Gail and Millie giggled, and Gail said, “Let the fun begin.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
“I CAN’T BELIEVE you convinced me to sit on this beach in my bra.” Cait had been kidnapped for her first Bra Brigade outing. She sat on a beach chair between Abby and Deirdra—who she’d been shocked and elated to see—with her feet in the sand and her arms crossed over her stomach, surrounded by the women who had kidnapped her, along with Shelley, Faye, Leni, Jules, Daphne, Lenore, and a handful of Lenore’s friends. They’d been there for about an hour, and it had taken most of that time for Cait to get comfortable.
“I’m so happy you did it!” Abby exclaimed, looking perky and adorable in a peach bra and beige shorts, with a plastic tiara on her head that had BRIDE-TO-BE across the front, which Leni had insisted she wear.
“I’m with you, Cait.” Deirdra swatted at a fly, huffing as she straightened the floppy pink sunhat she’d borrowed from Lenore. She wore a sexy black silk and lace bra and an expensive-looking skirt, as if she’d come straight from work. “I came home to surprise you and Abby and that one”—she lowered her sunglasses and glared at Leni over them—“drags my ass out of the air-conditioning to sweat in my lingerie. My skirt will probably have a permanent sweaty butt stain.” She fanned her face with her hand.
Leni scoffed. “Get over it. Better to have a sweat stain than a stick up your butt.”
“I love these meetings of the tatas.” Jules wiggled her shoulders. Her perky little boobs were nicely tucked into a pink bra that was similar to Cait’s.
“Hadley calls them Mommy’s Booby Parties,” Daphne said.
They all laughed, and that started a conversation from the older ladies about all of the times their group had been stumbled upon and the hilarious reactions of the people doing the stumbling.
“Remember when Jamison found us on Brighton Bluffs?” Gail said. “He was fourteen and exploring there with his friends. Well, you know Jamison. He wandered off on his own, and when he saw us, he said something like, Don’t you own bathing suits?”
“Most teenage boys gape at us or turn away red-cheeked,” Lenore said.
“You can always tell when a boy has seen us sunbathing,” Millie said. “They avoid us at all costs afterward.”
“That’s as much of a rite of passage as this is for us,” Shelley added.
“Who do we think has the best bra today?” Faye pointed around the circle.
“Not me,” Tessa said, looking down at her blue sports bra. “I’m all about comfort.”
Faye pointed at Leni and Deirdra. “You girls remind me of Shea, spending as much on what goes under your clothes as the outfits themselves.” Shea was one of Faye’s daughters, and she owned the marketing and public relations firm where Leni worked.
“Aunt Faye, we have reputations to uphold. We can’t very well advertise Chanel on the outside and Walmart underneath,” Leni said, making everyone laugh. Like Deirdra, Leni always looked well put together, and today was no exception. Her auburn hair hung loose over her shoulders, and her forest-green lace bra brought out her eyes.
“I think Randi’s bra is pretty,” Daphne said.
Randi sat up straighter in her red demi bra. “Thanks, Daph. I like yours. Baby blue is a great color on you.”
Daphne blushed. “Jock picked this one out.”
“My boy has great taste.” Shelley winked at Daphne.
“Okay, enough over-the-shoulder-boulder-holder talk,” Lenore said from beneath an umbrella, where she sat with a number of friends. She wore a bathing suit bottom with a black wrap around her hips and a full-coverage bra like the other ladies her age were wearing. “I want the sexy vibe Cait has with all those mysterious tattoos.”
“I’m going to get a tattoo as soon as Cait has some free time,” Gail said.
That was news to Cait.
“She gave Jagger one a few weeks ago.” Abby slid a teasing look to Deirdra. “You should have seen him lying shirtless on the table.”
“Cait should have sold tickets,” Tessa said. “That guy is hot.”
“Oh, please. The hippie?” Deirdra looked disgusted.
“Hell yeah,” Randi chimed in. “Ford hates it when we go to the Bistro, because how can you not check out a hot guy with a guitar?”
“The guy probably lives in a marijuana fog.” Deirdra shook her head. “What did he say to you when you hired him, Abby?” She lowered her voice, speaking lackadaisically. “I like to keep things loose, you know, go with the flow.” In her regular voice, she said, “Give me a guy in a suit and tie any day.”
“Just stay away from my suit-and-tie guy,” Abby teased.
“I have the best of both worlds. Grant wears suits when he goes to meetings for the foundation, and then I get the artsy Grant, painting naked in the studio late at night.” Jules waggled her brows. “Yummy. Cait’s giving him a tattoo soon.”
“Can I come watch?” Lenore asked, and she and her girlfriends giggled.
“Mom,” Shelley chided her. “That’s our soon-to-be son-in-law!”
Lenore waved her hand dismissively.
“Lenore, let’s get back to tattoos. I think we should all get a sexy little one,” Millie said. “Maybe something to represent the Bra Brigade.”
“Good idea! That way next time we go to Pytho—I mean bingo”—Lenore exaggerated the word bingo—“we’ll be the cool ladies.”
“We all know you go to the Pythons strip club on the Cape, Grandma,” Jules said.
Lenore and Millie feigned innocence, fluttering their lashes, and said, “Who, us?” inciting more giggles from her friends.
Shelley, Faye, and Gail shook their heads.
“Cait, have you thought any more about opening your own tattoo shop?” Abby asked.
“What?” Jules exclaimed. “You’re thinking about opening a shop on the island?”
“She and Brant went to check out the Daily News stand,” Abby explained. “Wouldn’t it be perfect?”
“Yes!” Jules said.
“You’d get a lot of foot traffic there,” Leni pointed out. “You have to pass right by it to go to Sunset Beach, and it’s right on the main drag. If you do it, I can help you get your name out there.”
“Me too!” Daphne said. “We can get together like we did for the Bistro and brainstorm ideas.”
“I love that idea!” Jules chimed in. “Mom, you can spread the word to older people.”
“Older people? Like at the retirement home?” Shelley asked with a laugh.
“Honey, we’re only as old as we feel, and I feel about twenty-eight most days,” Millie said.
Lenore leaned closer. “And a hundred and five most nights after Freddy gets frisky.”
“Ugh, please.” Randi shook her head. “Cait, if you decide to open a place, Tessa and I can help spread the word, too.”
“The airport is a perfect place,” Tessa added. “You get tourists as soon as they come in.”
“And at the ferries.” Gail pushed to the edge of her chair and said, “We can whip up flyers and make sure everyone gets them as they arrive on the island.”