He stares at the woman on the ground. “Moms.”
Moms?
Mothers?
These are mothers?
They have children?
They’re raising life forms?
Oh boy.
“Moms?” I ask, blinking as the woman pushes to her feet and the other women pile out behind her, all of them clearly drunk.
They’re stumbling, laughing, singing and completely out of it. They have enjoyed every second of their journey so far, that much is clear. They range in age, by the looks of it, some of them appearing to be in their thirties while others look to be in their twenties still. They are an absolute wreck when they get off the bus, I can only imagine what their month out here is going to be like.
I wonder what their husbands/boyfriends at home are thinking right now?
If I were them, I’d be scared.
Oh my, I’d be terrified.
Did they read the papers before sending their women here? They’ve seen the pictures of the guys, right? Surely they’ve seen the pictures?
“Yep,” Rhett answers. “They paid extra to get in sooner. They needed a break. Guess parenting is a tough gig. I wasn’t about to say no to extra cash.”
“They’re drunk.”
He grins. “Yep.”
“That one just...oh...she’s vomiting.”
One of the moms rushes around behind the bus where she proceeds to vomit, her friend going over to hold her hair up.
My word.
My word indeed.
“Yep.”
“My god, what have you gotten us into?”
He puts an arm around my shoulder, and we watch as one of the women begins walking towards us. She’s seemingly the most sober out of them all, and she’s ridiculously cute. She’s probably twenty-four, maybe twenty-five, definitely a young mom. She’s got this pile of sandy blond hair on the top of her head and her eyes are as blue as the sky. She’s got the biggest dimples I’ve ever seen and a curvy body with jeans that hug her backside in a way that has all the men zeroing in on her.
She’s adorable and the kind of mom you would want in your life. You can just see she’s the fun mom, the one who hikes with you and dances when you’re in the kitchen. The kind of mom you know will grow with you as you age, and always keep up with the times. Still, she’s so young and I wonder why she chose to become a mom so early in life? All these questions I can’t wait to get the answers to.
“Who’s in charge here?” she asks, a bottle of beer in her hand as she scans the group of men on the patio. “Is it you, gorgeous?”
She looks up to Enzo, who grins down at her. “It can be – I can be whatever you need me to be with the amount you paid.”
She smiles at him, walking closer and stretching her hands up onto the patio railing, going up on her tiptoes to get a closer look. “What’s your name?”
“Lorenzo, but you can call me Enzo. What’s yours, darlin’?”
“Juniper, but you can call me whatever the hell you want.”
He grins down at her. “I’ll make note of that.”
She grins right back up at him. “You do that, daddy, and I think we’ll get along just fine.”
Oh, sweet Jesus.
Did she just call him daddy?
Right here in front of everyone?
So effortlessly?
Damn, girl is confident as hell.
I look to Rhett, and he chuckles. “She just called him daddy.”
“Yeah, baby, she did.”
I’m shocked.
These women...they’re a mess. An absolute mess.
What the hell are we supposed to do with them for a month? Sober them up? By the looks of it, that isn’t going to happen anytime soon. This isn’t a retreat for them, it’s a damned child free party.
I can’t help but grin, because I know they’re going to be something else.
Oh, yes. Something else entirely.
I just can’t find the words for it.
“They’re...they’re...”
Rhett laughs and squeezes me close, brushing his lips against my cheek. “I hear you, baby. Welcome to Camp Hot Mess.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
THE END