Page 27 of Holding on to Chaos
“Sometimes I can’t believe this is my life,” Gia said, a little misty-eyed, next to Eva at the kitchen island.
“Just think back two or three years,” Eva sighed. Gia had been a down-on-her-luck and newly divorced single mom.
“What if this is the beginning of your story?” Gia asked, squeezing Eva’s hand.
Eva felt her heart stumble. “Don’t be ridiculous. It’s a date, not a marriage proposal.”
“What would you say if Sheriff Hot Bod came in here right now and begged you to marry him?” Joey asked, expertly flipping an omelet in Eva’s pan.
“Uh, hello. You saw him without his shirt on at class. Who says no to that?” Eva joked.
“Just remember there’s more to a relationship than looks,” Reva said, steadily slicing strawberries on a cutting board.
Joey tugged Reva’s hair with affection. “Do you guys see what a good job I’m doing with this whole parenting thing?”
“To be fair, Jax was the one who told me to stay away from hot guys,” Reva corrected her.
“Yeah, but that’s just so you don’t run out and have sex with a hot guy who doesn’t treat you right.”
“Jeez, Joey!” Eva laughed.
“Please. Don’t go all prudish on me. Our husbands were raised by John and Phoebe Pierce. Experts in ‘the talk.’”
“It’s true,” Gia piped up. “Beckett nailed it with Evan, and Phoebe gave me pointers on tackling it with Little Miss Nudist Colony in there.”
“Reva, give ‘em the highlights,” Joey ordered.
Reva started adding strawberry slices to each plate. “Sex is awesome as long as you do it with a good person that you care about and is more worried about making you feel good than getting his—or her—rocks off.”
“Condoms?”
“Always. No excuses ever,” Reva recited.
“If you’re not feeling it?”
“Never feel guilty about saying no.”
“What if someone gives you a hard time about saying no?”
“Then I text Jax, and he murders the guy.”
“Boom!” Joey said, high-fiving Reva.
“Holy hell! That took me like ten years of sex-having to figure out on my own,” Emma said, continuing the high-five train.
“I am totally using this when Meadow and Jonathan are older,” Summer said, bouncing Lydia on her hip. “It’s very progressive of you guys. We should think about doing this as a piece for Thrive,” she told Gia.
“Should we tell them the secret rule?” Reva asked Joey with a small smile.
Joey nodded sagely. “It’s the right thing to do. They’re all going to need it in the future.”
“When I do decide to have sex, never ever ever tell Jax.”
They laughed loud enough that Diesel tried to hide under the barstools against the island. He’d knocked two of them over before Eva rescued him from himself.
“What’s so funny, guys?” Aurora demanded from the doorway of the sunroom.
“Aurora! What’s in that mixing bowl?” Gia asked, hands on hips.
