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of there, and then lock up and go home.
    “All right, guys, let’s do this one more time and then we can get out of here,” Stacy said as she got into place.
     
    ***
     
    Ten minutes later she was saying bye to Kendra and the others. She walked them out and found Jackie’s mom flirting shamelessly with Dustin.
    Now Rebecca was his type; tall, willowy, with fake breasts to boot. Stacy couldn’t help but start to feel self-conscious about her body.
    She looked down at her own breasts that weren’t as perky as fakey’s were. Her stomach was slightly rounded and her hips were wide.
    The woman had the most irritating laugh imaginable. Stacy knew she didn’t have the right, but every time that woman put her hand on his arm she wanted to punch her in the face.
    Stacy didn’t want to be jealous, but she couldn’t help it. Women like Rebecca were the first ones to tease and taunt her when she was younger. She shook her head to get those thoughts out of her head. None of that mattered now. She wasn’t with him, so he could do whatever or whoever he wanted.
    She watched Dustin start herding the kids and Rebecca to the door, but turned and walked away before she split that woman’s lip.
    Stacy walked back to the studio and started shutting things down when her phone rang. She grabbed it off of the stereo and smiled when she saw it was her Uncle Garrett.
    “Hey, Trouble!” Stacy said in way of greeting.
    “Hey, my sweet girl, how are you?” he said.
    He was the baby in the family. He came twelve years after her dad and was only ten years older than her. Before her family moved to Beaufort he was Stacy’s best bud. In most pictures of her when she was little, Garrett was always close by. They were more like brother and sister than uncle and niece. Growing up, she always called him for advice on how to handle her overprotective dad.
    Stacy could always count on him to be there for her, even now with a family of his own. He and his partner Ian always made time for her. They’d adopted a brother and sister a few years back and were doing extremely well.
    She remembered when she was twelve and her dad had been called to his family home right outside of Atlanta for an emergency family meeting.
    Mom didn’t know what was going on, and when he came home, he sent Stacy to her room, but of course she immediately snuck out and down the hall to eavesdrop.
    Her Uncle Garrett had come out to them and as her dad talked about it, she could hear the sadness in his voice because Garrett was so worried they’d hurt him that he carried a baseball bat with him so he could at least try to defend himself.
    Her dad said that they told Garrett they loved him no matter what and that they all kind of suspected it, but he was hurt that Garrett didn’t trust them enough. That he couldn’t believe that Garrett thought they’d beat their own flesh and blood because of who he was.
    “I’m good, G. How are Ian and the kids? I can’t wait to see y’all Friday. Don’t forget to bring clothes for your family picture,” Stacy said.
    “Yep, we’re all set. Chloe says that she wants to stay with her Tay Tay. That girl is wild. I don’t even want to think about when she’s a teenager. I feel the grey already starting to pop out of my hair.”
    Stacy laughed. She and Chloe were the only girls amongst all of the cousins and she had attached herself to Stacy since she was two. Now she was six and a little pistol. Their son Carter’s four and much more reserved than his sister.
    “Well, she can stay with me if it’s okay with you guys. I know Mom will be disappointed, but maybe she can stay with me one night and with you guys at Mom and Dad’s the next.” She turned and saw Dustin standing in the doorway.
    Stacy pointed to the phone and mouthed, “my uncle.”
    “Sounds good. We’ll be there around one. We’ll see you at their place for dinner, right?”
    “Yep, I wouldn’t miss it. I love you, and give those babies and Ian a kiss for