Free A Love Like This (Book 1) by Kimberly Lane Page A

  applies a shit load of makeup to my face to achieve what he calls the natural look.   Everyone ’ s excited about going out but all I really want to do is take a long nap after all the food I ate.   I know that will never fly so I slide into a tight black knee length dress with some sort of bondage straps across the back.   I slip on knockoff Jimmy   Choo   royal blue suede   stilettos and look down at myself thinking if I linger around any corners while we ’ re out tonight I ’ m sure to be arrested for soliciting.       “ I look like a whore, ”   I say to no one in particular.
    Sarah says,   “ It ’ s ok as long as you use your inner whore for good and not evil. ”  
    Pookie   hands   Nickie   a pretty green knee length dress.     Nickie   takes the dress and   industrial size make up tubes into the bathroom to change.   She says,   “ Gay or not it ’ s inappropriate to be naked in front of my uncle. ”  
    Nickie   comes out in the dress and my mouth falls open.   The green knee length dress has a high round neckline and upon first glance appears tame for   Pookie ’ s   taste.       However, I look a little closer and see that it is nearly completely translucent.   There ’ s a strip of green fabric across the breast and a slightly larger strip around the waist of the dress and not much else.
    “ You look beautiful, ”   I say drooling over the Roberto   Cavalli   leopard print stilettos with colorful baubles she ’ s sliding into.   These shoes are like art and are clearly not knockoffs.   I ’ m not sure how she managed to afford them but I ’ m making plans to slip them out of her bag before she goes back home.
    “ She is beautiful, ”   Sarah says interrupting my thoughts.     “ You two look exactly alike, ”   she adds.
    “ No we don ’ t, ”   I say.     “ Nickie   is gorgeous. ”
    “ All three of you girls have the exact same face in different shades of brown, ”   Pookie   says.     “ When Keisha,   Nickie   and you are together it ’ s like looking at a small medium and large version of the same person.
    I look at   Nickie   thoughtfully.   I guess I don ’ t pay much attention to my own face.
    “ And   Pookie   looks more like your brother than your uncle, ”   Sarah adds.
    “ I ’ m pretty sure my mom never had a son, ”   I say thinking she ’ s right.   My father Xavier is the oldest boy in a family of six.   Xavier and his other siblings look similar but none as similar as he and Pookie.     Pookie   looks exactly like my sisters and I, practically a clone of my father.   My grandmother Bess and grandpa Jo raised two boys and three girls before   Pookie   was born.   According to my mom Bess had all of her kids young so by the time she was in her forties they were all grown and out of the house.   Grandpa Jo died of a heart attack a little before his fiftieth birthday.   Bess was heartbroken so much so that she couldn ’ t get out of bed for days.   After feeling sick for weeks she went to the doctor thinking that her missed period and listlessness was the early start of menopause or maybe a result of her grief.   The doctor told her she was in fact pregnant. She was so distraught that she spent the next six weeks in bed crying.   Once Bess got over the initial shock she went back into mommy mode only this time was different.   She decided that   Pookie   was going to be more of a mini companion than a son. They explored things together, Jermaine being treated as an equal rather than a little boy.   They went to museums and plays.   She took him to art and dance classes.     Pookie   was   seven   when I was born and since all of his brothers and sisters were grown   Nickie, Keisha and I were more like his sisters than his nieces.
    Pookie   changes into jeans, a white button down shirt with a blazer and a green Harames pocket square.     Sarah slips into the black dress with the