Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
Jump received a text then heard the car pulling up. Willa and Pen were here with clothes. He glanced out the window and saw Cy was driving and Foster was in the back with Pen. Cy retrieved bags from the trunk while Foster grabbed a box.
He turned back to Blakely, seeing she seemed nervous.
“My friends are here. Willa is Cy’s wife, and Pen is Foster’s wife.
” He hoped her knowing their names would help her feel better about meeting them.
He opened the door and waved to his buddies.
“Hey, come on in.” It was good seeing them after so much bullshit that happened the night before. His friends really were the best.
“So sorry you lost your stuff,” Cy said.
“We brought you some clothes,” Foster called out from the back of the group.
“Hey, Jump, it’s good to see you,” Willa said as she stepped inside.
“Hi, Jump,” Pen waved as she approached.
When he turned to Blakely, she looked very uncomfortable. Both women had big smiles on their face and moved to Blakely to introduce themselves.
“Hi, I’m Willa.”
“And I’m Pen. We have some clothes. Jump gave us your sizes, and I think he got it right.”
Jump watched as the women handed bags of clothes over to Blakely. Her eyes grew wide as she took the bags.
“Wow, you didn’t have to buy this much. I think it’s too much.”
“Well, we can always return anything that doesn’t fit.”
“I’m Cy, Willa’s husband.”
“And I’m Foster, Pen’s husband. It’s nice to meet you.”
Blakely looked up from the bags, her eyes wide. “It’s good to meet you.”
After shaking her hand, Cy turned away from her. “Hey, Jump, I don’t think Wave had a chance to cut the bushes. Do you want to step out so we can look?”
“Sure. We’ll be outside.” Jump turned to Blakely, giving her a quick nod, hoping she understood that everything would be okay, and that she could trust these people.
Blakely didn’t know how to deal with women being so nice.
She hadn’t ever had close friends who were women, and she sure as heck had never had any male friends.
The Faithful would have seen a male friendship as sinful.
She certainly would have been stoned, or worse.
Not that they tried to keep girls pure for marriage.
They just wanted to make money off all relationships girls had with men.
“I don’t know what to do or say. This is way more clothes than I’ve ever owned before. I can’t take all of them.”
The women didn’t say anything for a moment. It was awkward, but then Willa spoke up.
“You know what, this seems like a great time for you to figure out what you like.”
“What do you mean?”
Blakely wrapped her arms around her body and brought one hand to her mouth.
She chewed on her thumbnail as worry poured through her.
Was it so obvious to them that she didn’t know how to dress?
She never learned how to do her makeup or hair.
The clothes she’d picked up at the charity shop hadn’t seemed that bad when she’d bought them, but it turned out no one dressed like the old movies she’d watched with her family.
She should have used some of the money and bought more clothes, but she didn’t know where to shop because everything nice had been so expensive.
“Your clothes are all gone, so you get to decide what you buy, how you dress.”
She weighed their words as she studied them. They looked good. They knew how to do their makeup and hair. They were polished, while she’d looked like an idiot who didn’t know how to dress herself.
“So, could you two help me?”
They both nodded. “Sure,” Willa said.
“I never learned how to do makeup or my hair. I wasn’t allowed to wear anything other than what our faith said was okay. So I don’t know what’s in style.”
Pen tapped her chin. “You know what, being comfortable is important. So no matter how good you look in the clothes, you need to be comfortable.”
Willa nodded. “That’s very important. You can be comfortable and look good. Why don’t you try on the clothes that we brought, and we’ll help you determine what you should keep.”
“Thank you.”
The door opened, and the guys stepped in, their smiles wide. She could easily see that both Pen and Willa were lucky. Their men really seemed to like them.
“We’re going to help Blakely decide what to keep,” Willa said.
Cy moved to Willa and kissed her cheek. Blakely noticed how Cy smiled when he looked at his wife. Foster was the same with Pen. It was obvious they really liked their wives. She hadn’t ever seen loving couples like this. It was nice, but so different from what she’d grown up with.
She didn’t think she would ever find someone who loved her the way these women were loved. Everything was very confusing and made her really think about how she’d grown up.
Could life be this simple? Could she actually find real support with these people?
She’d been warned by the members of the cult that if she left, she would end up in terrible situations, but that wasn’t the case.
Other than Grayson targeting her, she’d been okay.
And Jump and his friends were better than okay. They seemed to really want to help her.