Chapter 362: Gossip
*That’s right, I forgot. Miss Smarty gets special treatment. – Allison*
Shiloh had met Camille last summer when she had opened the stores. Cookie had recommended the two teens, Camille and Priscilla, to help set up a website for both stores. When he showed her some of the websites that they had done, she had expected two older women.
Not a recent high school graduate and a senior.
There was no argument, their work was impeccable. The website worked without issue. She could put in her daily specials, and it would automatically post them to social media. The orders came in so frequently now that she had two staff members that were dedicated to online orders. And the orders came from across the country. Recently, there had even been a few from Canada and one from France.
When Camille was home for Priscilla’s graduation, the teen had taken Ashlyn and Alyssa for a whole day and the girls loved it. They talked about their Camille for weeks afterwards. And when Pagan told them that she would be back for the July Fourth celebration, they started a countdown.
The teen stopped by the funeral home with a large black man who was quiet but watched the young woman with eyes of a man in love. After a little negotiating, mainly for Pagan’s entertainment, the couple took both girls to get pizza and go see a movie. That left Pagan and his very pregnant wife at home by themselves.
“I see those wheels turning in your head.” Pagan said as he rubbed her feet. “What are you thinking?”
“Why does Camille live at the Shack and not with her family?”
“Damn. Uhmmm…” he sighed as he thought about how to explain the complicated situation.
“Is it that bad?”
“Yeah, it really is. I don’t want you to judge her or her sister, and I know you won’t.” He added when he saw that she was going to object. “Of all people, you would understand having to start over and rebuild yourself.”
“I completely understand that.” Shiloh grinned at her husband.
“Camille has chronic insomnia. The book alcove with all the encyclopedias?”
“The one on the back hallway?” She asked as he moved to her other foot.
“That’s the one. When her insomnia gets bad, she gets up and goes there to read.”
“What does she read?”
“Encyclopedias.”
“What?” shaking her dark hair she laughed thinking she had heard wrong. “She reads those encyclopedias?”
“Every single one of them. Probably multiple times.” He grinned. “She can’t take meds and they took her to lots of specialists when she was little. I don’t know all the details of the medication, but I know she got rushed to the hospital and was admitted for nearly a week and then the encyclopedia collection began.”
“Camille should have graduated with Priscilla, but because of her reading, she skipped a grade. Allison had lots of fun partying and failed her senior year. Camille was tutoring two of Allison’s friends and it went to hell. Camille tried to kill herself and the decision was made that one of them needed to be removed from the equation.”
“Camille and Priss have been best friends since they were little. There’s less than a year between them and they were always together. The Musketeers came along, and it just became the five of them. So, when it was suggested that one of them move out, Camille moved to the Shack. All three of the Musketeers already lived there and Priscilla was always there with her dad.”
“Of the two, Priscilla is the more outgoing. Camille would rather just disappear into the wallpaper. Unless she’s around her little crew. If she has the Musketeers and Priss around her, she’s a typical teenager. Her parents really worried about her going off to Louisiana for school.”
“Looks like she’s doing fine. Has a really nice boyfriend.”
“Really? Who?”
“Darkness. Big black man that was here with her.”
“No, he’s like, I don’t know, twenty years older than her.”
“And Trigg is married to his stepsister.” Shiloh grinned. “And isn’t Taz the same age as her stepdaughter?”
“Well, yeah…” Pagan rubbed the back of his neck showing his discomfort.
Shiloh laughed at him as she shifted on the couch, rearranging her black skirt as she put her bare feet on the floor. Her blood red tank top was stretched tight across her large breasts and emphasized how she was struggling to breathe as she moved around.
“What do you need? I’ll get it for you.” Sitting up he placed a comforting hand on her back.
“I have no doubts in your skill as a welder or with the forge. But I do not need you to redo the plumbing so that I have toilet in the living room.”
“Guess I can’t get that for you.” Standing beside her, he offered his hand to her to stand up.
“I don’t think so. And your little one likes to bounce on my bladder.” She smiled at him as she slowly waddled past him to go to the bathroom down the hall.
When she returned, he had a plate of chicken nuggets, her favorite craving, and a large glass of lemonade on the coffin shaped table.
“Thought you might be getting a little hungry.”
“I am.” She said as her phone chirped on the arm of the couch. Sitting down she grabbed the device and quickly unlocked it. She read the message and then smiled as she replied to it. “The doctor scheduled Gertie for a C-section next week.”
“I’m sure that they are glad that’s settled.” He smiled as he sat down on the couch with his own plate of nuggets. His own phone chirped, and he grabbed it to see the message from Cookie, telling him the same thing. “Cookie’s excited.”
“Well, yeah. He and Karan have been trying to have a baby since they got married. Possibly before.” She said as she settled into the corner of the couch and accepted the plate from her husband.
“I think she’s scared that she’ll never have kids.” Pagan said as he settled on the couch facing her. She stretched her legs out and rested her feet on his legs.
“Nessie said that her house will be full soon. How’s Cookie’s sister doing? I heard that the last pregnancy was really hard on her.”
“It was. Worse than when she had the twins.” With a little laugh, he shifted. “Sorry, I was just thinking about Rye and Chance. I never thought that I would see that man settled down with one woman.”
“Really? His world seems to revolve around her and their sons.”
“Now.” He admitted with a chuckle. “They started off hating each other. According to Camille and Priss, they were the ultimate enemies to lovers.”
“And what were we?” She grinned before biting another dinosaur shaped chicken nugget in half.
“Whirlwind. Not as much as Molly and Becks.” He gave another chuckle. “I vaguely remember when they came home from Vegas and he was telling everyone, this is my wife, my pretty.”
“Aren’t they all his pretties?”
“Some are *their* pretties. Her, Tammy and Michaela are bi.” The laugh at her surprised look couldn’t be helped. “Should have given you a warning first, huh?”
“Yeah” Shiloh said between coughs as she reached for her lemonade.
