sex is,” she said. “Poppy and I get plenty of male attention, thank you. I have an ass women pay money for and Poppy’s in the gym, like, all the time. Guys drool over her rack every day.”
“Charley,” Poppy whispered, trying to silence her friend.
“Cool,” Turner said. “Next time I’ll call you a heifer, see how you like that, Shrimp. You don’t think the twins should be driving trucks either.”
“Yeah, ‘cause Zoey and me are gonna drive it too. We don’t want a big, ugly, boy truck in the driveway.”
“So it’s about you?” Turner asked.
“Well, it’s not about you.”
“Zoey has her permit,” Turner said. “She doesn’t have her license. You remember how long it took me to teach you? You ran Ritchie’s jalopy off the road.”
“We said we’d get a new car for Zoey, that never happened.”
“She doesn’t care about her license,” Turner said.
“The twins care,” Charley said. “And I care about having something to drive.”
“Why?” he asked. “You’re gonna be in the city now, right?” That shut Charley up fast. “I can’t skip Zoey for the sake of the twins.”
“So get two cars,” Charley said. “Poppy and me will teach the twins.”
“Uh…” Poppy said, raising a hand at shoulder height. “I don’t have a license either.”
Charley shrieked. “You don’t have a license? Why not?”
The words “my first car was a limousine” came to mind, though Poppy didn’t dare say them in front of Charley. “I just never learned.”
Charley reached over to poke her brother’s shoulder. “You have to teach Poppy too. Now we definitely need a car. Otherwise you’re letting five sisters down. You’re a sucky brother.” Charley didn’t mean to be mean, she just didn’t think. “Faye should get her own car for the kids… She can’t be using ours all the time.”
And it was as Poppy watched Turner’s hand go to the back of his neck that she realized why he’d delayed. A car would cause arguments. All of the sisters would want it. Most of them would want lessons from him too and he just didn’t have the time. Faye had three kids, she couldn’t guarantee her time to her sisters for driving lessons. Maybe now that she was staying with her mom, she’d have more time. Either way, at least some of the burden would fall to Turner.
Charley wanted everyone to get what they wanted. She liked to help. But she didn’t see the pressure her brother was under. They’d been friends for a while and from their conversations, Poppy knew that Charley loved her brother. She idolized him, which was maybe the problem. Charley couldn’t see any weakness in her big brother. That was probably how she’d been raised; Turner wanted his sisters to think that he was invincible.
He wanted everyone to think that. Poppy didn’t want him to be perfect, she wished she could do more to relieve some of his burden. But he didn’t want a partner, he just wanted to charge on, alone and impervious.
“We’ll have to wait and see how you like the city,” Poppy said. “A car’s an expense you don’t need.”
Charley laughed. “Yeah, but Turner’s paying for it either way. I definitely want rights in choosing it.”
Maybe in a couple of weeks when things had settled down, Poppy would talk to her friend about assuming Turner was Superman. Except she couldn’t speak for him. No one knew they were close like they were, except maybe Val. Interfering in his family relationships could be crossing a line and one Turner might not forgive her for.
All Poppy could do was take each day as it came. Living under the same roof as Charley and Turner… those could be interesting days.
TWENTY-NINE
Working the same shift as Charley and living with her meant that her roommate definitely interfered with her sex life. Although there were times it was frustrating, Poppy knew it was for the best that she not have unfettered access to Turner.
She and Charley had been living together for two weeks and two days. Working and living together meant the two women tended to spend almost every waking moment together, which reduced Poppy’s opportunities to be alone with Turner.
Sex tended to happen fast, on the floor or standing up, anywhere she and Turner could grab a few minutes. They didn’t get to lie together and talk. They barely got a chance to get her underwear out of the way.
They still did it, in his place more than anywhere else. Usually it happened while Charley was on the phone to one of