For Reasons Wretched and Divine

Honey That's your Size and You seem like a Prize

It was easy to forget how relaxing it was to talk to an adult when most of your free time was spent conversing with a teenager or through the filter of retail.

Venus had dubbed none of Charming's clothes stores as good enough to shop in, so they were taking a few extra minutes to go to the next biggest cities.

Everything in the mustang was smooth and new, white leather and chrome, and Venus looked like a damn pinup model with Gucci sunglasses perched on the end of her nose and perfectly manicured nails tapping on the steering wheel.

She had road-rage something fierce, but it came out as slick southern charm.

"Oh my sweet boy," she crooned at the man revving his engine at them as a challenge or intimidation, or maybe both. "You couldn't beat me in a race any day under the good lord's sun, but that cute little noise your diesel is making is just the most adorable thing I've ever heard,"

She turned and pouted at the man to her left, pulling down her sunglasses to look at him while Sunshine laughed.

"He understands that we're in the right turn lane, right? We can't possibly race him?" Venus asked as the masculine posturing continued.

"I can't apply logic to the likes of him," Sunshine shook her head, slipping back into her own southern accent around her new friend. She had lived in California for almost fifteen years; the lilt had fallen from her tongue but always seemed to peek through when she was round like folk.

"Toodles, darling," Venus wiggled her fingers as they turned to the right when the light turned green, speeding away from the jacked-up truck.

---

The conversation was sporadic, ebbing, and flowing with Venus' levels of concentration. Sunshine let her have her fun of picking out clothes and colors and textures, occasionally holding them up to Sunshine's skin and either smiling or frowning, adding them the growing mass in Sunshine's arms.

Even neck-deep in textiles and murmuring about the varying qualities of American silks, Venus kept Sunshine in the corner of her eye and caught her glancing at the swollen belly of a pregnant woman that was browsing.

"Do you have any kids, Sunshine?" she asked conversationally, picking through shirts.

"None of my own. I do foster care, so I get my fix here and there," she joked, shuffling her feet.

"That is mighty kind of you, doing foster care,"

"My aunt did it for decades; I fell in love with it when I moved up here to live with her,"

"Oh. Where did you move from?"

"Booneville, Mississippi," she sighed, a small smile playing at the corner of her mouth.

"A true southern girl," Venus nodded in approval.

"Yes, ma'am, born and raised. Moved to Cali when I was fourteen to live with my aunt,"

"You never wanted to move back?" They had moved to the underwear section of the boutique now, and Venus was thumbing through the thongs without hesitation.

"I thought about it, but not for very long. I got a free ride through college in Stockton; I got Gladys' house when she passed, I practically run the diner," she took a breath and lost the fight with the blush as Venus nonchalantly added lacy underwear to the pile.

"There wasn't much for me back in Booneville. Mom and Dad are gone; Marie moved to Charming and lived with me while she went to college," she shrugged a shoulder. She hadn't been back to the town since her parents had died seven years ago.