“The girls would just eat nuggets and hamburgers if I let them. The woman that’s been keeping them after school has been feeding them too much junk food. That’s why I decided to find another sitter.”
Sex Piston kept eating her food, not interested in who he hired to keep his kids.
“I’m looking forward to keeping them, Stud.” Her ma spoke just as Sex Piston took a bite of ham. She started to choke, so Stud reached behind her, slapping her on the back.
It took several minutes to clear her airway before she could choke out her surprised words. “Quit hitting me,” Sex Piston hissed at Stud. Taking a drink of water, she was finally able to clear her throat.
“You okay?” Stud asked in amusement.
“I’m fine,” she snapped at him. “Ma, you can’t keep them.”
Her mother’s hurt face stared back at her. “I certainly can. I’ve been bored to death since I’ve retired. Having this little girl around will keep me busy. The older two are in school all day, so I’ll just be picking them up from school and keeping them until Stud gets off work.”
Sex Piston shook her head. Her mom was wonderful with kids, but she had a little problem when she attempted to keep them for any length of time.
“Ma.” She shook her head at her mother.
“Sex Piston, your mother has decided to do this. Leave it alone,” Skulls intervened, giving his wife a smile of reassurance.
She threw her father a disbelieving look.
“If it’s going to cause a problem, I can find another sitter,” Stud broke into the glares between father and daughter.
“It’s not a problem,” Sizzle hastily assured Stud.
Sex Piston closed her mouth with a snap. She looked at the little toddler sitting in the highchair. She hated to admit it because she disliked Stud, but the little girl was freaking cute. She had a head full of blond, curly hair and plump, rosy cheeks with a little bow mouth. The kid could be on Christmas cards.
The not so little girls on the other side of the table, giving her venomous looks, were cute also, but Sex Piston could tell discipline hadn’t been a big factor in their lives. She personally didn’t have a problem with that, but it would give her mother one of her migraines.
They needed to be around her pop for a week or two. He hadn’t hesitated to set her and her sister straight when they had gotten out of hand. Of course, she had learned to avoid punishments as she had gotten older, but she still knew enough not to act like an outright bitch until she was much older, beyond the age of his swatting hand.
Sex Piston saw Killyama chew her food as she watched the family argue before the woman swallowed and spoke up. “Didn’t you lose Sex Piston when she was that kid’s age?”
Sizzle looked at Killyama in reproach. “That wasn’t my fault. I thought she had gone to the store with Skulls.”
Killyama nodded her head. “She wandered the neighborhood for an hour before a neighbor brought her home.”
“She was a rambunctious child,” her mother said in her own defense.
Killyama sat back in her chair. Sex Piston almost smiled at her friend as she reminded her mother just how bad she was at watching kids. “Then there was the time she had pneumonia because you forgot her in the car when it was freezing outside.”
“I didn’t forget her. Someone called. And it was only a couple of minutes.”
Killyama shook her head. “When you kept your niece’s baby, how long did that last?”
Her ma stiffened. “How was I supposed to know the kid still wore diapers? He was old enough to be potty trained.”
“He was a year old,” Killyama answered.
“He was big for his age,” her mother snapped.
“Star isn’t potty trained,” Meri said, looking at her father in concern.
“Of course she’s not,” her mother crooned to the toddler sitting next to her. “Meri, I will take good care of your sister. You and Keri don’t have to worry. I was much younger then, I’m older now.”
“Thirty-two wasn’t young,” Crazy Bitch joined in the conversation.
Her ma was beginning to look frustrated. “Sex Piston and her friends don’t need to worry, everything will be fine,” she again reassured Stud whose amusement at Sex Piston’s reaction had disappeared.
“Her name is Sex Piston?” Keri asked.
“That’s her nickname. She picked it up at school. It’s just become a habit to use it.” Her mother turned to Sex Piston. “Maybe it would be best if we just use your name when the kids are around.”
Sex Piston choked on her food again. “Don’t—”
“After all, Norma is a beautiful name. It was my mother’s.”
Even her father winced and both twins shot her glances of sympathy at the mention of her name.
“Sex Piston’s nickname is fine,” Stud said, trying not to smile. “I don’t think it will traumatize the girls using it.”