Page 74 of I Can't Even

Now mature me wanted to text back that this was fine but immature me, who seemed to be in control of my fingers, wanted to shut my phone off and ignore the text that was making my internal organs shrivel up like grapes in the sun.

“Good news?” Soph asked.

“Yeah, sure, it’s cool,” I said.

My older sis leveled me with a gaze. “Do not tell me he is taking her home.”

“Okay,” I said. “I won’t tell you he’s taking her home, but yeah, he’s taking her home.”

“Oh, for Pete’s sake,” Soph said. “What is it with men who cave to a woman’s tears when she’s not even his woman? There should be a repellent spray for that sort of thing.”

“Like bug spray?” Em clarified.

“Exactly,” Soph said with a snap of her fingers. “Then you could spray your guy before he went out and you wouldn’t have to worry about some crazy beyotch manipulating him with her boo hoo hoo.”

“Jules does not have to worry.” Em shook her head. “Liam has finally gotten her back. He’s not going to do anything to screw this up.”

“I have never loved you more.” I hugged Em close. “You’re right. We just got our second chance. We’re not going to mess that up. Right?”

They both looked at me with hope shining in their eyes aaaaand a smidgeon of doubt. Ugh.

“Jules, sweetie, I have been looking for you everywhere!”

I turned to see an off-the-charts gorgeous woman headed my way. A tall and curvy Latina, with thick wavy black hair that hung down to her waist, she strutted through the craft fair booths in a form-fitting red sundress and strappy sandals as if she owned the place. I felt my heart clutch in my chest. Worlds colliding!

“Jess!” I cried. My mouth dried and I instinctively scanned the area for Liam, but he was long gone. Thank god!

“Hey, girl,” Jessie scooped me close and hugged me hard. “Surprise!”

When she let me go, I glanced at Em and Soph. Both of their mouths were hanging open, in fact, a bite of churro fell out of Em’s, and their eyes were huge, like, anime huge. Yep, because the boy they had known, hot guy Jessie Lopez, who I’d left Gull’s Harbor with nine years ago was now hella hot gal Jessica Lopez.

Chapter Twenty-three

“What are you doing here, Jess?” I asked.

“You weren’t at the house, so I figured you’d be at the art show, since it’s literally the only thing going on around here this weekend,” she said.

“I didn’t mean here.” I gestured to the art show. “I meant here as in Gull’s Harbor, California, the west coast.”

“Long story,” she said.

She waved a perfectly manicured hand as if it was nothing, but I knew Jessie better than I knew myself. Truly, I had been there for all of the changes, the hormone replacement therapy, the vaginoplasty, the breast implants, even the speech therapy to get her falsetto where she wanted it. I knew this chick inside and out. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed my sisters hadn’t moved. Seriously, they resembled garden statuary.

“Jess, you remember my sisters, Emily and Sophie,” I said. “Em, Soph, this is Jessie, you remember, my friend who I left Gull’s Harbor with.”

Jessie threw her long hair over her shoulder and struck a pose. “I imagine I look a bit different.” Then she winked. She looked Em over in her thigh-high boots and miniskirt. “Look at you, Em. Baby girl is all grown up! Rawr!”

A giggle burst out of Em and she clapped a hand over her mouth but it did no good as she kept laughing.

Jessie turned to Soph next. She took in the capri pants and sleeveless blouse with a frown then reached up and tousled Soph’s bobbed haircut. “Who buttoned you down like this? We have got to liven up this cut and color. You look like you’re fifty instead of thirty-five.”

“Jess works in the theater in costume design,” I said. “She’s won a Tony.”

“No way,” Em said.

“Way,” Jessie said. She blew on her nails and polished them on the front of her top. “Not bad for a surfer boy from Cali, eh? I know my shit.” She looked back at Soph. “So, you can trust me when I say with a hotsie figure like yours, you could totally work the milf thing if you put in a smidge of effort.”

Soph went beet red, but the twinkle in her gaze showed she was pleased by the sentiment. She asked, ever polite, “So, is this your first trip back to Gull’s Harbor?”

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