"Corine!" called Hazel, Corine turned her head towards Hazel's voice and her mouth fell open as she saw Sylvia, Hazel, Valerie, and Cassandra, who was carrying Adelaide, coming towards her.
She got up from the blanket and walked over to them, stretching out her arms and taking Adelaide, who was wearing a pink swimsuit with animal prints on it and her hair tied up in a bun, out of Cassandra's arms.
"Did you put a diaper on her?" she asked in surprise. Cassandra, understanding her incomprehension, said,
"We put a swim diaper on her."
"Oh!"
"By the way, where are the other three?" asked Hazel, looking around the beach but not finding them.
"They went to flirt," Corine said simply as if it were apparent, and she continued to play with Adelaide.
The three women looked at her in amazement, "What did you just say?" asked Valerie as she looked at them.
Corine raised her head, "I said they were going to flirt... Well, Harmonie said she was going to that little park over there, Chloe wanted to talk to a lady and Cassidy said they were going to flirt, they took Harmonie and the Bluetooth speaker."
Valerie laughed, "The first thing they think about is picking up girls?"
Hazel sighed as she rubbed her eyebrows, "She couldn't leave her alone. That habit she has of involving her in all her mischief is still there."
Valerie looked at her smiling, "That's what's good. It gives her a change."
"I'm not against it, but sometimes it starts with good intentions and ends up being a mess," Hazel said with a smile, remembering the many times Chloe had gotten Harmonie into trouble.
"It's just that when the two of them are together, they look like real kids."
"But since Cassidy followed them, maybe she'll be able to handle them."
Then they heard Cassandra scoff, "Not at all, and besides, Corine said it was Cassidy and Chloe's idea."
"Ah, that's right!"
Eyes turned to the one who had not opened her mouth during the entire conversation. Feeling the eyes on her, Sylvia looked up, "What's going on?"
"Did you hear what Corine said?" asked Valerie hesitantly, Sylvia's eyes fell on Corine who lowered her eyes and looked at the child instead.
Sylvia smiled, then looked at Valerie and said, "Yes, I heard."
"And?"
"And we'll settle this between us. In private," Sylvia replied simply, showing a small smile.
"Oh, I almost forgot. Your swimsuits look great on you," Corine complimented.
Corine was wearing a one-piece swimsuit with shorts and a zip-up hoodie over it.
Cassandra was also wearing a one-piece swimsuit, but through the transparent beach dress, you could see that it had an open side.
Valerie had a dark green two-piece swimsuit that fitted her like a glove, showing off her long legs that glowed when the sun grazed them.
Like Cassandra, Sylvia wore a see-through dress, but hers was white, and she had a black two-piece underneath.
Hazel was wearing a purple two-piece swimsuit, but she had a hoodie over it like Corine, but she had left the zipper open.
'They are really imposing, their figure is beautiful, their faces stunning, and their personalities appealing,' Corine thought, she even figured that if she hadn't known them, she might have thought they were a group of top luxury models who had come to spend their vacation in some remote place.
Before, if she had been told that there was a group of friends, each with their own unique and truly beautiful charms, she might not have believed it, but her "might not" had become a "she totally believes". The proof was right in front of her eyes.
But hey, she didn't want to dwell on it for long, she preferred to play with the little one. And that's exactly what she did.
...
Several minutes later
"We should go get our troublemakers. It's time to eat," Hazel said, sitting on the picnic mat.
After the mat was set up with Grace's help, the picnic baskets were placed on it, and Grace also brought out several paper plates with glasses.
"I'll go," Valerie offered, but before she could get up, Cassandra stopped her.
"No need, look, there they are," she said, pointing in one direction.
The others present turned their heads to look and saw them approaching in the distance.
"Is it me or are they dancing?" asked Valerie, squinting in the light to see better in the distance.
"No, they are dancing. And they always dance when they are happy," Corine said smiling.
When they got a little closer, the others could hear the music coming from the speaker Chloe was carrying in her arms. Harmonie was wearing a long-sleeved muscle top that fit her perfectly, and a pair of swim shorts, her curly hair loose. Chloe was wearing a red two-piece swimsuit with jean shorts, and Cassidy was wearing a white t-shirt that came up to the middle of her thighs, but we could see the string of the swimsuit tied around her neck, and underneath was a purple two-piece swimsuit.
They were not dancing but rather bouncing to the rhythm, their faces showing their obvious joy.
Surprisingly, the one who seemed the most excited was Harmonie, even though she had a small smile on her face, she was the one bouncing around the two girls, making strange gestures to the rhythm. It was a little odd and funny at the same time.
When they were a few feet away from them, Chloe put the speaker down a few inches from her, and they put their arms around each other's shoulders, forming a small circle and bouncing around with more enthusiasm, their heads raised, singing the lyrics of the song in unison.
"I don't know what they took, but they look very excited," Corine said, and the others nodded and smiled, Adelaide laughed and clapped.
They parted ways and Chloe came over to them. "Come on baby, let's go dance."
She took Adelaide's arm and led her back to the others.
"Dada!" Adelaide said, smiling as she ran up to Harmonie. Harmonie leaned down and kissed her on the forehead and said, "Let's go my love."
She straightened up and got into position with the others, and Adelaide did the same, surprising the others present who had not heard the conversation between Harmonie and her daughter.
At the crucial moment of the song, they did their little choreography with Adelaide, the scene was very cute for everyone.
And as in the beginning, they began to sing the words of the song at the top of their voices while jumping with Adelaide, who had a big smile on her face just like the rest and who also sang the words of the song in her own way.
The scene was very joyful. Beautifully joyful.
The song ended with a drumbeat and the three girls with Adelaide suddenly froze.
Then Harmonie, Cassidy, and Chloe started to applaud Adelaide.
"Good job, baby," Chloe exclaimed as she gave her a high five, and Harmonie took the opportunity to scoop her up in her arms and throw her several times in the air as she caught her, and for those few minutes we could only hear the child's laughter.
...
"Baby, come here." And at the same time, the heads of three people turned toward Hazel.
Three pairs of eyes looked at her as if to ask who she was talking about, and Hazel smiled helplessly.
"Mummy's baby'," Hazel said simply, and Harmonie turned to Chloe and handed her the child, then Harmonie moved closer to Hazel.
Hazel asked her to crouch down, and before she could say anything she noticed something on Harmonie's face a few inches from the corner of her mouth, she reached out and wiped it off and then looked at her fingertip.
" Honey, why do you have lipstick on you?" she asked with a smile, but Harmonie knew she was not amused at all. Hazel's eyes quickly fell on Chloe and Cassidy, who felt shivers run down their backs.
Cassandra on her side looked at them without saying anything, but there was anger in her eyes.
Harmonie raised her head as if looking for something, then straightened up and went to Adelaide's bag and took out the pack of wet wipes. She took a wipe and began to rub her lips and then her cheeks and hands with an obvious expression of disgust on her face.
"You said there was nothing left," she complained as she looked at Chloe with an accusing look.
Chloe knew that she should definitely not laugh at the situation and quickly apologized to Harmonie, "Sorry H, I must not have noticed."
Harmonie nodded and then as her tongue brushed her lower lip, her eyebrows furrowed slightly, and a disgusted look came over her face, "Ugh, this is bitter."
She walked over to Grace, "Can you hand me that bottle of water, please, Grace?"
Grace handed it to her as she continued to take out the jars of food.
With the water bottle in hand, Harmonie poured water into the palm of her hand and cleaned around her mouth. When she was done, she placed the water bottle on the mat.
After this series of movements, Hazel finally asked with a frown, "What happened?"
Her eyes fell on Chloe and Cassidy, who looked as if they were upset with each other. Harmonie handed Hazel a tissue to wipe her hand, then remembered that she had kissed Adelaide on the forehead. She walked over to Adelaide, who was with Chloe and wiped her forehead with another wipe. When she was done, she placed the wipes in the open trash bag.
"She tried to kiss me, the lady," Harmonie said in a sad tone, her eyebrows still furrowed after finishing under the watchful eyes of her family.
"Actually, earlier we were helping an old lady move her stuff a little further than where we are now," Chloe started to explain, pointing a little further behind the huge rock she came from.
She lowered her arm, "Then we came back, and you still hadn't arrived. Harmonie had seen the park while we were helping the lady, and she wanted to go on the swing. And while Corine was waiting for you, we, Cassidy, and I decided to have a little talk with the older lady."
Cassidy nodded, "Hit on her. We went to hit on the older woman," she corrected.
Seeing the others looking at her, she shrugged. "So what, she said she was single."
Chloe raised her head and smiled helplessly, "Well, it's true we flirted with her, but it was mostly to annoy her on my part as a joke. I have a thing for older women. "Chloe whispered the last sentence.
"I think Sylvia feels complimented by that sentence," Harmonie said in a low voice, trying not to smile, the mockery evident in her eyes.
"At least I'm not the one getting kissed," Cassidy laughed, the look of disgust on Harmonie's face making her laugh even harder.
" Fuck, I'd managed to forget."
"Watch your mouth," Cassandra said seriously as she pulled Adelaide out of Chloe's arms.
"Sorry."
Adelaide looked at Cassandra and smiled as she laid her head against her, "Mommy." she whispered softly. Cassandra smiled and kissed her on the head.
"Well, let me finish..." Chloe said looking at her awkwardly, "Well, we've been bothering the lady from the start and now her granddaughter is coming in quietly."
"She completely ignores her grandmother and starts talking to us. She complimented us, well, if you can call it 'complimenting someone'."
"It's called 'bad flirting', a forceful one if you will, not someone complimenting us," Harmonie said, clearly not happy to remember the scene.
Chloe rolled her eyes, "So she 'complimented' us by saying we were cute. But her eyes were on Harmonie. Like she was checking her out. Her gaze was insistent. Very intense. So H asked her, 'What was wrong?" And she said, "Nothing, she just thought he was adorable.'"
"Make it short," Harmonie said and Cassidy gave her a little pat on the thigh, told her to calm down, and let Chloe finish.
"Well, to sum it up, the chick said she found this 'young man' here very cute," she said, pointing at Harmonie. And the latter gave her a completely fake smile.
And then Chloe added, "And suddenly, in a moment of inattention on Harmonie's part, the girl put her lips on Harmonie's, who of course immediately pushed her away. Then the grandmother reprimanded her by apologizing for her little girl's behavior, and we went to the park to change H's mind after telling the lady we were leaving. So we came back all happy because it worked. The swing and slide were awesome."
"If it wasn't for her grandmother, I would have hit her," Harmonie said in a firm voice.
"Well, enough chitchat, come and eat," Grace said to change the atmosphere and distract Harmonie, who, despite her lack of expression, must have been disgusted to remember what had happened and still feel bad.
...
After eating, Harmonie, Chloe, Corine, and Cassidy decided to have a water fight.
"Who's going to get the water guns?" asked Chloe as she turned to the other three.
"I'll get them," Corine said.
"Go ahead, all three of you, the water pistols are already loaded with water and the balloons are already filled. The bags will be too heavy for her to carry alone. In the meantime, I'll help Cassandra with the floaties."
"Where are they again?" asked Cassidy, looking at Harmonie.
"In the SUV. Wait, I'll give you the key." She took her bag from the mat, opened a pocket, took out the key, and handed it to them.
While the others went to the parking lot five minutes away, Harmonie went to Cassandra.
And she began to help her inflate the boat and the rocket-shaped floaties after she put the ring floaties on Adelaide's arms.
"Shall I put them in the water?" she asked Cassandra.
"Yes, go give them to Sylvia and Grace. Adelaide and I will have some fun in the water, and I'll try to teach her how to swim."
"Okay. But go easy on her, she'll be scared to go in the water."
Cassandra smiled, "Don't worry." She reached out to caress her cheek and then her lower lip, "We'll talk about what happened earlier, later," she said, raising an eyebrow.
Harmonie nodded, "Okay."
Cassandra smiled, then turned her head to see where Adelaide was and with whom.
Harmonie thought she was about to leave and grabbed her hand, Cassandra turned and looked at her in surprise. And her eyebrows furrowed as she saw a glimmer of sadness in Harmonie's eyes.
She was distraught, "What's wrong?"
Realizing her mistake, Harmonie shook her head and let go of Cassandra, "It's nothing."
But Cassandra didn't let go and took her in her arms. Harmonie stiffened, then relaxed in Cassandra's arms and wrapped her arms around Cassandra.
"You know, if you wanted a hug, you could have just told me," Cassandra said laughing. Harmonie, who had one ear on Cassandra's chest, heard Cassandra's laughter echo through her and then Harmonie tightened her grip.
Cassandra pulled away from Harmonie a little and said with a smile, "Sometimes I forget that you, like your daughter, can be very demanding."
Harmonie looked at her blankly, then gently removed her arms, but Cassandra stopped her by taking her hands and placing them back on her lower back, then moving closer to Harmonie, wrapping her arms around her neck.
"That's a compliment. I love to be needed," she whispered in her ear, then straightened up, "Especially by you, my love, and of course by our daughter. I'm sorry, my love, sometimes I forget that you are a very touchy soul by nature and that you need a lot of affection and physical contact since it has become so natural for me to be with you."
Harmonie looked at her with an expression in her eyes that Cassandra could hardly decipher, but she knew it was sadness. And she felt her heart tighten.
She lowered her head, brought her lips closer to Harmonie's, and kissed her. She savored every moment of the slow kiss.
Her eyes still closed and her forehead against Harmonie's, she said in a whisper, "Don't give me that look, my love, it hurts me to know that you are suffering, and I can't do anything to help you."
Then she kissed Harmonie again and walked away without looking at her, heading towards Grace and Sylvia, who had Adelaide with them.