and the three kids to the beach, which left Faye at a loose end. She didn’t quite seem to know how to just relax; it was something all of them had to learn over again.
“We could get married,” Zoey said. “If you want.”
Faye laughed. “I wasn’t much older than you when I got married. Look how that turned out.”
“We wouldn’t be getting married because of a baby,” Zoey said. “We’d be getting married because we love each other.”
“College is expensive,” Faye said. “How would you pay for that and a wedding?”
“Turner said he’d pay for college,” Zoey said.
“Poppy will pay for it,” Primrose said. “Her trust is probably the most intact of the three of us.”
“Weddings are overrated,” Violet offered.
Something Poppy never thought she’d hear her eldest sister say.
“Where are you and Turner going to do it?” Zoey asked. “Here? Casey and I could tag onto your wedding.”
“My parents would never agree,” Casey said, forlorn. “Once they find out I’ve been staying here with my girlfriend, they’ll probably disown me.”
It broke Poppy’s heart to think of two people in love being kept apart.
Zoey was quick to comfort her girlfriend. “We only have to get through this last year of school and then you’ll be free. You can move out.”
“I can’t move out of home and afford college.”
“Stay with Zoey at ours,” Faye said. “Or Turner will work out something for you in the city. Which college do you want to go to?”
A beat of silence went past. Casey wasn’t going to answer, so Zoey did. “She wanted to study medicine at Loyola.”
“I don’t think they let lesbians into Loyola.”
Shifting her head, Poppy looked at the girl next to her. “Let them try to stop you. If that’s what you want, do it.”
“Preston will slap them with a discrimination suit if they try to exclude you,” Primrose said. “And we’ll pay for it. You don’t need your parents. Not if they’re going to dictate who you have to be to fit their mold.”
Smiling, Poppy adjusted her sunglasses while breathing out a smile. “Oh, Grammie would be so proud.”
She kept her lips curled high while raising her chin to the sun. So much had changed in such a short time. Having her sisters hanging around with the Maddox women was more than she could’ve hoped for. Holden Abernathy was an asshole, no doubting that, but his antics had brought the Granger Girls closer than they’d been for decades.
“What is the story with you and Pres?” Charley asked. “If you don’t mind me asking.”
That caused more than just Faye to laugh. Zoey, Casey, and Poppy all joined in. The amusement kept on going even in spite of Charley’s incredulity.
“If you don’t mind me asking,” Faye mocked. “You have never asked permission to probe anyone ever in your life.”
“What?” Charley said, exuding innocence while the twist of her lips told a different story. “I’m being polite.”
“A word you didn’t know the meaning of two weeks ago,” Faye retorted.
“If Primrose has to tell us about her and Preston then you have to tell us about you and David Leicester,” Zoey said. “You were talking to him on the phone last night. Are you still going out with him?”
“They were never going out,” Faye said. “He was just screwing with her. Using her to stroke his ego and she was trotting after him like a slobbering puppy.”
“I was not a slobbering puppy,” Charley replied. “We’re friends, what do you want me to do? Stop talking to him?”
“After he lied about him and Poppy? Yeah, you should,” Faye said. “One is your sister and the other is an attention seeking whore, who would you believe?”
Charley just groaned. “I know he didn’t sleep with Poppy. Do you think I’d be okay hanging out with her, letting our brother marry her, if I thought she was a cheater?”
“But you’re okay with him being a liar?”
“You never liked him,” Charley said. “None of you did, so why should I listen—”
“Maybe you should think about why we don’t like him,” Faye said. “We’re trying to protect you. How are you going to feel after you sleep with him and find out we were right? He’ll stop calling, start bragging to his friends, whatever, and you’ll feel stupid. We’re trying to save you that.”
“Oh, he’ll call,” Primrose said, injecting herself with full confidence despite not knowing all of the parties. “They always call.”
“She’s right,” Violet agreed. “Now that all of you are connected to money, expect to find yourself popular in all