Page 35 of The One You Want

Iris squinted down at the cover. “What thehell…”

“Hey,” a hushed voice said and I turned to see Riley squeezing into an open chair at our table. “Got stuck in the office and then missed the ferry…” she looked around, probably taking in the weird vibe in the room. “Uh, what’d Imiss?”

“Just Margaret Munson losing her shit for some reason,” Cora said. “We don’t really knowyet.”

Riley looked up at Libby and Margaret, who was throwing her arms around as she explained, her face very red now. “I thought you were leading the meeting?” she asked me,confused.

“Apparently there’s been a change of plans,” Isaid.

“It’s something to do with the patriarchy, I guess?” Iris added. “And being a lion? She wasn’t real clear on thedetails.”

Finally Libby turned back to the room, raising her voice to draw our attention. “Okay, so, Margaret has requested we revisit the original purpose of this little group which was, as you might remember, to read and discussbooks.”

“Aw, hell,” Sherry muttered. “Books are boring. That’s why we started drinking so much at thesethings.”

“Regardless,” Libby went on, obviously struggling to control her temper. “As a long standing member of our group, Margaret deserves oursupport—”

“It’s calledsisterhood!” Margaret shouted behindher.

Libby clenched her teeth. “What it boils down to,” she gritted out, “is we’re all going to sit here and shut up and listen to whatever she has to say. Gotit?”

No one, not even salty Sherry, was going to argue with Libby when she was glaring fire around the room likethat.

“Thank you,” Margaret said, stepping to the front of the room. She took a deep breath, smoothing out her hair. “I am here to tell you that we have all been fed a line ofbullshit.”

“Is she drunk?” Rileyasked.

“On the patriarchy’s Kool-Aid,” Cora said. “Whatever thatmeans.”

Margaret was still going, gathering steam. “Our entire lives we’ve been told that our worth comes from others. That we can’t be happy until we find a partner to share our lives with.” She slapped her palms on the table, leaning over it with narrowed eyes. “We’ve been told we needmen.”

“Sweetie,” Patty called from a few tables back. “If you’re trying to come out to us right now, you don’t need to worry. We won’t think of you any different.” She turned to her tablemate and added, “My niece Kendra is a lesbian, you know, and we all just love her girlfriend. Owns her own heating and cooling business in Roger City. Can you believe that? Last time they came to visit she fixed up my air conditioner in about ten minutes. Jerry Brooks was gonna charge me two hundreddollars!”

Iris looked like she was trying hard not to laugh while Margaret breathed fire at the front of the room. “I’m not coming out, Patty,” she snapped. “I’m trying to help you all see what I now understand. We are holding ourselves back! Every one ofus!”

“Uh, I feel pretty good about where I am,” Cora cutin.

“Yeah, because your man is totally hot,” Jill groused. “Anyone would feel good about their lives if they were getting regular orgasms from a guy who looks likeOwen.”

“This is my point!” Margaret pointed at Jill. “We allow men to control our lives, our sense of worth! Cora owns two businesses! She’s a massive success, all on her own. Her happiness shouldn’t be based onorgasms!”

“I mean, orgasms are pretty nice,” I heard someone mutter behind us, titters of laughter breaking out around theroom.

“Every person in this room is allowing themselves to be held back by something,” Margaret continued, her voice shaking with passion. “Maybe it’s a job you hate. Maybe it’s a husband that doesn’t pay you enough attention. Maybe it’s a string of failed relationships.” Now her voice was really shaking. “Maybe it’s walking in on your boyfriendscrewinghis secretarytwo daysafter you loaned hima thousand dollarsfor his new businessventure.”

The room went completely quiet, all laughter and mumblings silenced as we stared up at Margaret. She wiped at her eyes and I realized she wascrying.

“Sweetie.” Libby was at the front of the room in an instant, her arm going around Margaret’s shoulder. “I’m sosorry.”

“Six months of my life I gave him,” she muttered, shoulders slumped now, all that fire she’d been displaying snuffed out. “I was so completelystupid.”

“No you weren’t,” Libby insisted. “This isn’t your fault. He’s theasshole.”

That seemed to snap Margaret out of her sudden bout of tears because she straightened, brushing Libby’s arm away. “Heisthe asshole. And I convinced myself that he should have any power over my own happiness. Well, I’m done withthat.”

Lilah Taylor stood up and moved towards them. “Maggs,” she said. “Come sit down. We’ll make you a drink and we can talk shit about him for the rest of thenight.”

“I never did like his hair,” Jill offered. “Who still wears frosted spikes? Someone needs to tell him the 90’s have been over for awhile.”