White Lilies (A Mitchell Sisters Novel) by Samantha Christy Page B

particular store.”
    All of a sudden I’m having thoughts of the prudish school teacher coming home to her leather-chaps-wearing husband, who holds a whip while commanding her to perform sexual acts in front of him.
    I hear a giggle. “You are totally picturing me and Griffin using that stuff, aren’t you?”
    “No. Absolutely not,” I lie. “Oh, God, Erin. Griffin doesn’t know about this, does he?”
    “Why, would it embarrass you to know that Griffin might think about you using those things?”
    “Erin, shut up,” I say. “First off, yes, I’d be mortified. Secondly, he would never do that. I don’t know why you keep saying such things. Do you get off on your husband lusting after other women?” I tease. “Oh, shit, you don’t want to like, have a three-way, do you?”
    “I don’t know,” she says. “Would you be interested if we did?”
    What the hell? I was kidding. She knows that, right?
    It’s always the most innocent looking people who turn out to be the most perverted. Still, there is no way I’ve known Erin for over five months without becoming privy to this information.
    “I’m kidding, Skylar.” She’s laughing. Hard. “Oh, how I wish I could see your face right now,” she says. “Listen, I’ll let you go. I know you have a busy day ahead. Or at least you do now.” She giggles. “But, hey, don’t forget to wear the dress tomorrow.”
    “What is it with you and that dress?” I ask.
    “I just think you look really pretty in it, Skylar. Pregnant women need to feel pretty, too, you know?”
    “Yes, Mom, I’ll wear the dress,” I say rolling my eyes.
    We say our goodbyes and I’m left thinking about how much she’s changed over the past few weeks. She’s different. She’s more open. Forward. Demanding. I’ve even heard her cuss a few times, something I thought she wasn’t even capable of. Whenever we get together, she wants to try new things. Last week, Griffin was working and she invited me to go on a carriage ride through Central Park. She said she had never done it before and wanted to treat me to the experience. Then she wanted to try sushi, something neither of us had ever tried, but that I got out of on account of being pregnant, and thus not allowed to eat raw fish. I figure she’s either getting more comfortable in our friendship or she’s wanting to cross a few things off her pre-baby bucket list.
    Mindy walks out of her bedroom. She stares down at the contents of my gift basket, her eyes going wide as she takes it all in. We spend the next hour giggling while we read through the instructions of some of the more complicated battery-operated products.
    Mindy leaves for work a few hours later. “Girlfriend, I don’t even have to ask what you plan on doing tonight.” She winks. “Just try not to wake the neighbors.”
    ~ ~ ~
     
    I put the basket in my room and try to forget about it. I catch up on some episodes of ‘Top Chef’. I clean the kitchen. I ride part of the Appalachian Trail on my new bike. I do everything I can think of to keep my mind off the toys that keep beckoning me.
    I call Baylor.
    “What’s up, little sister? Miss me already?” she asks, having just seen me this morning at Sunday brunch.
    “Uh, so does pregnancy make everyone completely horny, or is it just me?”
    “Don’t get me started.” She laughs. “Gavin actually said he thought I was going to break his penis a few months ago. I’m thirty-five weeks along with a ginormous belly and still, all I can think about is sex.”
    “Ugh!” I sigh. “So, it doesn’t get any better?”
    “It’s different for everyone,” she says. “Some of the women in my Lamaze class claim they don’t even want to be touched anymore. Some of them never went through the horny phase at all. Consider yourself lucky, Skylar.”
    “Lucky?” I spit out. “Baylor, I’m trying to stay away from sex, not think about it more. And I’m having very inappropriate thoughts about very inappropriate