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“There’s something I wanted to mention before you hear it from someone else and get the wrong impression.” She’d made herself smile a little, as if what she was about to a
At first, Gigi hadn’t understood. “This is so lame! It’s not fair. You’re at the store even more now than before you hired Do
Wi
The petulance in her daughter’s expression had been replaced by dawning realization and then horror. Within seconds, Gigi made the leap to the ultimate disaster. “You and Dad are getting a divorce!”
“No! No, sweetheart, nothing like that.” Wi
A vulnerable little girl replaced the sullen teenager, and Gigi began to cry. “You’re getting a divorce.”
Wi
“It’s me, isn’t it?” Gigi’s nose had started to run. “Because I’ve been such a bitch.”
“No, sweetie. No. This doesn’t have anything to do with you.” She didn’t add that Gigi’s behavior hadn’t helped. Instead, Wi
She was still shaking as she climbed the stairs and let herself into the dingy apartment that had become the living quarters of the richest woman in Parrish, Mississippi. After she’d slipped into a T-shirt and her new blue-and-white-checked pajama bottoms, she settled down to do some paperwork, but she couldn’t concentrate. She picked up Southern Living and thumbed through the recipes, only to realize she had no idea who she might be cooking them for. The phone rang. She knew it would be Ryan. By now, Gigi had told him about their conversation, and he’d be furious. If she ignored his call as she wanted to, she’d only make things worse. “Hello.”
“Wi
She’d hoped a few more days would pass before the Seawillows learned that she’d moved out. “I’ll be there in a minute.” As she made her way downstairs, she considered the odds of convincing them she was only staying here so she could get an early start on inventory. Not good at all.
They looked as though they were dressed for a come-as-you-are party: Leea
“We have sustenance.” Meryli
“I’ve been doing better with them.” Amy took the Ocean Spray from a sack and a couple cans of Coke, because she didn’t drink alcohol.
“If you’d pee right after you and Clint have sex, you wouldn’t get so many.” Heidi headed for the kitchen and began opening the cupboards, looking for glasses.
“I do pee,” Amy retorted. “It doesn’t help.”
Heidi waved a tumbler at her. “Right after? Or do you mess around some more first.”
“Depends.”
“I pee,” Meryli
Trying to stop the Seawillows once they’d set themselves in motion was like trying to stop kudzu. Wi
The last time there’d been a Seawillows emergency involving vodka, cranberry juice, and chocolate, Leea
“Sue Covner, among other people.” Leea
Meryli
The Seawillows were used to working together, and it didn’t take long for them to settle around the couch, glasses in hand, the French café table moved closer to hold the Cocoa Puffs, accompanied by some Skittles Heidi dredged from the bottom of her purse.
“Y’all can tease me if you want,” Amy said, “but this is serious business, and we’re startin’ off in prayer.” She grabbed Wi
“Amen,” they all replied.
Wi
“Sue Covner should mind her own business,” Wi
“She’s too busy minding everybody else’s.” Leea
“Deke called Ryan at work today,” Meryli
“Good,” Wi
Heidi cradled her glass and looked at the others. “Y’all know how intuitive I am. I said I thought they might be having problems.”
Over the years, Heidi’s intuition had proved even less reliable than the local weather forecasters, and Wi
Meryli
“What makes you think that?” Wi
“Sue called me twice, the second time not much more than an hour ago.” Meryli
Amy patted Meryli