Read Online Little Memphis by Bijou Hunter - Free Book Online Page A

suffice.”
    I grin. “He’s bad news.”
    “Jenn says the same about you.”
    “Why?” I ask, my smile gone.
    “She can tell you tomorrow.”
    The next day at the barbecue, Jenn stirs her potato salad and shrugs. “You’re a trouble magnet, Shay. I don’t know what to tell you. Some people are born that way.”
    I just stare at her. Is she insulting me? Am I really bad news? Is that code for a piece of shit? Should I care what she thinks? Who is she anyway? Could I take her in a fist fight? I know the answer to the last one is no.
    “Don’t get all pouty,” she says, grinning at Darby fixing a margarita. “I’m bad news too. It runs in my family, but I turned out all right. You wanna know the secret?”
    As Harleys roar up the residential street and more club guys arrive, I lean forward and nod.
    “Land a man while you’re young and pretty,” Jenn says, wrapping blonde hair behind her ear. “I know that goes against what all us girls hear when we’re growing up. We’re supposed to think career and have fun first, but it’s a lie. Oh, sure, it works for those fancy city girls with their degrees. Girls like us don’t work that way.”
    Jenn sets aside the potato salad bowl and starts working on coleslaw. “Look at me and my little sister Debbie. I grabbed Lucky when I got the chance. She said I was settling down too early. We were party girls and she wanted to keep partying until she got too old. Her plan didn’t even make any sense since our mom still parties and she’s old as fuck. Anyway, I married Lucky and had kids. Being a wife and mom settled me into the woman I was going to be. That’s how I figured out the job I wanted. I was never going to have a fancy career, but I like working as a medical technician. I never would have gone that way when I was younger.”
    People walk past the kitchen and say hi to Jenn and Darby. Once they’re outside where Lucky is grilling, Jenn returns to her story.
    “My sister tried out a bunch of jobs and just as many men. The guys were all players and not looking to settle down yet. Debbie didn’t worry because she figured she had time. Unfortunately, beauty fades. Even for the hottest chick, she only has a certain prime window. We’re not living in Hollywood where we can buy a new face when we’re forty. So I settled down young and got me a good man. Debbie wasted her youth on men who weren’t ready. By the time she pushed for a husband, her options were pretty shitty. The guy she married works some fuckwit job and moved the family to northern Minnesota. Do you have idea how fucking cold it is where she lives? Oh, and he doesn’t make crap for money and she works a shithole job because she never found her calling or whatever. That’s what happens when you wait too long and grab the first asshole willing to commit.”
    “Pearls of wisdom,” Darby teases as the margarita kicks in.
    Jenn rolls her eyes then looks at me. “You’re a pretty girl and there are a few guys I know who are interested. They’re rough around the edges, but they’ve got a fierce protective streak like Lucky. They’ll take good care of their women and kids. Unlike my brother-in-law who will spend money on himself and let his family do without.”
    Jenn walks to me and slides my hair off my shoulders. “Don’t waste your time on a guy who isn’t ready. Men who say they’re not ready really mean you aren’t enough for them to be ready. They’ll only settle down when they have no options. So those guys sniffing around you right now are interested, but most only want to play around. Maybe long term play, but you can’t think of finding a guy for a year or even five. That shit gets girls like us in trouble.”
    Jenn gives a nod to someone passing by then sighs. “Don’t waste your youth being dumb. Find a man who treats you right and wants you now and always. Grab him and don’t let him go. Also, don’t let a guy who looks like bad news scare you because you’re bad news