“Out, beefy. The women folk have work to do." Bish laughed and pointed to himself. "I'm beefy, I suppose." "Well, no one else in this room has his arms stuffed into his sleeves like sausage casings, now do they?”

“What are you doing here, Bish?" I asked as Caleb asked Kyle the same question but with much more edge to his tone."I'm your chaperone," Kyle said grinning in clear enjoyment of the situation and Caleb's reaction."And I'm his," Bish muttered and glared at us. "They couldn't spare anyone else so I volunteered to come. Kyle insisted on coming too. So here we are. What are you doing?""We were just about to go to the beach," I answered."Great. I'll go put on my suit," Kyle said chipperly and flung his duffel bag on the club chair before running upstairs.”

“I winced and Caleb stuck his head inside the door. "Everything alright in here?""Yes, prince," my guard said sarcastically as he crossed his arms in the corner. "A needle stick isn't supposed to feel like cherries in springtime."I snorted a laugh. Caleb raised his eyebrow at me with a twist of his lips.”

“He looked like he always did. Jeans and a black Foo Fighters t-shirt, his hair lay over his forehead and around his ears. I pushed my hand through it."It's perfect. It's you."He grinned, shaking his head."Zeke told me to wear leather, lots of it.""And you're rebelling?" I said through a laugh."I'm telling him to subtly screw himself.”

“We've got work to do. Strip." "Strip for what?" "I'm going to measure you for your dress. Strip!" Rachel saved me…sort of. "You can do her measurements with her clothes on, Mamma," she chastised. "Oh, I know I can." She pointed at me. "But look at her face! Ha! I just wanted to see her face pucker up like that.”

“You know any single girls in their twenties that would go for Bish?" I asked Caleb."Sure, I know plenty. But would Bish go for it? He doesn’t seem tobe attracted to anything that walks, talks, eats or breathes except my sister.”

“Gran, I'm only gonna ask this once. Please don't have sex talks with me, ok? Especially with Maggie in the room. Do you think we could do that?”