A few friends were all she needed. She had a warm and cozy house with nice furniture, and at the moment it was filled with smiles and laughter. She never had that once in her old life.
As she grabbed a coffee with Sydney and brought the banana bread over to the coffee table, the girls were giggling about the bachelor party the night before. The group of young gentlemen had taken a private room for three hours, and couldn’t stop throwing cash the girls’ way. Asher had plenty of security on the private rooms, so fortunately nothing went wrong like it did with Natalie a few weeks back.
There was nothing more than heavy touching, but the money was worth it to Sydney and Petal. Both of them grew up with the bare minimum, and now they supported themselves, plus were able to save for the future, thanks to Sienna. Nobody could take that away from them.
Sienna listened and laughed as they told stories of the guys with tented pants watching them dance and move as if it was their last breath before tying the knot. The tented pants were a little inside joke between the three of them. Privately discussing which ones were bigger than others was a bad weekly habit. Apparently, last night’s bachelor partiers were fairly well-endowed, and Sydney was fascinated. She was newer than Sienna and Petal, so it figured. Petal threw her whole body backward into her chair in a fit of laughter as Sydney demonstrated with her hands how high one guy’s pants were raised.
Sienna was only half listening when Petal abruptly asked, “Sienna, where’d you go, honey? You were off in space while I almost choked to death from my own laughter.”
Busted, Sienna thought. She was really thinking about Carson and couldn’t imagine he was small in the pants. Oh. My. God.
No way was she going to cop to that, so she said, “I have a lunch date today. I really don’t even know what to make of it.”
“What?” the girls cried out in unison.
Sienna looked at the two of them. Petal had her knees curled up in the huge armchair with a pillow squished over the side and her head resting on the top of it. Sydney was lying on the floor with her head propped up on her hands, her coffee cup in front of her. If this wasn’t safe enough, Sienna didn’t know what was, so she went out on a limb.
“Yeah, a date. There’s been this guy coming to the club on the weekends, and he sent his number back to me. Since Billy was too new to know better, he brought it back to me. I guess I kinda liked him from afar and was curious these last few weeks, so I texted him. Oh my God, that’s so embarrassing when I say it out loud. I texted him. I must look so needy.” She buried her face deep in her hands, afraid to look up, but when she did she saw their softening expressions.
“No way,” Sydney said. “It’s adorable, you liked him enough to text him. This guy is one lucky dude with all the men who are dying to get a text from you!”
Petal chimed in, “Even better, he gets to know you, the real you. Not just the gorgeous Sienna Flower all men dream about, but you, the sweetest person on earth.” She pulled up to her knees in the chair and looked straight at Sienna, driving the point home.
She shook her head and chuckled. “Chill out, ladies. We had one cup of coffee yesterday and planned for this late lunch today. He doesn’t live here, just visits, which is good. I don’t think this is the smartest idea, but I just sort of like him, so I want to have this date.”
“You’re crazy. If you like him, go after him.” Sydney grinned at her, then popped another piece of banana bread into her mouth.
Petal got up to refill her coffee, and patted Sienna’s shoulder as she passed her. “You deserve a life. I know you had it rough and don’t like to talk about it, Sie, but you’re kind and loving. You deserve everything good and sweet, baby.”
“Ugh, you two are killing me. It’s only lunch. That’s it. No more. Just to get the guy out of my head.” Noticing the dreamy look in both Sydney and Petal’s eyes, she knew they were no longer listening to her. She was saying this more for her own benefit.
Before she could say anything more, the girls had Sienna in the shower with a cleansing mask on her face, and were rummaging through her closet to pick out an outfit for lunch.
“I was just going to wear jeans and a ball cap. You know I don’t like going out all exposed,” Sienna protested.
“No way, girlie.”
“Agreed. No way,” Sydney said with a nod to Petal.
THE HOURS passed quickly with the mini-makeover. By one thirty, Sienna was buffed, polished, lightly made up with makeup, and had soft waves cascading through her hair. She was wearing skinny jeans, an untucked white blouse with the sleeves rolled up, and knee-high brown boots. Wearing no jewelry except hoop earrings, Sienna pulled her dark purple suede blazer over her blouse and walked out with Petal and Sydney still in their pajamas.