Tracey, the petite brunette waitress who had been clearing tables when Quincy had introduced them. Roni remembered her name because she’d noticed that the scary-looking bartender with the baseball cap never took his eyes off her.
“What is going on over here?” Izzy asked as she slid her slinky body into a chair.
Tracey took the last empty seat and smiled at Roni. She had a cautious look in her eyes, different from the others, who all seemed so comfortable in their own skin.
“Penny kissed Scott,” Dixie said.
“Whoa, Penny,” Izzy exclaimed.
“And Roni waxed something on Quincy,” Gemma added. “We don’t know what yet.”
“Ohmygod,” Tracey said.
“It was his leg,” Roni exclaimed. Then, a little softer, she said, “I waxed an R onto it.”
The girls fell into hysterics.
“I’m going to give him such a hard time about that,” Penny said with a laugh.
Finlay pointed at Penny and said, “Great. Right after you fess up about Scott. What is going on with you two?”
“There’s nothing to fess up about.” Penny crossed her arms, looking like she’d been caught with her hand in the cookie jar, and said, “We had kissing on our list, too.”
Dixie barked out a laugh. “That’s a load of bull, but you get extra points for creativity. I made the lists, and only Quincy and Roni had kissing on theirs.”
“Oh,” Penny said. “Whoopsie.”
“Why only us?” Roni asked.
“Because we all love Quincy, and he has been dying to go out with you for months. When he told me he invited you to come tonight, I thought I’d give you guys a little nudge,” Dixie said. “I’m glad it worked.”
“I love that you care about him so much, but trust me, I don’t need any nudging to kiss Quincy. The man makes my knees go weak every time he says, ‘Hey, beautiful,’” Roni said, surprising herself with her honesty. But it was easy to talk to them, and she didn’t feel embarrassed confessing the truth.
“Wow, go, Quincy,” Gemma said. “Tru makes me feel the same way every time he looks at me. Seduction must be in their genes.”
“The first time I met you and Tru, he looked at you and the kids like you’re his whole world,” Roni said. “But I didn’t mean to out you, Penny. I’m sorry.”
“There’s nothing to out. We kissed. It’s not a big deal,” Penny said.
“Is that why you were at our place babysitting with him the other night?” Sarah asked. “Scott told us he needed help because Maggie Rose was colicky, but she was fine for the rest of the night.”
“She was cranky,” Penny said softly. “But Scotty’s so good with her. He calmed her right down. And yes, we kissed that night, but we didn’t do anything else at your house. You don’t have to sanitize your couches.”
“Scotty,” Josie, Gemma, and Crystal said in unison.
Penny rolled her eyes. She sat forward and lowered her voice, and everyone leaned in. “Can we keep this on the down low? Just between us girls? I don’t know what this is yet. Scott said he’d wanted to ask me out for a while. And honestly, I’ve been into him for a while, too, but he’d always kept his distance, so I thought he wasn’t interested. It turns out he thought Quincy and I might get together. I was cockblocked by my best guy friend, and he wasn’t even trying.”
“We all thought you two would get together because you’re such good friends,” Sarah said.
“I know.” Penny looked at Roni and said, “But it was never like that. So…girl code?” Penny asked.
“Of course. Consider the girl code enacted.” Dixie looked around the table and said, “Nobody says a word outside of this table. That includes you, Roni. You’re one of us now, so you can’t tell Quincy.”
It felt good to be included. Roni had never been part of a group outside of dance, and those groups weren’t built on friendships that went any deeper than sharing a common goal. But as much as she wanted to be part of their girls’ club, she didn’t want to lie to Quincy, so she said, “I won’t say anything, but what if he saw them? What if he asks? I don’t want to lie to him.”
“Actually, Quincy already knows,” Penny said. “That’s why I wanted to talk to him before. I thought he’d be hurt if I didn’t tell him first, and just so you know, I told him he could tell you, Roni, as long as he swore you to secrecy. But he already knew.