Page 20 of 10 Rings I Hate About You
“Hey,” Adele’s voice cut through the noise, soft but firm. “You okay?”
I bobbed my head automatically. “Yeah. Fine.”
She didn’t buy it. I could tell by the way her eyes softened and how her voice pitched to that warm therapist-like tone she used when I was overthinking.
Cheryl stood and gave me a very similar look, arms crossed, chin tilted in that stubborn way that meant she wouldn’t let this go.
I shook my head.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Adele reached in for a hug. With her arms wrapped around me she whispered in my ear. “Everything is going to be all right. You’ll see.”
My chin dipped to her shoulder as I stood within her embrace, not sure what to say. Over Adele’s shoulder, I caught Cheryl’s similarly sympathetic gaze.
“Delaney.” Glamma’s voice washed over me. The kindness in it made me want to scream.Why? Why did you do this? What if I fail?
Adele’s arms slid out from around my waist, and I turned to the person who had not just changed the trajectory of my life, but had inadvertently put me on a path of immediate acceptance—or the chance of being forever snubbed from the town I wanted so badly to fit into. The latter was my biggest fear—not belonging to what was quickly becoming more of a home base than I’d had in a long time.
“Sofia,” I answered, my voice tight.
Shetskedsoftly. “Darlin’, I know this doesn’t feel like a good thing right now, but I promise you this, it will be.”
I shook my head. “But Marc and I?—”
She laid a hand on my arm. “You two need this.”
I really didn’t, but no one tells Glamma “no.”
“Besides,” she added, her eyes twinkling with something that looked suspiciously like mischief, “you’ve been circling each other for twenty years. Time to do something about it.”
“We haven’t been—” I started.
“Dancing around it, avoiding it, fighting about it …” She waved her hand. “Potato, potahto.”
“That’s not… we’re not … wehateeach other,” I stammered.
“You’ll see. You’ll balance each other out beautifully.” She patted my arm before turning away, already zeroing in on her next victim—I mean, volunteer.
I watched her go, silver hair gleaming under the fluorescent lights, a force of nature in cute orthopedic shoes and a sparkly cardigan that probably cost more than my car payment. Around her, Glamma’s equally terrifying posse of octogenarian powerhouses clustered like generals planning their next campaign.
Gladys caught my eye and gave me an encouraging smile that somehow seemed more threatening than reassuring. These women had probably orchestrated half the marriages in Ruby River. What was a little forced collaboration between mortal enemies to them?
I let out a breath while the girls grabbed their belongings.
Adele fell into step with me as we moved toward the door, and Cheryl moved to my other side.
“Well,” Adele said, once we were safely out of earshot, her hand finding mine, warm and steady. “Congratulations. You’ve officially volunteered yourself for a public experiment.”
I huffed out a laugh. “That’s one way of putting it.”
“I was going to say ‘social suicide’, but that felt dramatic,” Cheryl shrugged.
“Oh good, becausepublic experiment in humiliationis so much better,” I scoffed.
“Ithought so,” Adele piped up, tucking her auburn hair behind her ear. “It has a scientific ring to it.”
Cheryl snorted. “I’m not mad I gave up my study night for this. There was no way I could ever have guessed this was the direction Glamma and the Sparkle Squad were going with all this.”
As awful as I felt, a smirk tilted the corner of my lips at Cheryl’s description of the four women.
