“Just…different.” She glanced at Madison. “How is it for you when we kiss?”

Hot! “I don’t know.”

Sherry jerked up again until she was sitting beside Madison. “I tried to be honest with you.”

“And?”

“And I would appreciate it if you’d do the same for me.”

What did she want to hear? “It feels good, okay? You’re a good kisser.”

Silence.

Then Sherry said something, but it was so quiet that Madison had to ask her to repeat it.

“You too.”

A huge smile spread across Madison’s face. “You think so?”

“Don’t sound so smug. Besides, I don’t have much to compare it to.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Sherry bit her lip. “It means I’ve kissed Jake’s father, and then there was Andy from the trailer park. And I never kissed him back when he shoved his tongue in my mouth against my will. So I wouldn’t exactly call myself an experienced kisser.”

Sherry had to be kidding. “Do you seriously want to tell me you’ve just been with one man?”

When Sherry kept silent, Madison exclaimed, “Holy crap, you’re almost a virgin!”

“Virgins don’t have kids. And could we please talk about something else? Like, um, how did Danielle react to the news that Ruth is a lesbian?”

It was hard to wrap her mind around the fact that Sherry was so innocent. At least about sex. But it shouldn’t matter. And it was none of her business.

“Madison?”

“Oh, um, she was too drunk when I got to talk to her alone. I thought it better to wait until she’s sober to tell her.”

“Why was she drinking so much anyway?”

Madison laughed. “I think she was sure her beloved mechanic was all over her colleague because they were talking together all evening, and you have to admit they looked quite cozy.”

They both lay back down.

“I’ll call Danielle tomorrow to deliver the happy news.”

“She seems to be pretty taken with Ruth.”

“Stranger things have happened.” Madison looked at Sherry and then at the ceiling.

“Were you ever in love? Really in love, I mean?”

“I thought so at one time, but I’m not so sure anymore.” Madison searched Sherry’s shadow-cast face. “What about you?”

“No.” Sherry’s covers rustled. “I know better now.”

“But you loved Jake’s father, didn’t you?” That’s what she had told her back then. That when you loved someone, you hoped they were going to love you back. “He didn’t love you as much as you loved him, right?”

Sherry sighed. “Jimmy left me when I told him that I was pregnant. But maybe things would have been different if I had told him even once that I loved him.”

“How could he pretend to love you and then just leave you like that?”

“It’s strange hearing those words from you.”