?” Leni complains, sharing a here we go again look with the other three stripper girls.

As Abby puts on sunscreen, she says, “We will never live that down.”

“At least you were in good company,” Gail says, her brown-and-gray curls framing her mischievous expression.

“What happened?” I ask as I drape my towel over the back of my chair.

“The Bee Gees, Archer, and Jock happened,” Randi says.

“The Bee Gees?” I ask.

“That’s what we called Brant and Grant when they were younger,” Tessa says.

“Of course Brant was in on it.” Cait waggles a finger in my direction and says, “I know you think he just went along for the ride yesterday, but don’t let him fool you. He has a rascally side.”

“Brant has been in on pranks forever,” Keira confirms. “When our brothers found out we were going out with the Bra Brigade the first time, they pulled us aside and said there was a secret initiation to get into the group for good. They swore us to secrecy, like they were sharing national secrets, and told us we had to sunbathe nude the first time, or we wouldn’t be allowed to come back.”

“But they didn’t stop there.” Randi pulls a towel out of her beach bag and says, “They told us that when Lenore yelled, ‘Let’s get this party started,’ we needed to strip as fast as we could and be the first ones in the water, or the senior Bra Brigaders would never let us come back.”

Sutton looks up from where she’s fishing around in her beach bag and says, “They could’ve asked me if it was true, and I would’ve told them it wasn’t.”

“We didn’t ask you because the guys said if we asked you or the Bra Brigaders, you would all deny it because it was a secret initiation,” Leni explains. “And, Sutton, you were so secretive about your first time out with the brigade, I thought they were telling us the truth.”

“If you’d’ve asked me, I would’ve lied and let you carry out the prank,” Lenore chimes in, making everyone laugh.

“Leni, I was secretive because it was the only thing I had of my own,” Sutton says. “The rest of you guys each have a twin, and Jules was the baby. I was just the middle kid hanging out in the wind. I felt special being the first one in on the Bra Brigade. But sisters before misters. I wouldn’t have let you strip buck-ass naked.”

“Aw, sissy.” Jules hurries across the sand to Sutton and throws her arms around her. “You’re the best oldest sister I have.”

“Yeah, old one,” Leni teases. “You were so much more than just a middle kid. I wouldn’t have survived our brothers without you.”

“Yes, you would have. You’re as tough as they are.” Sutton turns to me and says, “You should’ve seen them running naked into the water.”

I laugh. “Sorry. I don’t mean to laugh. That was a cruel joke your brothers played on you.”

“You’ve got to have thick skin to survive any of our boys,” Shelley says.

“So I’ve discovered.” I tell them about the sex-toy prank the guys pulled on us. The girls chime in, telling them about our revenge, the box of goodies we shared, and the extra prank we played on Grant and Fitz, who texted everyone last night to give us hell after discovering what we’d done.