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you.” Christina pulled a leftover vegetable
casserole from the refrigerator. “I can’t help it if you’re
catachrestic and don’t know what sesquipedalian or prehensile
means. You’re lucky I don’t go all bellicose on you simpletons.
Maybe one of these days when you flibbertigibbets get off my back
and learn some new words, you won’t look like the illiterates that
you are.”
    They all stood opened mouth staring at
her and then lost it. Pounding on the counter, Martina fell out
laughing while Peyton and Toni held their stomachs cackling just as
hard. Jada grinned trying to hold back but gave up and burst into a
fit of giggles as well. Christina couldn’t help but join in. She
had given up on learning a word a day, but now realized how much
she missed the reaction the words evoked when she used so many of
them in one conversation.
    The next forty-five minutes, they
cracked jokes and talked. Christina’s heart warmed as they laughed
and swiped away happy tears, their banter livelier than usual. For
the last three or four weeks, they hadn’t been able to meet
consistently. At work, she and MJ were on the same job, renovating
a strip mall. Jada had left the company shortly after getting
married and Toni, a master plumber, had cut her hours, only working
part-time since giving birth to Craig Jr. five months earlier. She
saw Peyton almost every day since her sister was the boss. Yet,
Christina didn’t realize how much she missed having all of them
together until now. Sure they got on each other’s nerves, but they
were the best of friends and more importantly, family.
    “ Okay, where do you want me
to start?” Toni asked, crumbling the burger wrapper and tossing the
remains in the trash. “Craig and the baby will be here to pick me
up in a couple of hours.” Of course, after she mentioned the baby,
she fielded questions about Craig Jr. and his latest
accomplishments. They all stood around Toni’s cell phone, cooing
and gushing over photos and short videos of him rolling over from
his back to his tummy and trying to scoot around.
    Hearing Toni talk about Craig, and
their little one, sent a bit of longing through Christina. Until
recently, even at the age of twenty-nine, she hadn’t thought much
about marriage and having a family. Not until Luke.
    Christina mentally shook herself. She
wasn’t going to let thoughts of him invade her mind tonight. Not
like the last two days. Awake or asleep, dreaming about Luke left
her frustrated and horny. So many times, she had wondered what they
would say or do if they ran into each other again. Somehow
Christina had imagined their first run-in going differently. Very
differently. They had only dated for a few months, but during that
time, she found a connection and freedom she hadn’t known existed.
Spending time with him made her want to live life on purpose and be
who she really was, not what others expected her to be.
    “ Earth calling CJ. Come in
CJ.” Jada waved her hand in front of Christina’s face. “Where’d you
go? Toni wants to know where to start.”
    “ Oh.” Christina glanced
around at her cousins who were looking at her strangely. “How about
in the kitchen?” Christina loved the kitchen. With the high-end
stainless steel appliances, dark granite countertops, and maple
custom-made cabinets, everything was top of the line.
    “ Sounds good,” Toni
said.
    “ I’ll help in here too
since there are tons of boxes marked kitchen, and I remember how
you had the cabinets organized at the other house,” Jada
said.
    “ Why is this door locked?”
MJ asked from across the room and down a short hallway that could
still be seen from the kitchen. She stood at the door to the second
bedroom.
    “ Oh, I need to get the key
from Zack,” Christina lied. She knew someone would ask about that
room and had already planned her response.
    “ Why the heck did he need a
locked room? Did he have some sex apparatus or kinky toys in here?”
MJ lifted a perfectly arched