Madison glanced down at Sherry. Her eyes were glistening, but Sherry couldn’t tell if it were from emotions or the alcohol she had consumed. “I don’t intend to.” After a few seconds of intense but not threatening eye contact, Madison added, “Believe me, I don’t want him to get hurt either.”

Her expression and her tone left no room for doubt; she really meant it.

Breaking eye contact, Sherry surprised herself by leaning her head on Madison’s shoulder. “Thank you.”

Later she couldn’t say how long they had stood there like that, just facing the lights of the city.

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

“Why do I always have to wear tight, short dresses when we go somewhere?” Sherry asked quietly so that Jake, sitting in the back of the BMW, couldn’t hear. She stared at the convertible’s top, which Madison had thankfully put up today because the weather report had predicted rain later in the day.

Madison laughed.

“What did Mom say?”

“Nothing,” Sherry grumbled.

“Does it have anything to do with sex?”

Her head snapped to the backseat. When she realized Madison was looking back as well, she told her to focus on the traffic before asking, “Why would you ask something like that?”

“Tony said today that when adults are whispering, most of the time it’s about sex.”

When Madison giggled, Sherry glared at her.

“Mom, what’s sex?”

Madison fell silent.

So far, Sherry had always known how to answer Jake’s questions. More or less. But now she was at a loss for words.

“It’s a special kind of cuddling that only adults do,” Madison said.

Sherry blinked at Madison and nodded.

“Do the two of you do that too?”

Oh God. She met Madison’s helpless expression. There was no handbook for this kind of situation. Of course she wasn’t having sex with Madison. But part of her charade was to pretend they were. And if Jake were to speak to someone about this, he—

“Why are you asking, grasshopper?”

Sherry could have kissed her.

“I’m not sure Tony was right. He said that a man and a woman, um, so that when they have sex that he puts his willy into her—”

“We know how it’s done,” Madison interrupted.

“But you’re two women. If that is sex, then how can you do that if neither of you have a willy?” After a pause, he asked, “Or do you have one, Madison?”

Madison shook her head vigorously.

“Does that mean you don’t have sex?”

Madison gave Sherry a look. “Your turn.”

She hid her burning face with both hands and groaned. “When I was in elementary school, we didn’t speak about such things.” She let her hands fall to her lap. “I would have expected questions like that when you were attending your old school, not now. How did you come to be talking about this anyway?”