Page 111 of Take Two

“I’ll see you later, Queen V,” he says.

Colt, who was on his way to the front door, stops mid-step. Vickie also freezes. I hold my giggle at her expression. She’s standing there with her hand halfway to her hair.

“I love you, champion.” I get on my toes and kiss Charlie’s cheek.

“Queen Vee?” Colt says, pointing at me.

“V,” I say, spelling out just the letter. “Not v-e-e.”

Mama chuckles and so does my dad.

“And champion?” Vickie asks.

“Champion of my heart,” I say before I kiss Charlie’s cheek again. “Anyone have a problem with that?”

“I don’t,” Mama says quickly, then she looks away from Colt.

“The highest championship of all the land,” Charlie says.

“You need to do something about this, Colton,” Vickie says. “And for the record, Queen Victoria was a real queen. There’s never been a Queen Violet.” She crosses her arms and looks away from us.

“There is now,” I say.

“I second that,” my dad says. “My daughter is very much aqueen.”

“But she’s no Queen Vee,” Vickie says.

“I know. I’m QueenV. Just the letter,” I rebut.

“You can’t have that title,” Colt says. “One Queen Vee in this family. It doesn’t matter how you spell it. Not to mention only one champion.

“Fine,” I concede. “You can have both names if you give up darlin’,” I say to Colt.

“What? I can’t give up that word,” he says.

“You have to because every time you say it, I think it’s Charlie talking to me. You both sound alike, and if we can only have one Queen Vee and one Champion, I want to be the only darlin’ when we’re all together,” I say.

“But I’m southern. I call everyone darlin’,” he says.

“Oh, really?” Vickie replies. “Who the heck else do you call darlin’?”

“I’d like to know the answer to that myself, Colton,” Mama says.

“See what you two did? You’re always getting’ me in trouble. Fine. I won’t say the word when you two are around.” He approaches Vickie who puts a hand up to ward him away. He puts the hand down, pulls her to him, and gives her a kiss that’s far too indecent for company. “Don’t act like you don’t know I belong to you and only you.” He slaps her ass so hard, she jolts. “Charlie, Miles, let’s roll.”

While Vickie blushes, the men leave the house. It’s with shaky hands that she pulls her lipstick out of her purse and reapplies it.

“Mama, now’s the time,” Vickie whisper-shouts after she gets herself under control. “Quick before Terri and Wanda come back from the bathroom.”

Mama walks over to me. Vickie quickly joins us, all the while looking behind her to make sure the coast is clear.

“I need to make sure that what I’m about to say stays here. Colt doesn’t know and Charlie can never find out either. So far, only three people on this earth know this. Me, Vickie, and Rosalie. You’ll be the fourth and final person to ever hear me say it. I need to know that I can trust you.”

That gets my attention, and I grin. I move closer and say, “I never break girl code. Whatever this is, I will keep the secret forever.”

She looks at me, then she looks at Vickie. Once Vickie nods in approval, Mama holds up her pinky, and I wrap mine around it. Vickie then wraps hers around ours.

We let go and she takes a deep breath. “I drink alcohol,” she confesses, and I almost fall over and land on my ass.

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